Montecarlo

We had a very satisfying first day of riding. The train worked out well and we were meet at Viareggio Station by Giovanni. After a short tour of the waterfront we headed off for the first of three climbs of the day. It was hot rather than steep but we made it to the top to be rewarded by great views over the coast. The road up had the painted signs from the tiffosi... "Contador" etc. But they were probably a little quicker than I was.

Port at Viareggio

View of Viareggio from the top of the climb

Then it was mostly downhill with one smaller climb. Mostly lovely rural roads. Giovanni's local knowledge really helped. We met up with Julie and Marie for lunch on Lucca.

Ride data to Lucca

Giovanni took us to his late mother's vacant house to wash up then we had lunch: not really inspiring but good fuel, and then after riding one circuit on Lucca's walls it was of to Montecarlo. Once again the final climb was hot but OK. After a refreshing malty beverage or two we walked the small town taking in the great views as the colours changed from golden to blue.

Ride data to Montecarlo

We dined at the Osteria which was very good.

Day one ride photos

Montecarlo

View at Montecarlo

Lucca's walls

View from top of first climb

Viareggio harbour

Accommodation sorted

All the accommodation is now sorted (assuming that Keith and Julie book their room at Fiumicino and Marie arrives in Firenze on the Sunday)! I received the last confirmation over night.

Next web task is to update the non-cyclists page with the detailed plans. We'll need to settle on the time for J&M to arrive at Altopascio from Lucca since the nice people from Montecarlo have offered to pick them up from the station.

The numbers grow!

So now we are four! Julie and Marie are now committed to the trip as non-riding, non-driving participants. So it turns out that the best option for the majority of the days is to parallel what we on the bikes are doing, but at a more leisurely schedule given that it is typically only 30 minutes to 90 minutes travel time by bicycle.

So the wiki has been updated with a program for the non cyclists and all the hotel bookings have been increased to be 1+1+2 (except for the Novafeltria night when the two ladies will go on to Longiano). The only other significant change recommended for the non cyclists is to skip Viareggio and spend more time in Lucca.

This will work well for luggage logistics also since on many days our luggage can accompany the ladies!

Four is a much nicer number to travel with than two (no offence to Keith), so I am really pleased!

Of course there is still room for one or two more...

Local help

I have luckily made contact with another cyclist who lives not far from Lucca who has explored much of the territory that we will be riding on days one and two. We met via an Italian cycling forum http://www.piste-ciclabili.com. His English and my Italian seem about on a par so Google Translate is helping our email conversation :-)

G. has suggested a couple of improvements to the first day's route, but all in all he has given me confidence that the overall route is suitable. We are even talking about him joining us on part of the ride if timing suits next year. He points out the obvious: that Lucca is worth more than a lunchtime stop, but that's the way it is unless we add more days to the trip.

I should also report that the somewhat vigorous discussion that I reported in the previous posting (with a gentleman from a bike hire place) has been resolved to everyone's satisfaction. We have sorted out various small misunderstandings and I know now that very suitable bikes are available for hire from his company! The price is a little more than I wanted to pay but nevertheless it remains an option.

A rethink of the route

A while back, before I started on the planning of this route, I'd thought about a "coast to coast" route in Italy. It didn't seem practical because of the logistics of bike bags and other luggage. However it occurred to me that a variant of my Bologna loop would work coast to coast.

Introducing: Italy coast to coast

So I've changed the route. Instead of taking the train to Bologna and eventually returning there, the plan now takes the train to Firenze, and uses that as a base. In Firenze I will unpack the bike and leave my luggage. Then onto a regional train to Viareggio on the Ligurian coast. From there the ride commences, inland to join the Via Francigana as it heads south, through Lucca to our first night's stop at Altopascio. The next day, after crossing the Arno our route turns north-east and more or less follows the Arno to Firenze, so we get to revisit our luggage briefly.

When we arrive in Rimini, instead of taking the train to Bologna, we take the train to Firenze! 

The overall distance remains more or less unchanged, although of course there is less climbing in total as we now only cross the Apennines once rather than twice.

The latest variant of the plan is at the wiki.