Day 8: Denis walks solo while Judy happily gets a ride with our kind host to the next B&B, Agrituristico La Ciriola, tucked between mountains and surrounded by vineyards. Denis’s first walking destination, Faggio di San Francesco, is worth the tongue-dragging ascent–a tiny chapel at 1100 meters (more climb than expected). 
The setting deserves the name Spazio Sacro, but the downhill all the way after that–physically and psychologically–merits a new one: Spazio Merdo (not really an Italian word, but you get the drift). D drags into Piediluco after walking 20 miles (on a leg that should have been 14 miles), each bend in the path with its own precious moment–encounters with a Franciscan Friar, a Sunday walker/high school teacher, an Italian couple walking 
their dogs who kindly walk 3 kilometers with him to point out a shortcut, Marseillais Camino hikers going the opposite way, and a well-intentioned elderly woman who sends him in the wrong direction…yet again. Good thing Judy isn’t along. 
The evening ends with long-awaited reunions: Tim and Terry James join us, Denis arrives alive, and we have a long Skype session with Carrie. 9/27/2015
Day 9: The first day walking with Tim and Terri goes smoothly: a relatively flat 9 miles along Piediluco Lake and the Nera River valley, then up into the twisting streets of Arrone where we find our two apartments overlooking the town. We arrive just as the shops close for the afternoon so we enjoy snacks while we wait for them to re-open. 
Our legs happily tired and our spirits high, we enjoy a huge homemade dinner in TnT’s apartment, a restored grotto with massive arches and exquisite stone work. From our window we watch the full moon rise over the town and we can’t take in the beauty fast enough. 9/28/2015
