4-12-10 Fienze via S.Quirico d'Orcia to Montalcino (day 8)

4-12-10 Fienze via S.Quirico d'Orcia to Montalcino (day 8)
today, I wanted to increase my distance... I managed even to my own surprise to meet my goals.. I again managed to avoid the real roads and found the hiking-biking trails which turned into and out of 'white roads'. The white roads are un-tared, they look like clay, sand gravel composition and are sort of off white... asking for the white roads has helped improve the accuracy of the directions I am getting..well sort of...

I notice i've been taking longer and longer to get sorted and leave for the day...since mornings are the best bet for getting good walking time in...and it's before it has the potential to get too hot, it is good to get an earlier start. I had to clear out of my 'apartment' by ten... the day is sunny and the town is flooded with middle age to elder Bavarians... I smerk to myself...love those southern dialects..
I found a cafe to have my emergency double americano and a mozzarella tomato panini toast... I ask the man running the place, for today's white road... he confirs with a friend of his.. and I get directions. The bread man comes in and they confer with him as well..yes, past the garden make a right, definitely... I thank them for all their help..i notice asking directions, requires longish conversations... I feel cared for.... I get out through the gate and past the garden...and it is clear as all day I have to go opposite of what they told me... so I do, and sure enough I find the beginning of the designated walking path sign..and today no second guessing or confusion... the path is clearly marked the whole way... I have an amazing day to hike... it is sunny but there is a chilly early spring feeling breeze... it stirs some latent memories but I cant place the feelings...

Today's terraine, has some steep inclines and drops...but nothing like yesterday...most of the path is rolling hills... my right foot seems mostly healed up, but my left still causes some pain...but compared to what I had before...again much much better... there seemed something more playful for the day...the wind dakinis were having fun... I felt I was pushed forward by winds for most of the journey...the clouds were making a photogenic entertain display...my eyes feasted on the landscape... bright green rolling hills for the most part... I took breaks as needed...my body is quite clear about when I need to throw off the pack.. at one of my breaks... van's pull up near me.. the only real traffic i'd seen all day... and soon humans were walking towards them... it was the Bavarians... apparently they too had taking a shorter version of a walking tour not far behind me... one of the men nodded to me friendly..not sure if he too recognized me from Pienze... they to their vans..me up a steep hill to S.Quirico d'Orcia. It seemed to take longer than expected to reach this town... I actually never fully entered it but went around it's circumference... I stopped at a truck stop restaurant...had mushroom pizza too big for me, spinach on the side... and the required expresso at end.. the waitress spoke english enough and helped me find my next white road with the help of her coworkers... she was way too busy and quite sweet to help me... I walked away with a roughly drawn map of what I should do... I came to a bridge which was one of the land marks but the road I was suppose to find was not there...a gentleman was there at the gate of the town... he came towards me and and gave instructions in italian.. I had to go under something and avoid something else, he gave the friendly clap on my shoulders and sent me on..... mainly I had to keep going around the outside of that town.. so I did..i came to what looked like the right place... my friendly waitress had been a little off, the white road was after the 'bigger' bridge not before it... and low and behold the gentleman from a few minutes ago..pops out of a car he did not have before.. and pointed me to the white road I needed.. he must have gotten his car to meet me and make sure I was on right path.. how wonderful is that? I am so touched by kindness like that... for the sake of clarity I had used an 'agritourismo' guest house listed on the map as being on this white road..as a land mark... he let me know it was only one km away...as I descended the road..the helpful trail head map was there...i was definitely on right path... the white road gave way to dirt roads mostly scared by tractors.. it got a little muddy... I had ten or so more km's to go... again I rested at this point hourly... the landscape changed again.. perhaps not quite as stunning as before... but for most of it I could see the town I needed to be in up in the hills before me... after a moment of panic earlier in the day.. I had gotten used to the fact that the path seemed to snake away and then towards the desired goal...up till yesterday all the dogs I had encountered had been chained up or safely behind fences.. they made up for it with impressive barking... yesterday two toy dogs came at me but playful and walked with me for a little.. .today a young medium size hunting type dog...was charging at me..more bark than any real meanness..non-the-less I am leery about loose dogs who come at me barking... I noticed his much bigger buddy in the back ground... the barking dark.. helped me make a decision as to which path to follow since now the path markings were failing again.. turns out the path he was blocking was the wrong one...so he helped me...after I got away from him...i realized I was being followed by the much bigger one now..turns out he was really sweet + quiet and was just my escort to the edge of his terrain...he seemed wolf like to me.. I thanked him and kept climbing... the trail definitely stopped having markers but now it was so obvious were the town was so I followed dirt roads up to the main street... I had another 2kms on tarmac and scary traffic into town... it was 5.30 by the time I reached a guest house.. this time not so lucky I could not get a discount price.. I took room anyway... it was separate from the hotel proper and was in what looked like residential apartments.. it was therefore a little cheaper than staying in the main building... I did return to main building for interneting.. I needed to check my maps against the path of http://www.mapmywalk.com/walk/italy/assisi/386125380113052101 the man who's coat tails I am basically riding.. also of course the usual blog upload and email check.. they had a little fire going in the fire place.. and I enjoyed a glass of local pino grigio. I was actually still full from lunch..weird? I have to do laundry almost daily I only have two t shirts..they are quick drying though.
when i first walked into town i did not find the as commercial as old italian towns can be, main drag...instead i found some residential street...dead quiet..one lady walking her grandma slowly down street.. i smelled the most ancient wood like you would in a museum housing ancient boats or some such..i could not imagine one could smell age like that...it really tapped into some primal human memory... also here it reminded me ever so much of Nepali villages..