Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Via Francigena, stage 1/3, October 2010

In 58 BC Julius Caesar opened the 'Road of the Sun', the shortest route between the North Sea and Rome. This route was called 'Via Francigena' for the first time in 876 AD. The archbishop of Canterbury Sigeric wrote down the itinerary in 990 AD when he returned home from Rome. The road was used by merchants, armies and pilgrims. As a pilgrimage, this route fell out of fashion around the 17th century. In 1985 Via Francigena was retraced as described back in 990 AD by the archbishop.

The route starts in Canterbury, England but we started from Grand Saint Bernhard in Switzerland. From there it's 1020km's to Rome, on this leg we walked 360km's. The next stages are planned for march and october of 2011.