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12-07-2015 Siena → Siena, 104 km
The night – with four chairs (unfortunately a walkway in between) – is relatively okay; in the past I've had bus nights with less sleep.
My knees seem to be okay as well. Somewhere between five and six I see the sun coming up above the horizon. Around nine we pass UGLY Firenze –
well, from
a distance – and change to a bumpy last stretch till Siena, where we arrive an hour or so behind schedule. But that's okay.
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It feels good to be on the road
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First (Italian) cappuccino
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It's quite warm. The participants of the group of about twenty-five that will go around Siena are the first to set off
(to the campground – their luggage is take care of by Cycletours), and from the other five or six passengers I'm the first to have my bike
and panniers ready. During the last hour in the bus I have decided not to look for the youth hostel first and drop most of my stuff there
(how much time will that take and will the y.h. even be open still?), so I cross the railway, twice, and to my own surprise find the exit to Montevarchi
easily. The road starts rising immediately. In an inconspicuous spot I change to my cycling shorts, and a few kilometers further,
at the first opportunity, in the third small village or so, have my first of many, many cappuccino's.
The price is quite low, compared to France: € 1,20. (Later I will learn that € 1,- is not uncommon too.)
Some smart ass in the bus notified Italians never drink cappuccino's after eleven in the morning, and it is still slightly before that 'deadline'.
Moreover, never during the rest of the trip will I receive any signs of surprise when I order one (way) past the appointed time.
Anyway, it's a nice morning, I feel reasonably fit, so with a sunny mood I mount my Jan Jansen. After thirty years it's strange not to mount my Koga anymore! The S408 is absolutely not an unpleasant road – the environment is very cultivated, wheat fields, vineyards, corn fields, every now and then a village, but I leave it for a quieter and more exacting (and woody) alternative. Four road workers at the coffee-stop warned me that the climb to (the?) Monteluco will take some energy. And so it does; and sweat too. There's not a flat stretch of 500 m, and several sections are really steep, 10 to 12 % at least. The map does not help at all figuring out where the hard parts are. I guess the altitude must be around 700 m; at home I learn it's 780 m, with an elevation gain of 370 m, mostly during the first two km, from San Gusmè.
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First impressions . . . .
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First summit
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Aïe!!
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It's nice there's so little traffic on this 'white' road. After the summit comes a descent, of course, and Montevarchi appears closer than expected.
In Montevarchi I have a first pizza, a (my only) Turkish/kebab pizza, sharing a table with an African boy who starts and keeps telephoning noisily. From Montevarchi a semi-busy road, back over the Chianti range to which the Monteluco also belongs. It's quite a bit uphill again; not especially steep, but I'm not yet used to the heat and the hills, AND I've had a short night. I don't make it without two stops to catch my breath (and take my pulse: around 155 b/min; and take some dextrose). All in all I do get up more than 400 m, I think. The extra loop I had in mind (by Santa Maria A Grignano) I skip for a shorter one (over Volpaia), but even this one I do not accomplish. The road to Castelvecchi – two km uphill – 'kills' me, so I retrace my steps, and reach Radda in Chianti quite exhausted after a last uphill kilometer.
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First lunch break, in Montevarchi
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And more of the Chianti hills
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Cypresses
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Gelati break in Radda
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All villages in Tuscany lie on hills. I have a nice break with a beer and a first ice cream (menta e melona).
After the late start and the hard hills it's later than I had expected, so I call to the youth hostel to announce a later arrival.
From Radda it should be mostly down to Siena. At two junctions I stop and hesitate – there are often many towns named on the boards,
but not always the ones I would expect – and fortunately it seems I choose the correct road twice.
At plus or minus the third junction I also choose the right road, the SP102, but I'm not very lucky/happy with this choice:
for at least ten km it is unpaved (and the signs keep saying it will be like that for 1.5 km or at most 2 km), which isn't fun when descending,
and is annoying (bumpy, stuffy, hard!) not to say impossible when it goes up;
which it does severely during several stretches. At last I give up, get off, and push my bike for almost a kilometer.
What the heck is this?! I am getting old! At the end the road becomes paved again, and I struggle with every uphill section.
The (my) shadows already have become quite outstretched.
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The unpaved adventure
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Stuffy and hard!
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I think I know the whereabouts of the youth hostel, north-west of the railway station. I approach it 'on the feel', but when I fear I get onto a route out or at best around Siena, I turn around and descend to the railway station from where I have sort of a description. (And it's supposed to be close to McDonalds.) Tomorrow morning I will learn that I have been within 250 m of the hostel; without this knowledge I make a detour of some 5 km. And from the station it is hard work again, and against an already quite low sun. Annoying, since I try to read off the numbers of the houses on the left. The sun sets an hour earlier than in Holland. With this detour the distance (humbly) exceeds 100 km, and I'm completely done for. Am I glad when I've finally found little Ostello di Siena! I notice a couple of bikes in the hallway, but I don't meet (neither attempt to) the owners. I get a bed in a simple and almost empty (warm) dormitory. Fine with me. With the low amount of energy that's left in me I gladly accept the offer of a free dinner. The food however is quite horrible. Pity! And then (before ten): to bed. Early! Lovely!!
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