I am nearly there. I arrived at the outskirts of Rome, but because I am 6 days too early my wife and daughters are not there yet (they booked a flight lready a month ago).

So I am now relaxing a little bit. I took a train to Santa Marinella, have a nice hotel directly at the beach, and the only thing to do is lying at the beach, swimming in the Mediterranean, reading a book (I bought the only English book here in town) and having something to eat and drink.

During the last 7 days I initially still followed the Cammino di San Francesco, the route between Florence and Rome which San Francesco followed around the year 1200. I visited several monasteries. One is very nice: the Sanctuario de la Foresta, close to Rieti. The monastery is now being run by (ex) addicts (alcohol, drugs) or people with psychological problems. An Austrian guy, Andreas, is the leader of the group. He says that the drug or alcohol abuse is in fact part of a deeper underlying problem, related to insufficient personality or character. Here they do not fight the drugs but try to give people their own identity back. There is a hard scheme of working between 6 o'clock in the morning and 12 o'clock at night. The monastery has a very nice chapel. Everywhere the T symbol is visible: in the stained glass windows, in fences, in the garden. It strucks me that the T symbol is so strong, An enormous powerful and enlightening symbol, also because you know the background of it.

But in the end I leave the official Cammino di San Francesco because it makes a curve and wanders for some time upwards, away from Rome. I decide to make a shortcut, and in doing so I am winning in total 6 days. That is the reason that I am too early now and have to wait for the welcoming committee. On Monday 9 August I will make the last walking trip up to the Porta Pia in Rome and arrive there at 9.30 hrs.Ineke, my daughters Stijn and Sanne and son in law Chris will be there; together we will walk to the Basilica San Giovanni in Laterano, and to the St. Peter. I will be glad if it is all finished. It was a tough but very remarkable journey.