
A 1,000-year-old road lost to time - MiriamWeiner
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20181203-a-1000-year-old-road-lost-to-time
======
rayiner
This writing is so pretentious.

> As I trudged through the streets of Lucca on my first day, the sun shone hot
> on my skin and the wind brushed my face. Without the protection of a car or
> bus, I smelled every rubbish bin and felt the whoosh of passing cyclists. I
> heard the gentle thud of my feet and noticed how the texture of the ground –
> whether earth, grass, cobblestone or cement – changed my stride.

That is walking. He is literally just describing walking.

> On my third night, I was eating dinner with other pilgrims in a hostel
> outside the vertiginous hill town of Gambassi Terme (I chose the small hotel
> because when I arrived, my feet riddled with crippling blisters, I knew that
> if I stayed there I would not have to climb the steep slope before I could
> rest).

Here is the Italian version of the 7-11 in this "vertiginous hill town."
[https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5352956,10.9519354,3a,71.1y,...](https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5352956,10.9519354,3a,71.1y,124.87h,92.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxj54syDPdbLo3Xs6WARphA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656).
He's not in the wilderness here. He's walking through semi-rural/suburban
Italy between populated towns.

> As we dug into plates of pasta al pomodoro (pasta with tomato sauce)

Oh FFS.

~~~
slothtrop
> This writing is so pretentious.

What is it pretending?

~~~
jolmg
pretentious[1] != pretending[2]

[1]
[https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pretentious](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pretentious)

[2]
[https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pretending](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pretending)

~~~
slothtrop
It's just a form of it. "Characterized by assumption [...]" that's pretending.
"making an exaggerated outward show"; pretending. "full of pretense"; hey,
what does the definition for that return? -
[https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pretense](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pretense)

If it can be characterized as such, then one ought to be able to elucidate
why.

~~~
jolmg
> "Characterized by assumption [...]" that's pretending

Maybe by a meaning of "assumption" or "pretending" that I'm not too familiar
with. Normally, I would think that someone "assuming" thinks something is true
and acts like so, and someone "pretending" thinks it's not true but acts like
it is.

> "making an exaggerated outward show"; pretending

My English must be lacking... Exaggerated just means making something more
apparent than it needs to be. That's also different to pretending.

> "full of pretense"; hey, what does the definition for that return?

Ok, you convince me there's related meanings with that.

------
njarboe
Here is a link to a map of the whole road as the article and official website
don't seem to have one[1]. There are nice interactive maps for each country at
the official site though[2].

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Francigena#/media/File:VF_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Francigena#/media/File:VF_Ruta_completa_con_pricipales_poblaciones.svg)

[2][https://www.viefrancigene.org/en/resource/tour/la-via-
franci...](https://www.viefrancigene.org/en/resource/tour/la-via-francigena-
in-francia/)

------
Fwirt
> Lucca had faded into semi-rural, semi-industrial outskirts that will likely
> never be on any tour itinerary. It was not particularly impressive or photo-
> worthy – it was a moment that would be hard to justify to someone else, to
> explain why, out of all the things I could have done, I had chosen to be
> there.

I beg to differ. My wife and I made a day trip there when we were staying in
Florence. Lucca is a beautiful little town with some cool medieval
architecture and history. It's a rare example of a town that still has its
original walls intact. There were tourists but it wasn't crowded, and for
under 10 euros you can climb a couple towers from the 14th century for a
spectacular view of the town and rural countryside. Highly recommended if
you're in the area.

~~~
daphneokeefe
I believe he is referring to the area he traveled through after he left Lucca,
not Lucca itself, which is on many tour itineraries.

~~~
pugworthy
> he

her

~~~
jermaustin1
> her

she

~~~
pugworthy
Werds. Better grammar than gender.

------
jaclaz
Official site of the Via Francigena:
[https://www.viefrancigene.org/en/](https://www.viefrancigene.org/en/)

Side note:

> _The saying ‘all roads lead to Rome’ has become a quaint and somewhat
> clichéd turn-of-phrase these days. But when the Roman Empire ruled over
> places such as England, present-day Spain, North Africa, and even modern-day
> Israel and Turkey, it was true._

[https://sashat.me/2017/06/03/roman-
roads/](https://sashat.me/2017/06/03/roman-roads/)

discussed here:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14511627](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14511627)

~~~
iosonofuturista
It seems we killed the site again, so here are some mirrors:

[https://sashat.me/wp-
content/uploads/2017/06/Rome_III-01-1.p...](https://sashat.me/wp-
content/uploads/2017/06/Rome_III-01-1.png)

[https://i.imgur.com/cun1MCJ.png](https://i.imgur.com/cun1MCJ.png)

------
arethuza
Not far from where I live is a completely overgrown path/road known as the
"Old North Road" \- looking at the landscape it takes a route that was
probably the easiest way through the hills before more modern roads of recent
centuries.

Maybe Agricola's armies marched that way from their camp on a nearby hill to
help rescue the 9th Legion... who knows?

------
cmroanirgo
For those who might prefer less story, and more 'meat and bones'.

A little known fact: Many of Australia's roads were originally mapped out by
Aboriginals, who used songlines (/the stars) to navigate. This means many of
Australia's main roads are 10's of thousands years old. (Admittedly, the roads
didn't actually exist, even though the pathway did)

Research by Ray Norris (of CSIRO) is very interesting:
[https://arxiv.org/abs/1607.02215](https://arxiv.org/abs/1607.02215)

His website on Aboriginal Astronomy: emudreaming.com

~~~
photojosh
Thanks for this. I've recently been reading Bruce Pascoe's 'Dark Emu', which
is on how Aboriginal Australians had agriculture too, even recorded in the
journals of the original Euro explorers but now lost to public consciousness.

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JoeAltmaier
Fascinating.

I wish the article had actual pictures along the route, instead of bland
standin pictures of anywhere (feet, streams, roads that aren't the Francigena
etc)

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zygotic12
The BBC is awesome in many ways but this 'travel' show is such bollocks it's
amazing. They tourist like a MF instead of doing the Bourdain and actually
speaking to people who live there. EDIT: actually rather than interview I
would like to stress

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amatecha
I have traveled to Europe a handful of times and never heard of this until
now! Time to add this to the list of things to check out next time. Very cool.
:)

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baud147258
> Walking over long distances, sometimes as far as 24km a day, was new to me.

24 km ain't a long distance to walk in a day

