Wednesday, October 27: Gubbio to Biscana

Good morning/afternoon/evening! I wish I had another day in Gubbio.  I love this town.

Look at this beautiful breakfast room. I took a little extra time at breakfast because a lovely couple from New Jersey sat next to me.  American's are like hen's teeth here.  Her family is from here, although she was born in the U. S.  Their daughter had just gotten married in the states, and they decided they needed a vacation after all the hoopla.  Sounds like a bang-up idea.  The parents certainly need a vacation after a big wedding.

I ordered my breakfast yesterday, and when I got to the table, my breakfast was in these little boxes. Typically, this hotel would have served an excellent buffet but, with COVID rules, all has changed.  Italy is stricter or smarter than we are. To eat in a restaurant/bar, take public transportation, or enter a public space such as a museum, school, government building, you must have green papers or vaccination papers. No-fuss--no politics,  it is simply the law! And everybody seems to be on board with it.

The first mile or so of today's journey was flat, but the mountains were looming ahead.  They didn't look like big mountains, so I wasn't concerned. Oh contraire!  

I had a little trouble finding my way out of Gubbio, but soon my favorite signs were pointing me in the right direction once again.

The scenery was beautiful -- all day beautiful.

Evidently, that flat first mile, and I mean Lake County, Tennessee flat, was just to lull me into thinking this was going to be an easy day.

I climbed steep, steep, steep. And every time I turned a corner, there was more up.

The scenery made all the work worth it.  This was one of the prettiest days I have had on any trail.

Mountain after mountain -- never-ending.

The Shrine of Madonna della Grazie is quite a popular place for prayers, and there were hundreds of rosary beads and notes at the door, spilling over onto the shrine's floor.

The altar.

The gates of the 14th century Chiesa del Caprigone.

More severe uphill. Does it ever end (pant-pant, gasp-gasp)

There was beautiful scenery in every direction that I turned. I walked on a ridge across the mountains for a while, and it was hard to decide which way, right or left was prettier.

Look at this little fairy toadstool (my description).  I have never seen one like it.

The trail regularly gets washed out, so I had to cross on these squares.  It was good that there were ropes on each side to help in crossing the creek.  I almost had to leap from one square to the next. Just a little fun on the trail. And that fun was on exhausted legs.  I was at about mountain mile fourteen at this point.

More trail up. I thought I was going to have to crawl the last mile.  Although 16.1 miles is not always so hard, this was a buns-of-steel, OMG, hard as hell hike, but it was also one of the more spectacular days ever.

This is the view from the last few steps to my Agriturismo Tenuta di Biscina. 

My home for the night.  I actually have a two-bedroom apartment. Very spacious with beamed ceilings and a fireplace.  It is frigid up here.  Brrrrrr! I think tomorrow morning will be a race at first just to get warm.

The view of Biscina just before sunset from the door of my apartment.

The restaurant at the Agriturismo is closed right now (Offseason?), so they had dinner delivered.  I told her that I liked everything, so she picked my meal.

As usual, the salad was clearly just picked and so crunchy. Real tomatoes!  The pasta, a simple fettuccini noodle with tomatoes and parmesan, was bursting with flavor. How do they do that? I also had beefsteak, as they call it. It is not at all like our "steak," but more like my Mama James would have cooked.  It was thinly sliced and cooked in a skillet with a bit of gravy. Very flavorful, very tender, and clearly from local cows.  I only tasted it because, truthfully, I was a little worried about food tomorrow since I never saw a market in Gubbio. So the beef and the bread will go into my backpack for tomorrow's lunch.  They gave me enough food for two very hungry hikers.

Tomorrow, I have another very long day en route to Assisi. It will be between 18 and 19 miles.  Some people do it in two days, but mine is scheduled for one.  Kinda wish it was two days, but it is not.  It will be beautiful, and I am sure I will be glad to see Assisi where I have two days.

Love to you all!