Stage 45: La Storta to Rome. The last post? Not quite. Part 1.

I made it to St Peter's!  

On the one hand, so easy to sum it up in six words, on the other, a day concluding four years of planning, training and doing the thing; so much coming together at one time in one place.

The day started with a very early train back to La Storta, trying to avoid both the strike at 08.30, and the rain forecast for the afternoon. I felt very emotional, partly because of a stampede of night mustangs, and partly because I was aware that this was the final stage. Some cheering words from home perked me up, as I found a stamp in the first cafe after the station, and set off along rush hour Via Cassia, 

mendaciously described as a 3km stretch, Strava giving that the lie at 5km. It's all pavement (US sidewalk), thankfully, apart from a very short stretch and not uphill.

Then a long break from modern Roman traffic, through a slightly muddy, wet, weed-lined path after heavy overnight rain, along a mainly flat valley in La Insugherata.