The pic shows Roger , sideways for some reason, at the point where we are just 100 km from Rome. We will be there in a week but still have to sort out how we get home as our Monarch flights won't be happening. We walked alongside Lake Bolsena for most of the day but we were most excited by the fact that last night we slept in a room with a real Picasso on the wall. This morning we were given a tour of the palace we stayed in by the young son Francesco and it's b...

So here we are in Bolsena which is a huge inland lake after an easy walk of only 14 miles. Every farmer in Italy is ploughing today and every field is full of tractors turning over the soil. It's a big area for growing wheat but also lots of olives. So it almost feels like autumn here apart from the warm sunshine. Tonight our B and B is a 15th century palace. Hugely surprised when Francesco let us in and explained that his home was also open to the public and w...

A rare pic of us both together at the top of the fortress at Radicofani. It's describes as where the Via Francigena meets the sky. It was a very long 20 plus miles to get there and it was looming above us most of the way, but one of the best walks though the valley of the Orcia. We arrived very tired and went into a local shop to be met by the village Sophia Loren,aged 70, and were treated to a cheese tasting and pan forte tasting and a long explanation about ...

Two days out of Siena and the scenery is just getting better. Roger describes it as unending Cotswolds, but I don't recall as many vineyards around Chipping Campden. It's Montepuliciano country and the harvest is in. In fact the vines are just beginning to change colour and lose their leaves. The fields are all ploughed and we've had real autumn mists first thing in the morning, not clearing until after 10. But the photo is our breakfast this morning . I used to...

It's a problem having a rest day in such a beautiful city. Part of you wants to see it all but most of you wants to put your feet up and relax . So we did see the amazing black and white cathedral,but with very little sense of god or worship there. And the piazza del campo where the Palio horse race takes place. It's a huge tradition with teams based on families and it all really matters. It's a city of young people with so many students and copes well with the t...