Walking Across Italy

Today we hiked 13 miles from Civitella del Lago to Orvieto, Italy. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and a cool, gentle breeze. The trip was mostly downhill, except for a 600 ft climb. My Fitbit says I took 34,000 steps, climbed only 97 flights of stairs, and burned 4,400 calories.

Orvieto is a medieval city that sits on a high bluff in the middle of the Umbrian plain. Our hike today took us down to the bottom of the plain, then around the Corbara Lake Dam, and along the Tiber River. At the bottom of the plain, we encountered a muddy bridge that required some ingenuity to cross. Stephen led the way by balancing on the dry concrete and shimmying along by holding onto the guardrail. As a result, we crossed successfully and stayed dry.

As we passed by the dam, we noticed that the water was all the way up to the roadway. A few inches more and we would have had to find an alternate route. Whew!

After another 6 or 7 miles, we could see the town of Orvieto in the distance. And although that sight brought a sign of relief to my aching feet, the thought of scaling that bluff was significantly disheartening.

Thankfully, the forefathers of Orvieto had determined that they needed an easy way for tourists to reach the town. Introducing the funicular! (A mountainside railway that climbs at an angle.) Ingenious! I was so excited that I paid for the trip for all of us. The best 5 Euros that I spent on this trip!

When we got into town, we found our way to our B&B, took showers, and the found the closest laundromat. JP is a master of laundry (among other things).

The only thing about the laundromat is that there were 3 washers and only 2 dryers. When we arrived, there was a lady starting one of the washers and then she left. JP was smart enough to select the FAST WASH cycle for his clothes. Stephen and I shared a washer but selected a longer cycle. We ran an errand ( to the gelato shop) and the returned, just as JPs washer was finishing. The lady’s wash was next, and our wash was a minute behind hers. The anxiety was high when her washer had stopped and ours was still spinning. That minute seemed to take hours. Every time someone would walk by the shop, I thought it was the lady. When our washer stopped, Stephen and I set up a bucket brigade line to move our stuff from the washer to the last remaining dryer. Mission accomplished! The lady’s wash came in a few minutes later, recognized what had happened, grunted, and took her wet laundry home. We all just stared at our phones.

Tomorrow we are taking a day off and doing domestic sightseeing around Orvieto. We’ll be back on the trail on Sunday.