26.05.2010 Villafranca – Ponzano Superiore

We have been retracing our steps for the past two or three days, but now we are retracing our friendships too. Having met Heiko and Susan through my last VF blog, the contact has been maintained and now we are meeting them in Aulla with a view to walking back to their home in Ponzano Superiore, which is also on the VF route. The morning walking is generally easy, though with a long stretch on the SS26, which is inevitably unpleasant. Nevertheless, our meeting in Aulla proceeds as planned and we walk the last 10km over the final hills and into Ponzano Superiore, yet another village teetering and spilling down the steep hillsides where Heiko has arranged 5-star accommodation for Nellie and a couch in his home for us. We, and more importantly our animals, are going to have a 3-day rest before the return journey to Arles along the Italian coast, tracing a new route that will link the St James Way to its counterpart in Italy, the via Francigena. Uncharted territory.