Sarzana

Another hard day! We left Aulla at 6.30am and didn’t arrive in Sarzana until at least 2.30pm! And today there was still a lot of climbing to do up and down, as we took the off road route.

Aulla was 64m high, we climbed to almost 600m at some points, and ended in Sarzana at 28m high.

The early morning was quite misty:

The terrain was indeed rough as our guide had warned us. Lots of sharp, loose, slippery rocks to negotiate for very long stretches, both up and down steep slopes.

I don’t have photos of the rough spots as it’d have been too dangerous to take the eyes off the ground or the hands off the walking poles even for a moment to take pics, but I do have some of the nice forest stretches:

An old village and the ruins of an ancient castle:

And after our picnic break around 11am the sun was out and truly hot! That didn’t help us at the end, when we’re exhausted, grumpy, and without our usual mojo 🙂

Our picnic spot:

But we survived!

This is the start of the road along a canal leading into Sarzana:

And now after a shower and some rest (plus gelato and ice packs of course) things are looking pretty good again!

We’re staying at the Albergo Viletta. We didn’t like the sloppy shower, but love the comfy beds and air con. We’ll soon leave for dinner in town at Da Carlo, a restaurant recommended by fellow pilgrim Mariana. She’s now ahead of us and sometimes sends us hints for future stages.