A cycle tour in Emilia-Romagna and Toscana

Thursday, 11 September 2014

Day 3 was better...

We woke this morning to a better forecast. Both Il Meteo and AccuWeather haf it pretty clear after 10am even though it was raining. The forecast was correct though: no rain! Actually we were a bit lucky as in several places the road was freshly wet as there were occasional passing showers.

View back towards Firenze

Leaving Firenze on the busy road through Porto Romano was fine. The drivers just sit and wait until it is safe to overtake. The back roads we used to get to Impruneta were good if a little steep in places. At Impruneta we stopped for cafe and cornetti. Easy mostly downhill from there to Strada in Chianti, then another climb before a very nice downhill to Greve.

Ride data

We checked in, had lunch and waited for those unavoidably detained by shopping in Firenze :-) The view out over the piazza was the promise of what was to come, with all the stalls built but not occupied.

At 5pm the Chianti Classico wine festival kicked off with typical Italian pomp including the brass band. Wines from 99 producers, probably 250 wines in total, all from the Chianti Classico region were available for tasting. On addition there were many olive oil producers.

We tasted some lovely wines and had a great time! The arrangement for tasting is that you get a tasting glass and a punchcard of seven tastes for €10. In truth though there is little incentive for the wine makes to punch your card, so if you don't offer it they often don't care. After all they are there to have you taste their product! All of the stalls were from Chianti Classico, some also showing other wines (Super Tuscans, whites, Vin Santo), some also with olive oil and some with grappa.

For dinner we went back to the hotel (not far as you can see) for a pretty nice dinner on the balcony again.

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Day two a washout

Well the thunderstorms and rain did not let up. Given the route it would have been dangerous. Giovanni very generously turned up with his car and drove us all with bikes back to Florence, along the planned riding route so at least we got to see it, through the rain and fog. The trip convinced me that it had been the right decision to not ride, with water over the road in some places, heavy rain, cloud and mist: in truth I expect that we would have abandoned even if we had set out.

So thanks to the extraordinary generosity of Giovanni we arrived safely back in Florence looking forward to tomorrow's ride. We took Giovanni to lunch as a small thank you, fairly close to the hotel.

Tuesday, 9 September 2014

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.