prevailing south-westerly winds, but tacking down to the Mediterranean would have made a very long journey indeed. The Via Francigena was not a single road, like a Roman road, paved with stone blocks and provided at intervals with a change of horses for official travellers. Rather, it comprised several possible routes that changed over the centuries as trade and pilgrimage waxed and waned. Depending on the time of year, the political situation, and the relative popularity of the shrines of the saints situated along the route, travellers may have used any of three or four crossings of the Alps and the Apennines. The Lombards financed the maintenance and security of the section of road through their territories as a trading route to the north from Rome, avoiding enemy-held cities such as Florence. Unlike Roman roads the Via Francigena did not connect cities, but relied more on abbeys. Sigeric's itinerary In around 990, Archbishop Sigeric journeyed from Canterbury to Rome and back, but only documented his itinerary on the return journey, taken in 80 stages averaging about a day, for a total of some . Modern pilgrims from England would follow Sigeric's route in the reverse order, and so would journey from Canterbury to the English coast before crossing the Channel to Sumeran (now called Sombres), landing at the village of Wissant. The route continues through Guînes (Sigeric's Gisne), Thérouanne (Teranburh), Bruay (Bruaei), and Arras (Atherats), before continuing on to Reims, Châlons-sur-Marne, Bar-sur-Aube, Langres, Champlitte, Besançon, Pontarlier, Lausanne and Saint-Maurice. From Saint-Maurice, the route traverses the Great St. Bernard Pass to Aosta and then to Ivrea, Vercelli, Pavia, Fidenza, Pontremoli, Filattiera, Aulla, Luni, Lucca, San Gimignano, Poggibonsi, Siena, San Quirico d'Orcia, Bolsena, Viterbo, Sutri, and finally Rome. The final stretch towards the Apulian ports From Rome the path followed for a long stretch the Via Appia or the parallel Via Latina up to Benevento. From that town Via Traiana was taken up the Campanian Apennines and Daunian Mountains, where stood, a fortress held by the Knights of Jerusalem in order to guarantee the safety of pilgrims along the mountain stretch. The road therefore reached Troia, in the high plain of Tavoliere delle Puglie (where Via Francigena is attested since 1024), and then continued towards Bari, Brindisi and Otranto, the main ports of embarkation for the Holy Land. Today Today some pilgrims still follow in Sigeric's ancient footsteps and travel on foot,