Reopening the drawer of memories for today's HiveBloPoMo, or rather, snooping around an old hard drive, I found some old photos of my adventures in the woods.
I've had a few, I was a great walker ten years ago!
I thought, what better occasion to publish my first post in this community than this!
What I'm going to tell you is my adventure in the woods of Montaione!
I've used some of these photos before, but now I also have the chance to tell the story behind it.
Let's start first by contextualizing a bit.
A few years ago I was living in Tuscany in a beautiful mountain village called Montaione (that's what you see in the cover photo) and which is located in the province of Florence, to be precise in the Val d'Elsa which is crossed by the via del Chianti.
At that time I was the owner of a nice café and I worked really hard, but on Sundays I was free and, every now and then, I was able to afford a nice tour; this is the case.
One of the customers of the bar, a wild boar hunter, told me that a path started right behind the bar that went into the woods, climbed all the way up to San Vivaldo from where it began
an itinerary that crossed the places you see in the photo of the sign below, to then return to the starting point.
Naturally then to go back down to Montaione we used the paved road.
Heck it was like a wedding invitation to me so. on a Sunday morning. I decided to go backpacking to experience this new adventure!
The route, as you can see from the map below, is about 21 km one way, of course having reached San Vivaldo (the point where that kind of circle joins and the road becomes one) I had to go home, in total there are about 27 km.
The difficulty of the route is medium but with a little training it can be done without effort; I left early Sunday morning and returned practically after dark; fortunately the last stretch of road was the paved one, however it didn't have lighting but, as always, in my rucksack I had my inseparable torch and all the necessary equipment.
As soon as I left, not far from my restaurant, in the middle of the woods, I found this beautiful brick house, perfectly kept; I recently discovered that they rent it on AirB&B among other things at an exorbitant cost, for this reason it was in perfect condition even if, I confess, in living memory at the time that app didn't exist so it was probably rented through other channels.
I remember that I fell in love with that farmhouse so much that I fantasized about being able to buy it one day to go and live there; for me it is a perfect place, in the middle of the woods but not too far from the town center, in ten minutes of walking I was at my restaurant.
Going a bit into the woods, but not too far from the house you just saw, about twenty minutes later I came across this stream, fortunately easily fordable by passing over the stones that were on the surface also because being spring it was certainly not in full heh!
Once I arrived in San Vivaldo, before continuing with the tour (and doing the part that goes around in a circle) I stopped to walk around the Jerusalem of San Vivaldo which is nothing more than a set of chapels arranged in such a way as to follow the exact reproduction (albeit differently oriented and on a smaller scale) of late 15th-century Jerusalem; originally there were 25 churches, today there are only 18 left and, in the photo below, you can see one.
Once the route that brought me back to the starting point was over, I took the paved road that led to Montaione, as you can see when I left it was still daylight.
The second part of the itinerary (to be clear, the one that goes in a circle) was fantastic because it was totally immersed in nature and in the woods, at one point I even heard the cries of some wild boars, luckily for me they weren't close and therefore we weren't we met; I always carry with me a nice knife and a stick that a friend from Montaione made for me for hiking but I don't think I would have done much if I had collided with a wild boar lol!
Here you can see the beginning of the last stretch of road...
I want to talk to you for a moment about the stick because I am very attached to it and, even today, I keep it and use it; my friend Marione, a very nice and very affectionate big Tuscan, made it for me, he and his wife Carla adopted me since my arrival in Montaione and treated me like a son, the good Mario, among other things, is an infallible truffle hunter!
The stick he made for me is used to support oneself while walking (or at least that's how I use it), it has a metal tip at the end and a strap to carry it on the shoulder, a bit like the scouts' Alpenstocks, in fact I had thought of making myself make my banner to attach it to the top.
Below, if you've never seen an alpenstock, I'll leave you a photo to understand a little how it looks since I keep mine at the beach house and I have no way of photographing it now.
Mine, compared to what you see, is similar but made of light wood which, in the future, I would like to engrave.
That was really a great day, I remember arriving home dead tired but really happy and satisfied; I love this kind of adventures!
I promised myself I'd find another slightly longer route where I could stop and spend the night in a tent but, in Tuscany, I've never managed to do this; maybe in a few years, when the whole family will be able to follow certain paths, we will all venture out and try to live this challenge too!
Now I salute you, the hour is late and tomorrow morning at six the alarm goes off; I have to go to work at half past eight but, as you know, I always wake up early because I like to enjoy the peace and silence of the morning and then I love having breakfast slowly eh eh!
Thanks as always for getting this far.
I'd like to know if you also love walking and trekking, maybe you've had some fantastic adventure around the woods, let me know in the comments below if you like.
🔘 🔘 🔘
English is not my first language but I try, please forgive any errors.
