Historical Archives : Our Wanderlust

Premužić Trail, Croatia

07/07/202306/12/2023 Our Wanderlust 7 Comments

Zagreb is scaffolded, still in a state of repair after the 2020 earthquake that struck hours after the city went into lockdown. There are rules for when there is an earthquake, but when there is an earthquake at the same time as there is a global pandemic, then it’s a much more complex situation.

We have time enough to wander the streets and visit the enchanting Gallery of Naive Art and the poignant Museum of Broken Relationships but we are here to walk the Premužić Trail with our Zagreb-based friend Kaylee. Early one morning, we leave the city and drive up through mist and fog to the Zavižan mountain refuge, the start of the walk.

Anna walking a winding dirt road towards Sutera nestled at the foot of Mount San Paolino

Magna Via Francigena, Sicily

11/06/202309/11/2023 Our Wanderlust 34 Comments

A last wander along the shoreline before we turn inland to walk across the mountains and plains of Sicily on the Magna Via Francigena. Fishermen mending their nets. A large-scale mural; a memorial to the magistrates Falcone and Borsellino, both assassinated by the Mafia. It is bold in its presence and tender in its rendering.

Finis Terrae: to the end of the earth on the Via Francigena Sud

27/05/202315/11/2023 Our Wanderlust 15 Comments

Waves breaking on the rocky shore. Pebbles sighing. Ferries plying the waters of the Adriatic. Fishing boats out at sea. We’re walking the Via Francigena Sud, a 950-kilometre route following the ancient Appian Way southwards from Rome. After walking through Lazio and across the mountains of Campania, we arrive in the port city of Bari. From here, we’ll hug the coastline until we reach Santa Maria di Leuca on the southernmost tip of the Salento peninsula, where the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea meet.

Apennines to the Adriatic, Via Francigena Sud

15/05/202315/11/2023 Our Wanderlust 8 Comments

We wake to the deep silence of the contemplative Monastery of Santa Catarina. There’s heavy rain forecast and it comes early. The beautiful Trebulani Mountains are lost to us. We’re walking the Via Francigena Sud, a 950 km route following the Appian Way southwards from Rome. After 10 days in Lazio, we turn inland towards the mountainous Campania.

Ten Days in Lazio, Via Francigena Sud

30/04/202315/11/2023 Our Wanderlust 22 Comments

One fine spring morning, we stepped out to walk the Via Francigena Sud. It’s a 950-kilometre route following the ancient Appian Way from Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca. Emperors, poets and popes have gone before us, as have pilgrims and crusaders bound for the Holy Land.

Looking back on the Via degli Dei, a Medici villa sits high on a ridge, highlighted by the sun

Via degli Dei (Path of Gods), Italy

06/09/202225/10/2023 Our Wanderlust 13 Comments

Late one summer, we set out to walk the Via degli Dei, an ancient pathway travelled since the time of the Etruscans. The 130-kilometre-long path crosses the beautiful Apennines, linking Bologna with Florence. It threads through forests, across mountain ridges and in and out of old Italian villages.

Pagan divinities give names to the mountains that the route crosses; Adonis, Jupiter, Venus and Lua, the goddess of atonement. They also give the route its name; the Path of Gods.

Geoff and Finn examine the mural depicting each of the towns along the Thames Path

Thames Path, England

13/08/202202/12/2022 Our Wanderlust Leave a comment

Mid-Summer, 2022

Our Thames Path walk takes us from the source of the river in the rolling Cotswold Hills, through historic cities, quaint villages and beguiling English countryside before passing through the heart of London and finishing at the Thames flood barrier. It’s a meandering journey of 185 miles (300 kilometres).

A pilgrim on the Via Francigena walks past a mural depicting pilgrims walking to Rome

Via Francigena: All Roads Lead to Rome

25/07/202201/01/2023 Our Wanderlust 18 Comments

In Tuscany, all the roads to Rome converge. After walking by ourselves for 1,600 kilometres, we become part of a loose band of pilgrims that coalesces, embracing solitude by day and sociability in the evenings.

A pilgrim, red hair glowing in the morning sun, walks on the Via Francigena

Via Francigena: Walking into Tuscany

09/07/202201/01/2023 Our Wanderlust 21 Comments

After we leave the beautiful mountains of the Alps behind, we descend through the foothills of Piedmont and enter the flatlands of the Po Valley.

For hundreds of kilometres, we walk among flooded rice paddies and follow canals, past abandoned and now derelict Cascine, farm complexes where peasant families lived and worked their entire life under the control of the farm owner.

Red poppies line the Via Francigena path as a pilgrim walks past

Via Francigena: The Western Front

24/05/202231/12/2022 Our Wanderlust 6 Comments

We walk the Via Francigena as it follows the bloodied battlelines of the Western Front. For hundreds of kilometres, almost every village we pass through bears the scars of the death and destruction of WW1.

Out from Calais, we walk through a landscape still hollowed out by war. Shell holes, deep craters and bunkers collapsing onto the beach, the sand tilting them, the sea slowly subsuming them.

Category: Historical

Premužić Trail, Croatia

Like this:

Magna Via Francigena, Sicily

Like this:

Finis Terrae: to the end of the earth on the Via Francigena Sud

Like this:

Apennines to the Adriatic, Via Francigena Sud

Like this:

Ten Days in Lazio, Via Francigena Sud

Like this:

Via degli Dei (Path of Gods), Italy

Like this:

Thames Path, England

Mid-Summer, 2022

Like this:

Via Francigena: All Roads Lead to Rome

Like this:

Via Francigena: Walking into Tuscany

Like this:

Via Francigena: The Western Front

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Mid-Summer, 2022

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: