Stage 12: Trevi nel Lazio to Collepardo

As I came out the door all I could hear were the birds serenading each other, an Italian dawn chorus, that is long after dawn! The bright morning light spilling across the valley to the mountains covered in trees and the stillness of the town, with no cars or any sound of life other than the birds made for a good pause before I headed off to fill up on coffee and pastries. There was a time pressure today when I set out, again not knowing what the day would hold. I wanted to arrive in Collepardo around 3.30pm so my hosts to take me to Trisulti Charterhouse which I had read much about, but would not be able to walk past due to the other side of the road being closed. 

What was particularly striking was passing through ancient Roman pathways and communication roads through these hills, where people had walked thousands of years before, and moved goods and materials up and down these mountains on a regular basis. These lands are now forgotten, stumbled upon by occasional hikers and pilgrims. How quickly things pass into irrelevance. The light dancing across the mountains seemed to know this too, as the clouds moved casting shadows across the range the beautiful light, Bella Luce, brought the greenery all the more to life, fleeting and changing with the wind. 

In order to get to Collepardo in time I needed to keep going. There were many times I would have liked to pause a little longer, but I needed to keep the pace up. Equally there were times, especially when negotiating the steep incline down that I just wanted to give up, more than once I was tempted to simply sit down and slide, and hope for the best — which would almost certainly have been disastrous. I was getting tired and hungry and I couldn’t see an end in sight, but I knew I had to keep going. But sometimes there is nothing to do but keep going. 

I did arrive in time, and make it to the charterhouse and where the light alone took my breath away, but Trisulti deserves a post all of its own, so that will have to wait.