Montesarchio to Benevento – 16th June
Distance: 18.8 km – Elevation +380 m -560 m
Weather: Sunny. Temperature: High 27 degrees
I slept like a log last night – a very comfortable bed but more importantly a comfortable pillow. After breakfast of coffee and chocolate-filled croissants, I started walking just after 7 am (6 am UK time). it was going to be a long uphill climb to start the day, and there were a lot of local people making their way to early morning mass as the church bells rang. It took over 2 hours before I reached the summit, and then such beauty with the hillsides covered in brilliant yellow broom and wildflowers of pink, red, blue, and white, little birds flitting from tree to tree. This was my Sunday church. There were farmers cutting grass and harvesting hay. I passed vineyards and olive groves.
About halfway in the small town of Percorsa, I stopped in a local bar for coffee. It was full of well-dressed men chatting, and reading the Sunday newspapers, they all greeted me with a handshake and smile. The descent into Benevento was one of those rubber leg descents, very steep and difficult to restart my legs working together on the flat. The temperatures were slightly cooler today but getting hotter from around 1 pm. I arrived in Benevento and my bed for the night at 2.30 pm, another little self-contained gem ( there are some real bargains at this time of year). There is a monastery here but it only takes female guests.
Not having eaten well over the past 48 hours I was looking forward to a good supper. Italians tend to eat much later than I do and consequently restaurants open later than the time I need to eat, and it can be difficult finding restaurants open. But here I managed to find a delightful restaurant just opening, close to the Arch of Trajan, where I enjoyed a delicious pasta supper and local wine, whilst watching a photoshoot taking place beneath the Arch of Trajan, of a recently married young couple.
