Walking Across Italy

Today, we hiked 18 miles over the mountains from Pioraco in Marche to Nocera Umbra in Umbria. According ti my Fitbit, I took 40,600 steps, climbed 201 flights of stairs, and burned 4,716 calories during our 6 hour hike.

We started our day at the hotel where the chef and his wife made us breakfast and then pack us some little paninis for lunch. I am amazed at how helpful italians are to foreigners. These folks went out of their way to help make our journey smooth and safe.

The first 9 miles of today’s journey were very flat as we zig-zagged through the smaller mountains.

At one point we came upon a strange sight. Forty or fifty fishermen were lined up on the shores of a small man-made lake. They were preparing for a fishing tournament, each carrying 10-12 fishing rods.

Shortly thereafter, we started our 3 mile climb up the mountain. The climb was more gradual than we expected, but taxing just the same. We went from about 750 ft above sea level to about 2,850 ft above sea level. The views from this vantage point were incredible.

At the higher elevations we ran into several boar hunters. I actually felt safer knowing that if we ran into any wild boar on this trip, one of the hunters might kill them before they gorged us!

Given that it took us a few hours to climb up, it also took us a few hours to climb down. (My shins are killing me!) we finally spotted our village for the evening -a place called Nocerna Umbra.

It’s been a long day, so I’m going to get some rest. Buona notte.