day 44 - Aulla to Sarzana - day 11 for 2026

•  day 44 - day 11 for 2026
• Thursday, 7 May 2026
• Aulla to Sarzana - 18 km today – by bus
• 1 011 km on my Via Francigena before today
•       18 km for today
• 1 029 km on my Via Francigena (188 km for 2026)

The trip notes from Gronze.com for this sector say ‘one of the hardest stages of the Via Francigena takes place”. Having yesterday had my hardest day ever, I am not kern to have another. Nadine and I discuss this over morning cappuccino. She us keen and after exploring the start of a possible road alternative, we mutually abandon that idea. Nadine turns right up a steep road and I return back into Aulla to seek a bus or train solution.

I can see bus stops along an arterial road through the town and note they are all on the other side of my Greenway (former railway). And a local confirms this. After walking the length of the village the nearest bus stop is on a fast flowing road with a vey narrow grass shoulder. A mum with a 3 year old and an 18 month old join me. The bus comes, stops in the middle of the single lane and ee clamber aboard. It eventually stops where others are lined up. A bus turns up on time and we clamber aboard using the wide door that is normally the exit. And a few minutes later we are almost back where I started. Except now there are several buses waiting for simething. We all scramble off and the driver waves away any payment. A younger guy seeks out the bus that will drop me at Sarzana, a little over 12 km away by road.. This is lical bus si avariett if set diwn and puck ups. And I see another braided river – wide with much gravel washed out from the nearby hills – just not much water flow at present.

I am dropped at Sarzana central and find it is market day. Mainly womens clothing vlfilling the piazza and surrounding streets.

 I make my way to the parish church that operates the ostello – it is close to the camino path. It is a relatively new building (less than 60 years okd is my guess. I “camp” there for over an hour and read the morning office for the past week. I find an out of the way place to put my pack in plain view and go to survey the town. The only notable find is the church of S Andrew – while centuries old it has been ‘tidied up” (my words) with limited art work. For me it was a pleasure to spend a few monents there.

A light lunch and a but more wanderibg around and getting lost helps pass the time.

Also keeping in touch with Nadine. In one message she describes crawling up on hands and knees to reach the summit. A funsk message tells me the road she will enter the town. I go to greet her only to find work for a new bridge means she will have a diversion.

I retire to the church, find the ostello and check in. And Nadine arrives. We natter for a while and learn her journey today was 21 km – certainly not a walk in the park And compares with the 17.5 km in the Cronze trip notes for this stage.

We agree to buy food at a Conrad super market (much like a smaller New World). For €6.58 we dine each like a king and queen with avocado, fine carrot slices, baby tomatoes, sluced tasty cheese, a hamburger pattie each and citron flavoured YoMo each.

And so to our own beds.

The days from Friday to Tuesday: if I described them as hard, I had not been properly prepared. Today was a short distance but by far was the hardest day I’ve ever had. We left at 07h and had a straightforward starting bit. But from then until after 12 noon we were in forest the whole time. That was the good news. The bad news is that we were traipsing from one valley to another up forest tracks filled with water and stones of all shapes snd sizes. Plus it was raining almost continuosly. Fed up after nearly five hours of slog we took to the roads and reached the northern end of Aulla and found a café for a cold drink and a chocolate brioche.

The hostel is found and there are six of us. One couple is cycling and started ar Cassio this morning. By comparison ee started from Cassio on Sunday morning.

Looking ahead we note the 18 km tomorrow is similar to today – through otherwise untouched bush / forest. We will find another way.

And so to our own beds.