Via Francigena sud, Brindisi & stage 39 – Brindisi to Torchiarolo

Before the rain starts, we rug up and head to the Ostuni train station – first we buy tickets for the bus, find the bus stop, then realise that it is Sunday, in the off-season, and the next bus is an hour away; we get to the station on foot to catch the next train.

It is a gloomy and cold, but dry, walk out of the town, down the hill, along the kinda busy road (very carefully) and to the station.

When we arrive in Brindisi after a short train ride, it is starting to rain. We can drop our bags and check in at the hotel, but have a few hours until we can use the room. The proprietor gives us a map, some enthusiastic tales, and a recommended tour route.

We spend the next few hours walking around, focusing on the undercover activities – the ruins at the theatre, the museum at the cathedral (recommended) and eventually the column that is the marking point for the arrival in Brindisi (the original is tucked away indoors). By the time we are heading back to our accommodation the streets are virtually deserted.

In the evening, in the piazza below our room, we hear the music turn on, and a couple of the stalls at the market open, including the hiring of the ice-skates for the rink that encircles the fountain in the piazza. The rain has stopped for the moment, but by the time we return from dinner, the music has stopped, and the few stalls that had opened have again closed.

Brindisi to Torchiarolo

25km; we anticipated there would be a bit of water and mud today and we were not wrong. 7.25 hours, with breaks.

Highlights – area leading to and within the Cerano woods.

It takes about 50 minutes through the streets until we arrive at the first of the fields. All the fields today are sodden, with often a lot of surface water to be seen. We are frequently negotiating water on the path; we pass a number of areas where there has been recent, and current work, to improve the drainage. There is not a lot of interest in the first couple of hours, but this trail does pick up from about the 7km mark when we return to the vines and olives. Following a path around the vines we spot shell fossils in the rocks.

In the distance so far today, we have seen the red and white striped chimney of the power station, that we eventually reach, then skirt around, and finally leave behind.

We reach the Cerano woods and our lunch stop after following the canal that is lined first by reeds then by eucalypts. Through the woods we follow a beautiful path under the oak trees, emerging to the masseria (farm house).

It is on the last kms of the route towards Torchiarolo that we first see the impact of the bacteria that is devastating the olive trees of Puglia. The trees that are dead or dying; those chopped down, and signs of burnoff. But also signs of recovery.