May 14, 2022
Marina di Pisa to Castelnuovo di Garfagnana
We didn’t start as early as I’d have liked, but that rarely happens. The day wasn’t forecast to be super hot so not really an issue, I thought.
The first part of our route was on a rail trail which ran from Marina di Pisa into Pisa itself. The only reason we went that way was to see the Leaning Tower, which we did. We looked at it from various angles, took several photos, and then got back on our bikes. After all, we’d ridden less than 15 km and today’s route was expected to be 84.
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Some was paved, some was not, and of the first unpaved sections, some were good and some were not. We decided in Ripafratta to deviate from the planned route in order to stay on asphalt and go by way of Lucca. After Lucca, we could rejoin the route. We found ourselves on SR 12, which looked like it had been transported from central France with its big plane trees on both sides. I heard once that the plane trees were planted by or for Napoleon’s armies for shade, and given that this area was probably part of his empire at some point, perhaps that was why.
Lucca was interesting. We made the mistake of entering through the wall into the old city, and here we found the crowds we hadn’t seen in Pisa. We eventually found our way out again, but not before riding a short distance on top of the old city wall (how many places do you get to do that?)
Leaving Lucca, the SR 12 was now a busy, high-volume road do we opted to stick route on the unpaved cycle path along the Serchio River, the “Piste Ciclabile Parco Fluviale Lucca.” After less than 4 km we were back on SR 12 but the traffic was less. We stopped for lunch at a pleasant garden restaurant, Ristorante Erasmo, in San Gemignano de Moriano, a village that doesn’t even appear on my Michelin map.
Back on our bikes, we continued along the Serchio, crossing it on the Ponte della Maddalena, and then riding up its other side all the way to Castelnuovo di Garfagnana.
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2 years ago
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About 20 km from our destination, we were passed by a large convoy of Ferrari sports cars. They all stopped at some business with a large parking lot, presumably to regroup and admire each other’s cars. Further up the road they started coming by again, in little roaring groups, separated by occasional motorcycles and Fiat Pandas. I counted this time: 31, mostly red but a few silver or cream. All loud.
We finally got to our accommodation, which was booked and confirmed in July last year. Only 4 days before we flew to Florence, I’d received a request through Booking dot com to cancel this reservation, with no penalty. But the email said, and I quote, “Your booking will remain valid if you don't select this option [to cancel] … If you’d prefer to keep your booking, please ignore this email.” I did some searching and found no decent options in the area for a similar price, so I kept the booking.
Now, here we were at the door at 17:10 and nobody was answering. I hadn’t had a reply to my message (via Booking) that we would likely arrive between 16:00 and 17:00 either. So I sent a text on WhatsApp and was told (in Italian) “I’m in the hospital and can’t let you in.” ??? Working? Took someone to emergency? It turned out the host herself was hospitalized. I can see that that can happen but if you run a business, shouldn’t you have a plan for someone to take over or at least notify your clients? I was fuming. Here we were, in a very small town, after 5 on a sunny Saturday evening, with nowhere to stay. We looked for other possibilities but nothing in town at all for tonight. We found two, both out of town and uphill, and chose the 62€ option over the 140€ one.
Now to find the place. My Garmin didn’t have it or its address in its database, so that left Google Maps on a phone. I hate Google Maps because I can never figure out which way to start, so Al, a much more patient person (who hadn’t done all the searching and booking last year) took on navigation. After many wrong turns and “where the hell are we?” questions, we finally got there.
As soon as we were in, I complained to Booking. It’s not so much that our reservation was cancelled but that nobody told us until it was far too late to change our plans. And if this actually happened last April and it wasn’t properly communicated, that’s really bad.
Luckily there was a restaurant about 400 m back down the road so we didn’t have to ride into town and back again. But if you think riding on a minor Italian highway with no shoulders is scary, try walking on one!
When I checked my phone while waiting for our food, I saw a note from Booking sent at 8:30 p.m. “Unfortunately, Labarchettaok informed us that they can no longer accommodate you. To keep your trip on track, we've found you a similar place to stay…Distance (from original): 6.9 km”
The photo below shows where they thought we could go at 8:30 in the evening with darkness approaching.
Tomorrow we move to a hotel in town as there’s no breakfast here and the nearby restaurant is closed on Sundays.
Today's ride: 88 km (55 miles)
Total: 551 km (342 miles)
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