Today we left San Giusto, our last high Tuscan campsite before the Appenines.
It was a cool morning ride down to the valley. No great speeds were achieved because the bends were numerous and tight, but the scenery was gorgeous with layer upon layer of Tuscan hills.
The traffic was extremely busy when we hit the valley floor and headed towards Firenze. The boys seemed to take everything in their stride, but I found it pretty nerve-wracking. After about 15km of peak hour traffic we settled in to quieter mountain roads and headed into the Appenines.
Our first climb was a rise of about 450m, much of it at 10% - it was pretty tough. The next 10km were downhill or an easy grade.
By this time we had covered 45km and thought we only had 3km to go, so we stopped and bought some groceries at Barberino di Mugello. We set off to complete the day's ride. It became clear that the campsite location in Tomtom was wrong. So we cycled on. Luckily the grade had levelled out, and apart from a few pinches here and there and the last few kms, it averaged 6-7%.
Having a spell!
Il sergenteWe found our campsite, Il Sergente, only 3km short of the top of the climb at Futa Pass. We had travelled 60km for the day including a vertical climb of about 1300m. It was a hot, tough day but we were nearly at the top and we celebrated at the Il Sergente ristorante. We had a great night with Rodney amusing the restaurant patrons with his senza glutine (gluten free) antics. One particularly funny moment was when he ate an unidentified object which proved to be a large piece of frozen lemon skin. The grilled vegetables - aubergine, zucchini & capsicum, were to die for. They were marinated in olive oil and salt and grilled with mystery herbs. Il Sergente is a very clean well run establishment, featuring our first Italian campground with toilets with seats and paper!
Most amusing! I'm picturing an old silent Italian movie style sketch with Rodney running around a restaurant in black n white... all at slightly higher speed than reality.
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