lunch at scarperia’s fattoria il palagio. had risotto of asparagus and thinly sliced beef with mushrooms. liked the risotto, moist and not too rich. portion could be smaller. beef was tender and tasty, again a little too salty for me.
after lunch, walked to the palazzo dei vicari, with its ‘rash of coats of arms on the outside.’
little by little, italian road signs revealed their diabolical intent. getting lost in scarperia, we found ourselves at a junction with a t-sign for the cul-de-sac straight ahead, and then ‘no entry’ and ‘stop’ on the other corners. we turned around.
or the one that said firenze, to the left and again firenze, to the right. or ‘tutte le direzione.’ woohoo, all directions! unless of course, one was going in the direction of the lone town pointing in the other direction.
started walking towards trebbio and then s giovanni in petroio. covered abt 10km of undulating road, dreaming about the perfect hike in which we would walk, sedately, on flat ground, while the most amazing vistas would dip and rise around us. there should be more travellators around.
still, we made do and it was pleasant to be deep in the italian countryside, where cities fell away and nothing to drown out the sound of running water or the crunch of gravel under our feet. except for the cars that came and went at intermittent intervals. like the rain, though it never got too heavy and without which there wouldn’t have been a rainbow. wildlife highlights were few (given the gravel-crunching). half the group saw deer, though we all saw the wild hare. strangely enough, there were no other hikers on the trail.
pleased with our attempt at exercise, we then headed for the coop in borgo. it took us a few passes to get there but it was the largest one yet to our excitement. our grocery bill came to 72 and included more stuff for the bbq, mineral water, ice-cream, yoghurt, fruit juice, tomatoes.
dinner in again. had instant noodles with sausage and lettuce. finished off with pear juice, which was very good indeed.