Stage 36b: Gallina to Radicofani. Larks, swifts, cuckoos and 'planes. Part 1.

It was "Climb Every Mountain, Ford Every Stream" today, after breakfast, serenaded by larks and swifts, looking out towards my destination of Radicofani, with its unfeasibly large donjon away on the horizon.

Agriturismo Passalacqua is one of the special memorable places on my Via, perched on a hilltop with incredible panoramas and a host of great warmth and kindness. It was sad to leave, walking downhill to the valley, fording several streams, till climbing the old Via Cassia,

which goes to Rome, and looking back on the farm above the ploughed field in the centre right of this shot. 

Then alongside the river Orcia

and the new Via Cassia, trying, unsuccessfully, to visit some reputedly very hot springs, at San Filippo and being thwarted by an unfordable ford. I did, however, stumble upon this flowery glade.