My training for the c2c has been around the hills and valleys of Valleriana, the valleys to the north of Pescia in northern Tuscany. This is a heavily wooded area with steep-sided valleys providing the tributaries to the River Pescia on which are situated a number of paper-mills, an industry that has thrived for centuries. There are ten main hill top villages, le dieci castellae, the roads and ancient tracks connecting these villages form the basis for my training walks. By finding smaller pathways which inter-connect with the ancient tracks I have been able to build quite a 'dossier' of walks of varying lengths - from a simple 5km (3miles) up to 35 km (22miles), and most of these are straight from my own door-step. The added advantage, as far as training for the c2c, is that the village that I live in is 350 metres (1100ft) above the valley floor, and there is still another ascent of 250metres to the next village. From the valley floor, Ponte di Sorana (206m), up the other side of the valley there is an ascent of 900metres (almost 3000ft) to the summit of Mt Battifolle (1109m.). A bit like the English Lake District without the lakes!
The following are views around the valley from the village where I live. The photos when linked together show an area which forms an excellent ridge trail from Mt Battifolle (1109m), - photo 4- towards Pescia, in the distance in photo 1, a round trip of about 24km (15miles).
Photo 1. From Vellano looking south down the valley towards Pescia
Photo 2. From Vellano across to Medicina (530m) on the hillside and Calamari (200m) in the valley, with the ridge of Aramo in the middle-ground.
Photo 3. Towards San Quirico (520m) with Aramo (400m) in the middle-ground
Photo 4. Towards Mt. Battifolle (1109m) with S. Quirico (520m) on it's flanks.The longest walk around these hills, to date, was from Vellano - Ponte di Sorana - S. Quirico - Mt. Battifolle - north along the ridge towards Penna di Lucchio - Croce a Veglia (847m) - Mt. Lignana (863m) - Sorana (425m) - Ponte di Sorana - Vellano, a distance of 35 km. I was out for 10.5hrs, of which the walking time was 8.75hrs. The map is shown below with arrows denoting the direction of travel.
Copyright, Instituto Geografico Militaire, Italia - courtesy S.E.L.C.A Firenze
Photo 5. Vellanobill meets Battifollebill(ies) trekking.
Photo 6. M. Battifolle and the ridge going to Croce a Veglia
Photo 7. Penna di Lucchio - left that to be climbed another day!
Photo 8. From Croce a Veglia looking down the Pescia valley
Photo 9. My refuge from the storm on Lignana
Photo 10. Foreground Il Traspo Agriturismo, Vellano with, in the background, M.Lignana (863m)
Three consecutive days walking
As well as the need to have an endurance day, as described above, to prove to myself that I can walk all day across hilly terrain and cover at least 22 miles (35km), I also have to test myself for three consecutive days of walking approximately 14 or 15 miles per day with a full day-sac. This week, in mid-June, is the latest that I can do this here in Tuscany. The temperatures are already rising and 30degrees C, by 11.00 am is not unusual and they will get higher as we approach August.
Wednesday 15th June 2011
Vellano (550m) - Luciorana - Obaca - Casa Nardi - Calimari (200m) - Via delle Vallee - Road towards Vellano - wooded trail to Vellano - Road to Macchino - Romita (805m) - wooded trail to Cava Obacina (quarry) - Luciorana - Obaca - Casa Nardi - Vellano. A distance of 23km (14.5miles) with a height gain of 600m (2000ft). This gets a bit repetitive as parts of the route are walked twice, marked with '2' in the map below, but builds up the distance! And I will do this same route on Friday!
Copyright, Instituto Geografico Militaire, Italia - courtesy S.E.L.C.A Firenze
Wednesday morning at 7.15am with a blue sky and a cool breeze everything seemed perfect as I strode out through Obaca and down towards Calamari with a 7kg day-sack on my back (including 3 litres of water). Then the temperature started to rise, mid-twenties by 9.00am, and as I started to the steep climb out of Calamari the heat and the weight of the day-sack made it heavy-going, though I was still able to maintain over 4kph. There was a welcome relief in the shade provided by woods just south of Vellano which I took advantage of to have my first snack stop at 9.30am, after 10.5km. Continuing the climb up through Vellano to Macchino involved 2.5km of road walking, again a shady tree provided some relief for 5mins. By now the temperature was up to 30degrees. Another kilometre of road took me into the welcoming shade of the wooded trail past Romita, past the timber loggers with their chainsaws, (see 'scribbles' page) and back down towards Vellano, a bit more road and back through the quarry - where I had been five hours earlier - along a ridge to the trail to Luciorana, then Obaca and back to Vellano. Arrived back at 1.30pm, a total time of 6hours and 15mins., and a walking time of 5hours 10mins with an average walking speed of 4.4 kilometres per hour. Tomorrow I will have to start earlier to try to beat the heat, forecast is 33-35 degrees, which can be quite debilitating!
Thursday 16th June 2011
Vellano (550m) - Ponte di Sorana (210m) - Mulino Monti -San Quirico (520m)- Pian Beatrice (848m) - Madonna del Tamburino - San Quirico - Mulino Monti - Ponte di Sorana - Vellano. A distance of 21km (13miles approx) with a height gain of over 600m (2000ft) on the outward trip, and 300m (1000ft) returning up to Vellano at the end. - see map below.
Set off at 6.40am, definitely a lot cooler than yesterday morning, I made good time to S. Quirico, arriving about 8.15am where I found shelter from the sun on a bench under the trees outside of the cemetery. I had a chat with a Swedish guy, he has a house in S. Quirico, but was only visiting for the summer - his parents had been part of the exodus in the 1950s that were recruited for work in Sweden when Italy, and rural areas in particular, was so impoverished after WWII. But it is strange how certain villages in Valleriana supplied workers to particular countries. Another village, Stiappa, further up the valley was almost depleted when many of the local residents sought work almost exclusively in France.
Then it was onward and upward along the stony trail that looked, and felt, more like a dried up river-bed than a walking trail. Pian Beatrice was reached at 9.15am with 9.5km covered, and then on to the track downwards. This section provided some welcome shade after the slog up from S. Quirico in the sunshine that had been getting quite hot even early in the morning. So it was an easy 30 minutes stroll to the picnic area in front of the church of the Madonna del Tamburino. No sooner had I sat down and opened up my 'sarnie -pack' than two people appeared from the woods, obviously had been foraging for mushrooms and other woodland delicacies, and given the choice of five or six other empty tables and benches decided to sit next to me! At first I thought they were eyeing up my sarnies! Turned out they were only curious about why someone should want to be walking around the hills, in that heat, with a rucksack on their back. Saying that I was English seemed to satisfy them! Then they told me I should come back on Sunday because there was going to be a big feast at Pian Beatrice - if I do it will be in the 4-wheel drive vehicle.
Another 2km stroll downhill brought me to a turning that led through a narrow wooded trail back to S.Quirico and from there I retraced my steps back to Vellano, finishing with a 300m ascent. A total time of 6hours 30mins and a walking time of 5hours 15minutes.
Thursday 23rd June 2011
Having had a couple of short walks (8km) around the woods above Vellano this week, I drove over to the other side of the valley this morning for an early morning walk from San Quirico to a point in the hills above Medicina and back to S Quirico. It started with a very pleasant woodland trail (see photos below) which provided shelter from the sun that was already quite hot at 7.30am. People foraging - mainly for mushrooms without much success - were looking at me with suspicion as though I had a secret hoard! I almost reached Medicina, but decided that to go on would add too much to my return journey time, and despite the promise of the cool shaded trail at the end there was a good deal of open sun-baked track to walk. Still, 12.5kms (8miles) in less than three hours was good and left me ready for a call into my favourite cafe, Bistrot, back in Vellano for a cappuccino and croissant.
As well as the need to have an endurance day, as described above, to prove to myself that I can walk all day across hilly terrain and cover at least 22 miles (35km), I also have to test myself for three consecutive days of walking approximately 14 or 15 miles per day with a full day-sac. This week, in mid-June, is the latest that I can do this here in Tuscany. The temperatures are already rising and 30degrees C, by 11.00 am is not unusual and they will get higher as we approach August.
Wednesday 15th June 2011
Vellano (550m) - Luciorana - Obaca - Casa Nardi - Calimari (200m) - Via delle Vallee - Road towards Vellano - wooded trail to Vellano - Road to Macchino - Romita (805m) - wooded trail to Cava Obacina (quarry) - Luciorana - Obaca - Casa Nardi - Vellano. A distance of 23km (14.5miles) with a height gain of 600m (2000ft). This gets a bit repetitive as parts of the route are walked twice, marked with '2' in the map below, but builds up the distance! And I will do this same route on Friday!
Copyright, Instituto Geografico Militaire, Italia - courtesy S.E.L.C.A Firenze
Wednesday morning at 7.15am with a blue sky and a cool breeze everything seemed perfect as I strode out through Obaca and down towards Calamari with a 7kg day-sack on my back (including 3 litres of water). Then the temperature started to rise, mid-twenties by 9.00am, and as I started to the steep climb out of Calamari the heat and the weight of the day-sack made it heavy-going, though I was still able to maintain over 4kph. There was a welcome relief in the shade provided by woods just south of Vellano which I took advantage of to have my first snack stop at 9.30am, after 10.5km. Continuing the climb up through Vellano to Macchino involved 2.5km of road walking, again a shady tree provided some relief for 5mins. By now the temperature was up to 30degrees. Another kilometre of road took me into the welcoming shade of the wooded trail past Romita, past the timber loggers with their chainsaws, (see 'scribbles' page) and back down towards Vellano, a bit more road and back through the quarry - where I had been five hours earlier - along a ridge to the trail to Luciorana, then Obaca and back to Vellano. Arrived back at 1.30pm, a total time of 6hours and 15mins., and a walking time of 5hours 10mins with an average walking speed of 4.4 kilometres per hour. Tomorrow I will have to start earlier to try to beat the heat, forecast is 33-35 degrees, which can be quite debilitating!
Heading down towards Calamari
Calamari with Aramo on the skyline
Vellano - even the villages are hilly!
The walls of Vellano
Trail through the woods from Macchino to Vellano
Vellano (550m) - Ponte di Sorana (210m) - Mulino Monti -San Quirico (520m)- Pian Beatrice (848m) - Madonna del Tamburino - San Quirico - Mulino Monti - Ponte di Sorana - Vellano. A distance of 21km (13miles approx) with a height gain of over 600m (2000ft) on the outward trip, and 300m (1000ft) returning up to Vellano at the end. - see map below.
Set off at 6.40am, definitely a lot cooler than yesterday morning, I made good time to S. Quirico, arriving about 8.15am where I found shelter from the sun on a bench under the trees outside of the cemetery. I had a chat with a Swedish guy, he has a house in S. Quirico, but was only visiting for the summer - his parents had been part of the exodus in the 1950s that were recruited for work in Sweden when Italy, and rural areas in particular, was so impoverished after WWII. But it is strange how certain villages in Valleriana supplied workers to particular countries. Another village, Stiappa, further up the valley was almost depleted when many of the local residents sought work almost exclusively in France.
Then it was onward and upward along the stony trail that looked, and felt, more like a dried up river-bed than a walking trail. Pian Beatrice was reached at 9.15am with 9.5km covered, and then on to the track downwards. This section provided some welcome shade after the slog up from S. Quirico in the sunshine that had been getting quite hot even early in the morning. So it was an easy 30 minutes stroll to the picnic area in front of the church of the Madonna del Tamburino. No sooner had I sat down and opened up my 'sarnie -pack' than two people appeared from the woods, obviously had been foraging for mushrooms and other woodland delicacies, and given the choice of five or six other empty tables and benches decided to sit next to me! At first I thought they were eyeing up my sarnies! Turned out they were only curious about why someone should want to be walking around the hills, in that heat, with a rucksack on their back. Saying that I was English seemed to satisfy them! Then they told me I should come back on Sunday because there was going to be a big feast at Pian Beatrice - if I do it will be in the 4-wheel drive vehicle.
Another 2km stroll downhill brought me to a turning that led through a narrow wooded trail back to S.Quirico and from there I retraced my steps back to Vellano, finishing with a 300m ascent. A total time of 6hours 30mins and a walking time of 5hours 15minutes.
Copyright, Instituto Geografico Militaire, Italia - courtesy S.E.L.C.A Firenze
San Quirico with the hills for tomorrow's walk in the distance
Mulino Monti - an old mill
The final stretch - except have to climb up to Vellano on top of hill ahead
Friday 17th June 2011
Vellano (550m) - Road to Macchino - Romita (805m) - wooded trail to Cava Obacina (quarry) - Luciorana - Obaca - Casa Nardi - Calimari (200m) - Via delle Vallee - Road towards Vellano - wooded trail towards Vellano - Vellano. A distance of 19.5km (12miles) with a height gain of 600m (2000ft).
A variation on Wednesday's walk. I left Vellano at 6.45am and headed up to Macchino first, 2.5km road-walk, and then back down through the woods to the quarry before making my way to Calamari. This saved the continuous climb of 600metres up from the valley floor, Calamari, to Macchino in one go. On the way up from Calamari, I had the pleasure of having an espresso stop with one of our friends, George, who had been working on his land. I told him he was crazy working in that heat - he just looked at me! Perhaps we were both crazy! Although it was still very hot, today's walk seemed more of a stroll, perhaps it was getting the road-walk up to Macchino done in the cool of the early morning, or the chat and espresso with George. The total time out was 5hours with a walking time of 4hours 30minutes, an average walking speed of 4.33km per hour.
Review of Training walks
A very good exercise, though ideally this should be done closer to the actual walk preferably in August but it will be too hot then to be doing more than8 km (5miles) early morning walks. In many ways these three days have been very similar to what I will experience on the first three days of the actual walk - except for the heat!
c2c Training walks
km/miles Total Ascent (m) km/miles Total Ascent (m)
Day 1 23 / 14.25 350 23 / 14.5 600
Day 2 24 / 15 800 21 / 13 900
Day 3 13.7/ 8.5 450 19.5 / 12 600
Total 60.7 / 37.75 1600 63.5 / 39.5 2100
Thursday 23rd June 2011
Having had a couple of short walks (8km) around the woods above Vellano this week, I drove over to the other side of the valley this morning for an early morning walk from San Quirico to a point in the hills above Medicina and back to S Quirico. It started with a very pleasant woodland trail (see photos below) which provided shelter from the sun that was already quite hot at 7.30am. People foraging - mainly for mushrooms without much success - were looking at me with suspicion as though I had a secret hoard! I almost reached Medicina, but decided that to go on would add too much to my return journey time, and despite the promise of the cool shaded trail at the end there was a good deal of open sun-baked track to walk. Still, 12.5kms (8miles) in less than three hours was good and left me ready for a call into my favourite cafe, Bistrot, back in Vellano for a cappuccino and croissant.
