After the amazing Bagno Vignoni I took a more adventurous detour today and then rejoined the Via Francigena after Castiglione d’Orcia. It’s then a little dull until the river and then the climb to Radicofani.

• 37.4km, 1228m climb

• 4h 08m moving, 6h 30m elapsed

• 72% off-road, Sun, 19°C average, 31°C max

Highlights

• Early morning sun and mists at this time of year around Alto Vignoni. The light was amazing.

• There’s a better route down to Bagno Vignoni than the official route… in that it brings you directly to the village and ancient pool.

• Bagno Vignoni. Ancient thermal springs. There’s the main village set around a pool (that is no longer used for bathing) and then wilder lower part where the hot water has flowed for centuries creating a special landscape.

• I took a detour away from the Via Francigena path because it seemed there was only a road up to Castiglione d’Orcia. Wanting to be off-road some more, I followed the river Orcia along some rough paths, passing old mining areas until eventually coming to a ford. I’d asked a local cycle tour leader in Bagno Vignoni if this was possible to cross and he said I shouldn’t go this way… but he was wrong. He wouldn’t have been wrong if there had been rain in the past few days… you could see the river height had been perhaps 1-2m above where it was today; and it would have been suicidal to cross.

• The Rocca di Tentennano (the big castle thing you can clearly see from Alto and Bagno Vignoni) and the small village to the north of it are part of Castiglione d’Orcia but were quiet and deserted. A very eerie feeling.

• A special mention to the home made porchetta panini at BAR Panini Ai Sapori Di Una Volta that I had for lunch. It’s slightly off the Via Franigena walking route but is the only bar/restaurant between Castiglione and Radicofani. It’s also excellent. 5 out of 5.

• After lunch I followed the path along the banks of the Formone river (which on the map seems to flow into the Orcia). As with earlier in the day, there were clear signs of devastation from powerful flash floods. It was clear the river level had been 1-2m higher than it was today; just being on these paths would have been frightening under those conditions. In places the entire path had been washed away; trees were uprooted and carried down the river.

• Radicofani is a great little town. The views from the top of the fortress were amazing.

Lowlights

• There was a strange big asphalt road going on for a km or so straight up the mountain towards Radicofani. It’s falling apart and doesn’t seem used by cars any longer. Very odd.