Carrying everything on their backs, five very different, not-so-young women, share an amazing adventure on the ancient Via Francigena pilgrimage trail in Switzerland and Italy.
Walking almost 700km, with an average step length of 75cm, they took over 1 million steps from Vevey to Rome. Their longest day was 11.5 hours when they climbed from 680m at La Douay to 2472m at the Grand St Bernard Pass covering 28 km. They walked through over 210 villages and towns and crossed a variety of bridges, metal, wood, hanging, stone and Roman, over more than 150 rivers. On some days the temperatures reached +40oC.
Although they didn’t have an English guide book, at no time did they actually get lost – only confused a couple of times - usually when following the VF signs along the way. They stayed in a backpackers, a hospice, a campsite, a Gite, a castle, on a farm, three youth hostels, nine B&B’s, two convents, six hotels (one a converted monastery) and two apartments.
They raised over 50 000 ZAR for Children's Charities back home
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