Tuscany! I feel like I should grow vegies and start a restaurant…..
My hotel may be 4 star, but the breakfast isn’t. I woke refreshed – Rosalie rang, and we caught up on news 🙂 – showered, packed and went down to eat.
No hot food at all. Sliced meat and cheese; cornflakes,croissants and some cakes. Oh – and fruit juice. More two star than four. I’ll give it 2 points. I had two bowls of cornflakes, two croissants, a coffee and an OJ, then went to put my bike back together.
Which took a while – the rear rack is a bugger of a thing to line up with the hub. I got it there after about 15 minutes cursing; washed my hands, put the panniers on, and headed off towards Arezzo. The SS221, then the SS73. The forecast was for showers, becoming thunderstorms later in the day; the sky looked threatening as I set off.
A fairly level ride, just gently uphill, following a river North West – after a few km, at Pocala, the road split – motorway to the left, the old highway straight ahead. Twenty-odd km of bliss; no traffic, on what was the main highway, and is still a great road; just no traffic anymore. A great run into Arezzo.
Which is approached via a long, steady climb; the SS73 peels slightly left, avoiding the town, and I enjoyed a long, gentle downhill run, aiming for Monte San Savino – one of those typically Tuscan villages, clinging to a hill top. No rain; very dark skies all around, and I did get sprinkled, but the forecast downpour and thunderstorms never happened.
I arrived at the hotel Sangallo just after 1:00 pm; booked in – the road up to the hotel has an 18% gradient – I pushed….
I walked the old town, had lunch at a wine bar,
and got back to my room around 4:00 pm – I watched the end of the Giro – big crash at a T junction, as they didn’t know which way to go; it’s not just me that gets lost 🙂 I vaguely planned tomorrow; Not really sure where I’m going, but will head towards Siena. From there I need to chuck a left towards the coast – there just isn’t a route that appeals yet. We’ll see.
See you down the road.
