Good news from the Sponsor side

My wife Chris is keeping track of the status of the sponsoring for AMAR. Uptill now we have 60 Eurocent for each Km that is done! Thanks a lot for all those who contributed, this keeps me going!

Day 14 Lago Transimeno

Lago Transimeno not far from my camping place.

When I wake up, I do not feel too well in my stomach, but the trail is very nice and I can follow some marked trails, which makes it easy to find my way. On the last climb before arriving in Vernazzano I'm really out of Gas and not feeling well, but on arrival I find a bed to sleep and refill the tank. I decide to stay here for more 2 days before I continue the 5day walk to La Verna on the GR50, that will bring me in the Apennines. The Apennines that I will be in for about one month. Up till now I have done in 14 walk days 378 km's, and I do not regret of a single step I have set.

Day 13 Around Perugia

I'm still 25 bird km's from the Lago di Transimeno, this will not be feasible in one day. See where we can get. This quest is a journey through Space-Time&Emotion to me. Today it's the Emotion that's the most significant as my daughter gets her second child, as I'm informed by GSM the boy is named Cisse. Its not be because there is a physical distance, that I'm far away of what is taken place. The scenery is dominated today by the Monte Tezio, a mountain that gives a nice view on Perugia, Assisi and the Lago Transimeno. But today I will go to the top  and sleep for the first time in my tent near Castel Rigione where a have an excellent outlook on the Lake. A camping place with a view!

Day 12 Crossing the Tiber

It's a smooth walk down to the Tiber,  the last km's in what was in the millennium BC the UMBRA territory. By crossing the Tiber I will enter the land between Tiber and Arno where Etrusks lived. The Tiber is going his slow way back to Rome but I have to climb to 650m out of the valley between Perugia and the Monte Tezio, the sun is burning and by refilling my water bottle, I forgot my stick: Penalty 2 un-sponsered extra km's and some 100m back down and up. At the end of the day I find in MonteBagnolo a AgroTourismo run for more than 30 years by a gentle German couple. The treat me with all hospitality they can give, and that a lot!

Day 11 From Foligno to Assisi

Today I go from Foligno by the Roman city Spello to Assisi following a trail on the Monte Subasio. I choose to follow a trail not too high on the Mountain, the top lies on 1230, and I did this before. This is the first day that the rain is not invited to the party. I'm not alone as everywhere people are searching for the delicious green asspargi. I cross an lovely old chapel in the middle of the wood, but for how long it will be more than a sign on the map? Arriving in Assisi I feel a bit uncomfortable with all the people crossing around, although I admire the figure of St Francis I can not associate it with this tourist city and the country around gives a better fit for me. So it's not Assisi, because the streets are pretty and buildings impressive and its not St Francis but the combination of these 2.

Day 10 Direction Subasio

After the sunny day yesterday I should not complain about some rain today with the forecast of a sunny period in a few days. The first go to Bavanga a little town, but with great architecture. I can follow for a long stretch the path along a river that brings me to the heart of Foligno with his magnificent palazzo Trinci. I think that's here that Esher learned how to paint his palazzo's.

Day 9 Through the valley of Spoleto

Once again the scenery is completely different from the one of the day before from the wild Umbria to the mild one, the land of agriculture. When I left Spoleto for some km's I pass by a enormous prison in the fields, people waiting outside to visit their relatives. What I contrast with the free bird I am, this makes me silent. The city of Trevi is present the whole day the landscape. It's a flat day until the final km's when it goes up to Montefalco, the balcony of Umbria with a great view from Assis to Spoleto, and on the mountain range that separate us from the Tiber, a river that we will meet again in Perugia.