BIG BUCKS ON THE ROADS TO ROME

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME
One day this week there were more posts on the Via Francigena Yahoo Group than on Santiagobis - 38 messages in 7 days - that must be a first! Most of the queries were about budgets, hotels and different ways of getting into Rome.
Budgets: An early post was from a member of the Famous Five who said that the average cost of their accommodation was 21.50 euro per night sharing: and that they budgeted 10 euro a night for meals which involved little alleys, tratorias with beaded curtains and Mamas in the kitchen.
Not too shabby, I'm thinking, only about half as expensive as walking el camino and staying in albergues for 8 or 9 euro a night.
But wait - another VF pilgrim posted and hey mon!! I'm learning that these are not all your average pellerinies.
He said, "The average cost of the hotels we stayed in was 71.4 euros per night. The most expensive was 95 euros and the cheapest 50 Euros." Woa!! This is big bucks!
"In relation to the more expensive hotels, if we had the time, weren't exhausted, and other hotels were available we looked for a cheaper alternative. But at other times when we were tired or it was difficult to find a hotel we just checked in regardless of the cost."
Nice! Very nice to be able to disregard the cost - not your run of the mill, backpacking, youth hosteling pilgrem. And what do these poor pilgrims pay for food? Menu del Peregrinos?? Mamas' 10 euro specials? Nah!!
"In relation to the cost of meals its difficult to give you an answer, as it depends on what's available. We sometimes had pizza and wine for under 10 Euros for the two of us; on other occasions we spent up to 85 Euros for a 3/4 course meal + wine in a really nice restaurant." EIGHTY-FIVE EURO FOR A MEAL!!! Nice? Michelin starred, I'm sure!

Q: So what does a walk along ye olde via Francigene cost?
A: Two-and-a-half times that of walking the camino.
"As was posted here a week or two ago whereas the Camino can be budgeted at about 1 euro per km the costs on the Via Francigena currently run at about 2.5 euro per km. This makes your 125 euro for two per day practically on the nail for two people for 900 km in 35 days. As ever this can be undercut or overspent depending on your circumstances and a look at an accommodation list such as the one by the Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome will be useful to find the places that others have enjoyed and where there is cheap or expensive accommodation. I know people who have spent much more and also others who have spent much less."
Is it fair to say that at this time, the VF is for higher income 'pilgrims' rather than the younger, budget conscious pilgrim that you see on the caminos?
Do the math.
1€ per km on the camino X 900km = 900€ ($1388.97 or £712.843)

2.5€ per km on the VF X 900km = 2 250€ ($3472,44 or £1782,11)