THE TUSCANY
Nervous, bewilderment and intrigue! Dexter was coming for the first time to a bike ride. There were many questions without many answers. I hadn’t managed to make him stay into the trolley without him to destroy it. I had tried practically everything and had to strengthen it on more than one occasion with a fence inside since it was the only thing that he could not destroy. It was August, it was Italy and the forecast was to have about 40 degrees.
The Tuscany region is one of the largest and most important Italian regions for its artistic, historical, economic, cultural and geographical heritage.
Tuscany is surrounded and crossed by the main mountain ranges, leaving behind some few plains characterized by being very fertile, in the region there is an abundance of relief dominated by the undulating landscape of the hills.
Noteworthy is the pilgrimage route along the Via Francigena between Rome and France that brought wealth and development to the region in the Middle Ages. And it was the one we were following along a section of the route.
"Walking places and meeting people makes one prudent"
Miguel de Cervantes
The car ready to go. 4 am on the way to the ferry to drive from Cambridge (England) to Italy in 3 days. Of course, stopping along the way to do some hiking, take the bikes for a ride and visit cities like Paris, Avignon, Monaco… In this last one we slept in a park next to the university under a sky full of stars, but suddenly we had a huge storm that we had to quickly leave and get into the car at 3am. Maybe it was a coincidence, but thanks to driving during the night, we didn´t get involved in the fall of the Genova bridge. And finally we arrived to La Spezia where we met friends from Spain to start our bike ride together through The Tuscany.
We started pedaling from Pisa. The first night we couldn’t decide where we would like to spend the night, sleeping in accommodation since there was a forecast of rain or wild camping. Finally we decided to camp on our way to the next destination and just before nightfall we managed to find a beautiful spot between some fruit trees with views that were not bad for the first night. While we were having dinner, a naughty dog (husky) came to say hello, it belonged to couple of boys who had escaped from and Dexter helped us to put him on his leash. We didn’t understand each other very much but we used the language that never fails, the pantomime.
As expected the track was full of slides but I did not expect that it would affect me so much that I could not have a decent speed. Second day on the road and I had my legs busted from carrying so much weight and I hadn’t put Dexter into the trolley much because he was still over-energized. Before arriving to Florence we had to take an alternative route and go through flatter places. My legs were asking for help and to add more grace to the situation, the pin that connects the trolley to the bike had been broken.. so I had to fix it to be able to get to Florence.
Hours later, at 43 degrees we arrived to Florence where we would stay for 2 nights in a hostel. I am not used to sleeping in a bed during a bike ride but the truth is that it tasted like glory!
We had a few days where it was very hot in the morning and we had torrential rains in the afternoon.
One of the times we were able to take refuge in a hotel – restaurant where we stopped for a nice lunch while the storm passed. On this way we recovered energy to reach Volterra, where we would meet more friends to cycle with!
Back in the car on the way home. We stop in one of the towns of the famous Spezia to spend the night and continue to Mont Blanc where we will go up by cable car. Beautiful views. It was amazing!
In the final stretch of the journey we crossed France where we would stay for the night on a farm near the ferry to return to England the next day. This night was magical, we were able to have dinner surrounded by deers 2 meters from us. Incredible!
The trip was amazing. Dexter integrated very well although he also had her rebellious moments. The landscapes were amazing, the food was super delicious and the company was unbeatable!
“If you take your childhood with you, you will never grow old”
Tom Stoppard