Stage 41: Viterbo to Vetralla. In which my attempt to avoid a schlepp turns into one. Part 1.

Hoping to steal a march on the day, I queued with sleepy teens at a freezing bus stop at 7am for the Viterbo bus, and rode a bus full of completely silent youngsters.

I got off early at the Porta Romana (just inside which is a great cafè for croissants) pleased to have skipped a schlepp across the city, and set off on the clearly signed path. As I gained height on the long hill, I noticed this sign 

warning of damage to the path and directing me to the Signorino variant of the Via which does not appear on the official app, nor is mentioned anywhere on the official site. By the time I located it in an obscure part of my Via Francigena "app-aratus", I'd walked 3 km in the wrong direction, and had to circle round the southern suburbs to find the other variant, which is much shorter (16km vs 20km). The air was pretty blue, despite the growing heat of the sun, as I roundly cursed all apps