Grampians Peaks Trail, Gariwerd, Australia
Prelude
The Grampians Peaks Trail is an epic walk, full of beauty, grandeur and challenge. Along its 165 kilometres, it climbs over rugged peaks and crosses tough, rocky terrain as it traverses Gariwerd from Mt Zero in the north to Dunkeld in the south. Are we being foolhardy, setting out on a 13-day journey into the heart of this ancient, craggy country?
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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.
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.
We walked the Via Francigena Sud in May 2023, setting out southwards from Rome after researching options and seeking advice from local experts. We loved the walk and wrote a three-part account of it on this website. Since then, we’ve provided information to others interested in the route and thought we should share this more widely. We hope it piques your interest in walking the Via Francigena Sud and assists your planning.
The Via Francigena Sud is promoted as the newest, ancient pilgrimage. It’s based on the oldest known record of Christian pilgrimage, written in 333 CE by the Pilgrim of Bordeaux, who documented his return journey from the Holy Lands.
For centuries, the Via Francigena in southern Italy was a general route rather than a defined road, used by northern Europeans to walk south from Rome to the ports from where they sailed to the Holy Land.
The modern Via Francigena Sud opened in 2019 and extends from Rome to Santa Maria Di Leuca, the finis terrae of Italy. It’s a (mostly) well-marked route with guidebooks, apps, and GPS tracks to assist pilgrims. History abounds along the way. You’ll start soaking it up as soon as you step out on the Via Appia, a largely pedestrian path lined with Roman funerary monuments.
We enjoyed walking through history, exploring coastlines, rivers and mountains, and savouring delicious southern Italian food. Despite our lack of Italian, our many friendly interactions with locals were a real highlight.
Like many on this route, we had already walked the Via Francigena but when we returned home, we felt we had unfinished business in Italy. So, less than a year later, we set out southwards from Rome.
You can gain an insight into the experience of walking the Via Francigena Sud by reading our account of walking from Rome to the heel of Italy.
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.
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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.
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It’s a very good question and one that we asked ourselves when we met Helaine on the Via de la Plata in 2008. She had started and intended to finish the Via Francigena. To be honest, we thought it a crazy notion.
Then, towards the end of 2021, after two years of COVID lockdowns and restrictions, we started wondering how we should respond to the constraints; sometimes we hadn’t been able to walk further than 5 km from our home (Melbourne, Australia). As we talked, it became clear that to put COVID-19 behind us we needed to walk, and the further the better. Helaine and the Via Francigena re-entered our consciousness. To walk 2,000 km over three months through five countries felt like the appropriate way to embrace a newly re-opened world.
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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.
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).
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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.
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