- Day 40 - day 7 for 2026
- Sunday, 3 May 2026
- Cassio to Berceto - 11 km today
- 940 km on my Via Francigena
- 11 km for today
- 951 km on my Via Francigena (115 km for 2026)
At 11 km this was expected to be a walk in the park. It turned out to be anything but.
Nadine and I agreed on a 07h start. Just before we set off, we take a photo of the far hills from the same spot we took a photo of the sun about to set behind the same hills.
We are off and I note our altitude is 840 metres above sea level (840 m asl).
We do not break any records for the 3 km to Cavazolla. Here the path leaves the road and enters a forest. The path has been well used by heavy vehicles and is deeply rutted with wster from the rains many days before adding an interesting feature. Our heads are downward looking. We catch up with a couple that had entered the forest a few minutes before us. We all ponder which of the branches ahead we should take. It is then ee notice we are well of route. We retrace our steps and after about 500 metres notice a very steep track to our left with a large Via Francigena sign pointing up.
Even in the Tararua mountains I have not encountered anything so steep. We rise from 760 m asl to over 900 m asl covering 1 km of distance emerging through a village to keep on rising. The pain continues. We rise just over 100 m of elevation but along narrow tracks with rubble generously strewn about making it hard for me to keep my balance.
A feature of this route is the many times we are taken up a hillock – I measure msny of them at over 1000 m asl. I have been this high only three times before – twice in the Tararua’s and once in the Pyrenees when crossing from France into Spain. Is is late Spring so the conditions are OK.
The descent into Berceto is quite rapid, dropping 200 m of elevation over less than 2 km.
We find our hostel for the night and begin the wind down.
We will look for a meal about 19h (7pm) although it is Sunday ...
And so to our own beds.
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