Portoferraio (Elba) to Marina di Pisa

May 13, 2022

Not the most scenic ride today, more of a transition. In fact, once we got off the ferry, I didn’t take a single photo on the ride.

We decided to take a ferry of a different line just because there was a choice and we actually ended up on the Batman vessel because it was the one departing at 9:30.

View from the front terrace of Hotel Villa Ombrosa. If I returned to Elba, I’d stay here again.

Wall decor, Moby Niki (the Batman ferry)

Another vessel, here moored in Piombina, has a Looney Tunes theme. I’d have preferred this one as I never was a Batman fan.

We’d had to make a detour from our planned route getting to the terminal 3 days ago and knew the construction wouldn’t be anywhere near finished. So it was easy to follow our inbound route back out again and notice that it was the same all the way past Piombino to the poppy field.

The highway wasn’t super busy but it was nice to find a separated bike path on the west side leading into San Vincenzo. Then the SP 23 joined the SP 39, which we followed as far as Marina di Bibbona. There we left the highway for a shady break on a path through the pines of the Riserva Naturale di Tomboli di Cecina. This pine forest was apparently (caused to be) planted by the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1839 to protect agricultural areas from sea salt (as well as the production of pine nuts). It originally extended 15 km north and south of Cecina.

Cecina is where we stopped for lunch. The little cul-de-sac leading to the sea where we stopped was festooned with signs saying no bike parking (in Italian of course) but s fellow from one of the restaurants directed us where we could lean our bikes so of course we gave his establishment our business.

Fuelled up, we continued on this long day. We eventually came to a point south of Livorno where there was only one road for all, including bicycles. Not the most pleasant but bikes weren’t unexpected; signs instructed cyclists to ride single file.

We finally escaped onto the SP 6 into Antignano and then onto a cycle path most of the way through Livorno. Most but not all the way, unfortunately. There was a section of the route that led through the port area on roads with large trucks and then finally over a bridge onto SP 224 and its separated cycle path. After just over 100 km, we arrived at our accommodation in Marina di Pisa. It’s just across the street from the beach but, by the time we’d checked in and cleaned up, it was 7:30 and too cool and breezy for sitting outside. Dinner was at a seafood restaurant that served huge portions, then back to try to sleep with our very full stomachs.

My spaghetti allo scoglio. It was fantastic, loaded with seafood and flavour. And a huge serving but I ate it all! Al had a penne Al salmone, which didn’t look quite as large, but…

… he had also ordered a secondi piatti which was enormous, a huge platter of fried fish, including whole prawns.

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Today's ride: 104 km (65 miles)
Total: 463 km (288 miles)

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