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The story of the walk - 11 May 2008

1270 miles completed, 20 miles left

Before completing my visit to Florence I managed to undertake one of the nicest walks I have had so far. On May 1st I had walked along both sides of the river and noticed a church or similar looking building up in the hills above the city and decided that I would investigate further.

The building was indeed a church, called San Miniato al Monte and between it and the city was the Piazza Michelangelo. There are two routes that you can follow once you have crossed the river, one involves climbing over a hundred steps which enables you stop at three stages to take in the views and the other is the longer route which follows the road that winds around the hill. I took the longer route on the way out and decided that before visiting the church I would carry on for a few miles and take in the countryside and escape the tourists. Eventually it was time to start the walk back towards the city and arriving at the church was amazed at the number people waiting to go in.

The church has several works of art dating from the 12th century. The main door is known as the holy door because it is reputed that the bodies of Christian martyrs were found there. This is another famous building and is worth a visit if ever you go to Florence because the artwork above the uppermost altar is impressive.

In front of the church is the monumental cemetery known as the Porte Sante where many famous people are buried including Carlo Lorenzini who under the pseudonym of Carlo Collodi wrote Pinocchio.

Beside the church is another cemetery which contains one of the most visually moving memorials I have come across. It is the grave of a young couple who died a year apart in the mid 1940's, neither was more than 30yrs old at the time of their death and even after nearly 70 yrs the white marble that covers their grave looks brand new. On top of the grave are two life sized figures in wedding attire and again it is gleaming white.

Leaving the church I decided to follow the steps down to the Piazza Michelangelo by which time the area was full of tourist coaches and the usual sellers of sunglasses, camera tripods etc. If you can find a spot near the front of the piazza you are rewarded with a superb panoramic view of the city. Following the steps down to the next level there is a smaller area where you can still have a view across the city before descending the remaining steps to the outskirts of the city and back towards Ponte Vecchio.

Onwards then to Grosseto, a large town surrounded by open country, a welcome change after two weeks in cities. I would not have missed them though because of the opportunities that my daily walks provided in terms of sights.

In the middle of modern Grosseto is the old town surrounded by the original walls. It does not take long to find your way into the countryside and despite the temperatures being in the mid to high 20’s, the scenery and the chance to be in opens pace is worth it.

Towards the end of the week I was joined by Cate and Linda. You may remember that Cate had started the walk with me and accompanied me for the first week. Both Cate and Linda had worked with my late wife and they had decided to join me for the remaining week of the journey to Rome. Although it was difficult at first adjusting to a slower walking pace, it was nice to have some company after being on my own for so long.

The highlight of the visit to Grosseto has to be when Linda who was enjoying a cup of tea in a café saw a lady open her bag from which two long ears poked out followed by the rest of the animal - a rabbit!! It made a change from the normal fashion accessory for the French and Italians - small dogs, who don't seem to do much walking but do get carried around a lot.

I must say a public thank you to an American author, Angela Nickerson, who contacted me to say that she had come across my website by accident and thought that it was a wonderful tribute to my wife. Angela offered to donate a signed copy of her latest book "A journey into Michaelangelo's Rome" for the auction we are holding in July when we have the charity golf day. I readily accepted and a copy is on its way from the States as I write. This was a real boost especially when I thought about the fact that out of the 35+ celebrities I wrote to in the UK before I left, only 4 had bothered to respond and only 2 had actually been from the person themselves the other 2 were signed photographs from their agents.

Tomorrow it is on to Civitavecchia, the final stop before Rome and if all goes well I will complete the remaining miles and I will also complete a further ten miles to make the total 1300 miles. This will then leave the final five miles that mark the final stage of the walk.

As Rome gets nearer, I am not sure how I will feel when I start the last walk from the hotel where my wife and I stayed 3 years ago to walk to the Vatican or how I will feel when I arrive on the steps of St Peter’s. Although I have said it will be alright, I cannot help but think that it is going to be more emotional then I have been prepared to accept - realism time I guess. A cameraman will be there to capture the moment as well as my eldest son and Anne's two sisters. Representatives of one of the charities will also be there and the film of my arrival ill be shown on one of the regional TV stations back home, hopefully somebody will record it for me so I can enjoy it.

I will let you know how the day went in the final diary of the walk. In the meantime, I want to thank all of you who have contacted me with messages of support or comments on the diaries (all positive thank goodness) and to those who have sponsored me. I am sure that there are other people out there who may have been waiting for me to complete the walk before donating, well I am in sight of the finishing line so please go online (www.return2romance.co.uk) and follow the "donate now "link and help me get to that £50,000 for the four charities.

Previously on Nigels walking adventures......

Raising funds for charities and celebrating a life