May 17, 2023
This one’s for Eva and Nick
Lucca to San Gimignano
After a late night at the bar watching the footy we sleep in and eventually wake to a blackbird day. It’s grey and drizzling outside but the forecast is promising for the afternoon so we hang around Lucca for the morning. After grabbing some lunch provisions we head out around noon.
Today we’re heading into the Tuscan hills with our destination being San Gimignano. This hilltop town was my parent’s favourite and they came several times to visit. Our route out of Lucca past industrial estates was somewhat laborious but eventually the classic Toscana countryside opened up, the sun came out and my perennial friend (my Orange rain jacket) was consigned to my pannier.
Our late lunch tradition continued, with the usual prosciutto cheese and tomato rolls supplemented with a little surprise jar of Tartuffo bruschetta I picked up in Lucca. The last forty kilometres today has some serious climbing so we get cracking to make sure we finish before nightfall.
With twenty kilometres to go John is keen not to go the hilly route to San Gimignano so I put my navigational trust in Franklin and we head off immediately up a dirty great big hill following the Via Francigina. We make it to another of the classic Tuscan hilltop villages and find a lovely square overlooking the countryside. Franklins already ordered some beers completely disregarding the ten kilometre rule. I’m somewhat worried about his navigation as his tone has become less confident and he seems to be frowning at his device. Heading off down a steep cobbled road we turn onto the pilgrim track which takes us on a beautiful muddy descent into a valley and we then follow a stony creek bed onto a track that climbs back up the other side side. It’s too rocky and steep for Mondo and me so we push for a while until it flattens out and I can get back on the bike.
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We can see San Gimignano looming larger and larger and it looks amazing with the sun setting and casting a magical light on it. Finally we climb the winding road up to the walled inner city just as it gets dark, find John in the main square and slump into a chair. It’s then that Franklin admits that he accidentally punched in ‘E bike’ instead of ‘touring bike’ into his navigation device thus ensuring we followed the steepest route possible. I did forgive him as it was such a beautiful ride.
I can see why my parents loved this place and they’d be chuffed that I’ve made it back here. We’ll go back into the old town tomorrow morning to have a proper look before heading off.
Today's ride: 85 km (53 miles)
Total: 1,529 km (950 miles)
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