The jump to Gubbio

It was never going to be possible for us to walk all of the Way of St. Francis this time as we have a commitment with the Camino Chaplaincy in Santiago for the month of June. So Robin and I are taking the time that we have to enjoy a sample of this route from the Santuario La Verna to Rome. Today we made our first jump from Sanselpocro to Gubbio. We had received some information from our hotel host last night that was close to what we needed but not exactly. After a night of rain day broke with mostly cloudy skies, but as the morning wore on a spot of blue sky actually appeared here and there. We made our way through Sanselpocro as a Saturday market was setting up. We noticed that the town had a prosperous look about it. Nice shops and restaurants seemed to be the norm, and the town appeared clean, and tidy. Following our given instructions we passed through the city walls and turned left for the train station. As we approached the station the prosperous look took a turn for the worse. Not only was the station in sad shape but the rail cars we noticed as we entered town yesterday afternoon were not graffiti covered derelicts, but graffiti covered active duty trains. A notice above the closed ticket window mentioned something about the bar next door so we shuffled over there looking for information and a ticket. The counter lady spoke good English and sorted us out on how to connect to Gubbio. We fell in with a German couple who had started the Way of St. Francis in Florence but decided they needed a rest day so they also were in the hunt for tickets to Gubbio. We all hopped aboard at the appointed time and off we went into the countryside enjoying what view we had through the spray painted Windows. We eventually found our way to the small town, Umbertide, where we were to connect to by bus to Gubbio. The bus was not scheduled to arrive for another three hours so we got together with our German companions and shared a cab. It all worked out fine. We all piled off at our hotel which was close by the Tourist Office. We checked in and the German couple set off for the Tourist Office in search of lodging. What quickly became apparent was that Gubbio holds an annual festival on May 15th that packs the town. The good news for us is that as the throngs of festival goers pass into Gubbio through the city gates tomorrow we will be passing outbound at the same time. Sorry to miss the party, but we are talking way too many people. The Tourist Office arranged a room for us for tomorrow at an agritourist place about 12 kms from here. It was our only option as pushing on beyond that would have been close to a 40 km day, and Robin and I were not up for that. So, a short day tomorrow which is fine as it is forecasted to be a wet day, and then we have two stages left to reach Assisi. Once in Assisi we will focus on how best to walk to Rome given the days we have left. All is well that leads us to a bed for the night. So from under the covers we wish you buona notte.  

Gubbio

 

Gubbio

Lunch

 

Gubbio

 

What we will we be missing tomorrow