Siena to San Quirico

August 27, 2023

We finally starting the Via Francigena today. This is an old Roman road that goes from Canterbury England to Rome. In years past it was a route for religious pilgrims to follow like the route in Spain. Today people hike it for a challenge or ride bikes like us. Parts of it are also used for the professional cycle race the Strade Bianche a very tough race of 193km on the white dirt and gravel of Tuscany. We are quite an eclectic group composed of Brits, Kiwis and Canadians. The cycle skill also crosses the full spectrum hence even with e-bikes it took us 8 hours to go 58km. Some of that was lunch (1.5hrs) and a coffee break. Since it is a lead ride we had to stop often to wait for stragglers and we had one person fall and a broken chain. Nonetheless the countryside is beautiful, the company is good and the guides are great.

Here is the route and profile for today. The white lines signify gravel road sections which were about 45% of today’s ride. We were pretty dirty by the end of the ride.

More celebrating this morning as we left.

This building is the most recent of what started as the oldest bank in the world in the 1400s.

Piazza il Campo as we left this morning with the Duomo in the distance.

Thankfully drinkable water is readily available along the way.

A cypress tree lined road at the end of which is an agritourism hotel where Gail, Kelly and I stayed when I was last in this area. You can also see the white dirt roads that we were riding.

A quintessential view of Tuscany with the cypress trees hill sides

The group riding along a gravel road lined with cypress trees.

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 90 km (56 miles)

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