Caesar Arrives Triumphant into Rome

Our last two days of this epic journey kept us focussed right to the end. Here is that story. 

Capalbio to Campagnolo

The penultimate day would prove to be a long one, and longer indeed than it looked on paper. With a forecast suggesting quite warm conditions and our ride involving 155 kilometres and 2000+ metres of elevation gain, a prompt start seemed like a good idea. Dylan managed to negotiate an early breakfast scheduled for 7:30. His charms must have had real impact though, as food was spread out much earlier than that and most of our group were down from their rooms early and eating by 7:15.

Conditions on the road early were glorious. With the sun still low we had the benefit of shady roads for the first hour. It was relatively still and there were some great views. There was almost no traffic on the road so we could cruise along comfortably, enjoy the rolling terrain and feast our eyes. This video will give you some idea of what it was like ...

About the 20 kilometre mark we arrived at our first real hill for the day when we joined a larger road with a bit more traffic. (If you want to see the Strava details of the ride, including location and the profile you can click on this link.) A little way up the hill I noticed a bike chain lying on the shoulder of the road and  hoped this was not a sign of the severity of the climb. Thankfully the gradient remained sensible and neither my bike nor I  came apart! 😜

Right from when we entered the northern fields of France we've been seeing poppies alongside the road and I've been chiding myself for not stopping to take more photos of them. Today I decided to make up for that omission ...

As the morning progressed I found myself caught up in a bit of a poppy frenzy. Seeing poppies on the roadside against a backdrop of wheat arrested my attention ...

 and when I passed a field of grain liberally scattered with poppies I decided to loop back and shoot a short video ...

Although a bit out of sequence, I thought I might as well give you the last of my day's poppy obsession sooner rather than later. For some reason I just liked this mixture of colours and textures ...

Something else that we've noticed on this journey, especially as we entered sunny Tuscany - but even earlier in more northern regions - has been the proliferation of solar power generation, often in modest-sized installations. It makes me ashamed as an Australian that we don't do more of this in our country. When we passed yet another example, this time with a couple of wind turbines thrown in for good measure I just had to stop and take a photo ...

The riding throughout the morning was quite varied and scenic and, despite wanting to cover as much ground before it got hot, I found myself stopping more than I thought I would to record the journey. At some point or other I stopped to take this photo of Di riding through dappled sunlight ...

Further along we crossed a bridge and spotted an old arch further downstream, reflected in the still water below ...

At another point I found an opportunity to record a classic, long gravel Tuscan driveway leading off to a farm with rolling hills in the background ...

Although the roadsides have not been so liberally dotted with Madonnas as some we've walked along in France we have occasionally seen them ...

As one would expect with the morning wearing on we found ourselves in sun more often than shade. Here's a video where we enjoyed a bit of shade for a while before emerging once again into the sunshine ...

Not long before lunch we descended through a small town where some sort of festival must have been happening, as the road leading back up into town was choked with a long line of traffic: something we have not seen since embarking on these quiet roads. A long climb followed and I got a photo of Di nearing the top (if you look closely you can see an eagle directly above her right shoulder) ...

We arrived at lunch in very good shape, with about 52 kilometres left to ride. Although there was still some climbing to come, an overall descent to our finishing point lay ahead. Dylan had set up outside a café with a pasticherria next door and we had a pleasant little feast. It appeared that we'd finish the day nice and early, with perhaps two hours of riding left. However, this trip keeps throwing up surprises.

The first surprise was that Di discovered she'd left her water bottles sitting on the table at lunch. No problem really as we could call Dylan and ask him to bring them with him when he packed up. We'd just have to stop somewhere, which would slow us up just a little. But the second surprise really put the brakes on our progress. Although we'd been warned that the state of the roads would deteriorate as we neared Rome, we didn't imagine them getting quite as bad as they did. In fact we rode on numerous sections that were worse than any paved roads we've ever experienced on a road bike before. Often this was on narrow, twisty, up and down laneways so we had to proceed with greater caution as it was more likely than not we'd round a bend and be faced with a minefield of potholes, sometimes with a car in the middle of the road. In riding or horse racing parlance you'd be tempted to say that the surface was DEAD, except that frequently it was actually moving under one's wheels! Yet another adventure, but perhaps one we could have done without towards the end of a long day. Apparently there really wasn't an alternative so close to Rome if we were to avoid extremely busy roads.

The saving grace for the bad roads later in the day was the magnificent hotel where we finished up. Set in an old estate, it is was a grand family building with spacious rooms. We had a most enjoyable dinner all together outside at a big table under a marquee. A marvellous way to finish another epic day.

A Short Roll into Rome

When we rose this morning we knew that we had less than fifty kilometres left to ride on this amazing trip. Everyone was pretty jubilant about the prospect of arriving nice and early after such a big outing yesterday. There were some formalities to get out of the way first, one of which was a group photo with all our kit on. After the photo I paused to honour the bike that has carried me through this epic journey ...

A bike fit for Caesar!

One of the really neat things about this hotel was that it is right adjacent to a section of original Roman road, which has been excavated and preserved for people to admire ...

Most of us agreed that it would have been just about as good to ride on as some of the bits of road we were on late yesterday!

Today's journey consisted of two distinct sections: the first was 28 kilometres along a quiet road which we rode individually; the second a bike path that took us all the way into the centre of Rome. Here are the most of the Caesar crew waiting for the last few riders to arrive at our rendezvous point before we head off for our triumphant procession into what was the heart of the ancient Roman Empire ...

While we were there, less than 20 kilometres (as the Roman crow flies) from the heart of the city, we saw a mob of sheep being herded across the road. It was too far away to shoot a video, but here are a couple of photos to illustrate ...

For our last 20 kilometres or so we were on an elevated bike path that ran beside the famed River Tiber. This bit of riding was a lot more interesting that I imagined it might be. There were lots of cyclists of all sorts of bikes; there were plenty of walkers and runners; there were even people roller-blading and even one guy on a bike-sized scooter.

Anywhere else I've been in the world this excellent public amenity would have been well tended, but here it was significantly overgrown, so thickly in places that there was only room for one bike at a time. Here is a video I took while riding along behind Dylan. Towards the end of the video look for a guy on the left side of the path who is sharpening a scythe that he's been using to trim back a particularly bad section ...

As we got closer to the city the pathway moved down right on the bank of the Tiber at a bridge that gave the impression of having major significance in historical times. Here's a bunch of Ride-and-Seekers waiting for the rest of our unit to regroup ...

This next part of our ride continued to entertain. Here is a video shot as we rode right beside the river, only a couple of kilometres from our final destination ...

It wasn't long before we arrived at another flight of steps that took us off the bike path, then we were crossing a major road and we had about 400 metres of cobbles to finish the journey. Here's a photo of my bike and Di's finally resting after carrying us the 3300 kilometres or so from London ...

Here's what the understated entranceway to the hotel looks like ...

The hotel is an old convent right in the heart of the city. Part of it is still in fact a nunnery, and we have seen nuns coming and going. 

The next task was to go up to the rooftop for a group photo. We were lucky enough to have Philip Le Masurier, a professional photographer, along with us for the last two weeks of this journey. This is his photo ...

I got José to take a photo of Dianne and me with the city skyline in the background ...

Finally - for this post - I'd like to acknowledge the terrific support crew we've had on the second half of the trip. Mark, our new guide; Dylan, co-owner of Ride and Seek, and Phil the photographer joined Fede who had been with us from the start. Here they are ...

Dylan, Phil, Mark and Fede

They, along with Sam, Bruno and Richie from the first half of the ride were brilliant in getting us all from London to Rome. 

And that's it for this post. I'll do one  more in a couple of days - a retrospective - with some photo contributions from other riders. And that's all you'll hear from me. In the meantime, Ciao from Rome!

The Deep Pleasure of Tuscany

Greetings from the Maremma region of Tuscany. Over the past two days we've moved from the manicured busiest, most well-know area of Tuscany to a wilder landscape. I hope you enjoy the post about our journeys. Here's a picture postcard to start off with ...

Do you wish you were here?

This is another double post as the hotel we were at last night had non-existent WiFi. The venue more than made up for that one shortcoming however, as I think you might agree once you've read the first half of this post.

Rapolano Terme to Sorano

115 kilometres; 2131 metres elevation

The area we rode through for the first part of the day is known as the Crete Senesi, due to the clay-based soils that are prevalent here. Fantastic for growing grapes but, in places, not so good for major transportation links due to erosion issues. After Dylan gave us a bit of a talk on these soils the evening before, I was pleased to see a great example of this erosion ...

It will be obvious from the title of this post that we found these two days of cycling quite magnificent. In the first part of today's ride I couldn't help stopping often to photograph the landscape around but after that it was a case of not wanting to interrupt the flow of images so there is little from the latter part of the ride.

Here is the one little video I shot from early on, and it can speak for itself ...

The rolling terrain meant that new vistas were appearing regularly, and there were ample opportunities to stop and take pictures. Here Jo is powering up towards me, with Di not far behind ...

A little further on José got this nice photo of Di rolling by ...

It was a picture postcard day or, as Dylan put it, movie set country. So many films have been shot in the area we were cycling through today. Here's another shot of the villa you can see over Di's right shoulder in the first picture of this post ...

The next thing to really catch my eye was this small flock of sheep alongside the road, with the rolling fields behind (this image is a reasonable-sized panorama, so you might like to blow it up if you're on a machine with a reasonably large screen) ...

Apart from the bucolic beauty of the scene the most interesting thing was that some the sheep were shorn and some not. I wonder what the reason for that is?

Further along the road I saw José taking a photo of a castle in the distance so I opted to do the same ...

Not far along from here was a great image of a tractor at work amongst the vines ...

My guess is that this isn't a vigneto biologica as the tractor seemed to be spraying insecticide, but I reckon I'd still drink the wine!

Our morning coffee stop was scheduled for the famous wine town of Montalcino. The old gate leading into the town, which is now bypassed by the road really deserved a photo, so I got off the bike and walked down on to the old road to get this shot ...

Dianne and I arrived here on our mountain bikes about 16 years ago, after about 70 kilometres of riding in 70 degree heat. The Giro d'Italia was on and we had lunch in a bar with a bunch of cycling fanatics and then took off down the hill to this station ... 

It was the same, beautiful, long swooping descent today that we did all those years ago. The reason I stopped to take a photo of this station today was to reminisce. We had planned this ride so that we could catch the train back to Rapolano Terme, near where we were staying at Montalto with our friends Mary and Tim. We'd combined cycling and train trips a couple of times on that particular holiday and this looked like a good plan on paper. The problem was that when we arrived at the station it seemed a little quiet, and eventually we were made to understand, by a young lass strolling along the rusty tracks with a couple of kittens tucked into her blouse, that this line was very much chiuso! Knowing that the line did go to Rapolano Terme we set off along it. Two punctures from blackberries and a very scary experience with three Maremma sheep dogs later, we finally made it to Rapolano Terme where we were rescued by Tim and Mary, enjoying with them a fantastic late pizza dinner as only the Italians know how to serve it. 

The coincidence of riding past this same railway station all these years later brought those wonderful memories flooding back so I just had to stop for the photo and, as it turned out, that was the last picture I took on the road yesterday. However, our arrival at Sorano and our accommodation for the night was cause for a flurry of photography by anyone in our group with a camera in their possession. I took a picture of Di in front of the exterior arch leading into the castle ...

Ride and Seekers were soon thronging the place recording each and every angle ... 

 

This is the 11th Century Orsini Fortress, now also known as the Hotel della Fortezza. We didn't know it at this stage, but the room that Di and I were to occupy for the night happened to be at the top of the tower front and centre in this photo!

The castle has been extensively restored and, besides the hotel, now houses a museum and a theatre, but there are still bits that are still in ruins ...

At the entrance to the hotel itself we posed for another happy couple on holidays photo ...

Do we look tired? Well, we are! It was a fantastic but challenging day on the bike. Arriving at this magical place seemed to lift everyone's spirits.

Up in our room, it was the usual round of washing before dinner. Here's our day's laundry hung out to dry in front of the old fireplace ...

This was the day of the week where dinner involved going out and grazing. On we strolled into town for a cold drink and a bit of sightseeing before dinner. I liked the look of this arrangement at the bar where we had our drink ...

We had an excellent recommendation for dinner from Dylan, and met Roberta, Chris and Patrick at Fidalma where we enjoyed an excellent repast with a great local bottle of red wine. After that it was home for an early night and perhaps, for me at least, the best night's sleep of the tour so far.

Sorano to Capalbio

111 kilometres; 1654 metres elevation

Both Sorano and Capalbio are a bit off the beaten track. Our inspired itinerary for the past couple of days has given us an experience of less travelled roads and two great little towns to explore. While yesterday's ride had a difficult middle section, today's journey was much easier with gentler gradients and less distance. While not quite a rest, it was joyful riding, despite a major "silly sausage" moment on my part.

Dianne and I both had slightly sore legs this morning so we thought we'd leave a little early and mosey out of town. Down the hill we coasted. At the bottom I decided to stop to photograph the madonna ...

Not a bad picture to start the day, I thought. When I reached into my pocket I wondered what the heck was in there alongside my camera. To my deep dismay I discovered our room key. There was nothing for it but to pedal back up the hill. Here's an edited image from Google Maps to show where we'd got to when I had to turn around and head uphill again ...

At least the switchbacks meant that the gradient wasn't too bad, but it wasn't quite the start to the day that I was looking for.

As I rode back up the hill I got all sorts of quizzical looks from my fellow Ride and Seekers. It was Roberta that guessed that I'd forgotten something, and when I arrived Dylan twigged immediately that it was my room key. I guess he's had this happen at least once previously!

Back on the road I had some catching up to do. Meanwhile, Di took this photo of holes in the tufa rock ...

After riding for quite a way I finally caught up to Di who had stopped to photograph this church at San Martino sul Fiora, some 20 kilometres from Sorano...

She and I rode along together for a while until we tracked down Sharon, who was warming to the ride. I paused shortly afterwards because my eye was attracted to something small on the road. Some readers of this blog might find this next photo a bit macabre, but I there is an undeniable beauty in colours and textures of this vignette (and even more so in the enlarged version) ...

Back to the more day-to-day, I next paused to record a collection of farm machinery that was in the process of being moved for the harvest ...

I didn't linger as this happened to be just across the road from a dairy farm and there were lots of flies immediately coming to say hello.

We were still in heavily farmed land at this point, although vines were less predominant. I stopped at a raised bend in the road for a panorama of the fields below ...

After descending and turning more towards the north and climbing a hill through forested terrain there was a descent that brought us to this scene, which could have been another movie set ...

Lunch was at the town of Scansano, where I took a few photos because its little square had so much ambience packed into such a small space. Here's Di who's just parked her bike ...

The lovely outdoor terrace of one of the two bars on the piazza ...

... and José posing with the statue of Garibaldi that is at the heart of the square ...

After a nice descent and some flat riding we were back into some high quality farming country again, as attested by the grandeur of this estate ...

This next photo is a tribute to Sam, my next door neighbour. Sam is the best recycler I know, especially of building materials. When I saw this pile of blocks and tiles my first thought was of Sam,   knowing that he'd have stockpiled these materials given half a chance - and found a use for them eventually - so I just had to stop and take a picture. Here's to you, Sam ...

By this time we were right into the Maremma part of Tuscany. There were very few cars on the road, which made the riding quite idyllic - especially with roadside flowers and a mixture of forest and field. This next video (I know, my videos are extremely amateurish and I'll need to get a GoPro if I'm going to continue this caper) might give you some feeling for that serenity we found on these roads ...

That video was shot at about the top of the last hill (apart from our short climb up to Capalbio) of today's ride. Not long after we descended we passed a great field of sunflowers, which I tried to video but botched the job. If you google "Sunflowers Maremma" you'll find images of sunflowers together with cypress trees which will be pretty representative of what we saw.

The last part of the ride involved some flat pedalling into a headwind: not conducive to stopping for photos. I'll leave you with some pictures Di took around the old town of Capalbio while I was working on yesterday's story.

Here's a view from the ramparts looking over the newer part of town and across to the fields below ...

... and one of the clock tower ...

Some interesting architecture that I haven't been able to work out but I like the textures ...

... a lovely courtyard ...

... and finally a riot of purple, which Di believes to be bougainvillea and is found all over Capalbio ...

Tomorrow is a long day: 154 kilometres and 2000+ metres of elevation, so look out for the next post in a couple of days' time when we reach Rome after a shorter day. Cheers!