Day 9 - Castiglion Fibocchi to Florence
Although we were awake again at 6.00am courtesy of the pigeons, we could not leave early as breakfast was at 8.00am which was provided by our hosts. Also our host Monica kindly did our washing and drying overnight…. Given the dirt, dust and sweat she certainly had a job to get our clothes cleaned! Anyway they ended up very clean and folded so we could carefully “stuff” them in our bike bags…. Glad she didn’t see the result of her hard work!
Breakfast was a real treat with bread, croissants, cold meat cuts ( pastrami etc) and tea and coffee. Monica spoke to us about the work she was doing with her father in restoration of the traditional family home and was proud to show us what she had achieved so far. She has now retired from working in The Hague where she was a senior advisor in a patent law firm.
After breakfast we were off at about 8.30 am for the ride.
Fortunately although the temperature was high ( high 20’s), there were high clouds which kept the heat of the sun from making it very uncomfortable. Unfortunately the humidity was high so the ride was going to test our endurance.
The first part of the ride was through reasonably undulating country which is rather typical of the Tuscan region.
Morning drinks was at Terranuova Bracciolini … I say morning drinks rather than morning coffee because we all needed additional hydration!
After this 20 km stop it was off again along the Arno River on a cycle way on the levy bank. The Arno is a reasonably large river which threads its way along a valley which leads to Florence…Quite a pretty ride at this stage.
At the 45 km point of the ride we stopped for lunch. This was at Incisa Val dArno. Lunch was a small pizza for me and another cool drink of water followed by a peach purchased from a nearby fruit stall. Gosh I am eating well !!!!!
After this is was on to the “ mother” climbs…. The first part was about 200 metres over about 2 kms…. Then after a bit of undulating road it was on to another climb of another 200 metres…. We were all quite done when we reached the top! So after a short rest and plenty of hydration we were off for the decent down to the Arno River again!
Funny how we need to cross a saddle to stay on the same river as we head to Florence!
Anyway the rest of the ride into Florence was quite uneventful and we managed to find our hostel for the next 2 nights…. Or did we! Yes you guessed it…. Yours truly in charge of this booking managed to get the booking on the wrong dates…. Yes I was out by one day and we arrived a day earlier than booked. Fortunately they had a spare room for us which is very comfortable….
The hostel is right near the Medici Museum and right outside the front door is the leather market!
To say we were glad to arrive after the heat would be an understatement.
The only issue for us was climbing 2 floors to our room…. I don’t know what it is but most of the places we have stood this trip are located on the top floors and have no lifts!!! Gosh trudging up stairs with bikes, bags and gear after doing 70 - 80 kms is no fun at all!
Today’s ride was about 80 kms and we climbed about 750 metres…. Good day of riding but we are looking forward to the rest day tomorrow…
Today’s pictures are
The route
Group photo of us with our hosts for last night…. Great people!
A shot of the bike path along the Arno River
A couple of photos of the Tuscan countryside
