73 miles ridden – 4800 feet climbed.

It’s a clichè but another fabulous day’s riding which followed breakfast in the garden of the hotel which was a lovely start to the day. 

The first 40 miles or so was rolling hills – nothing too extreme either up or down and with more wonderful views of Tuscany.

We went through more small villages today and again we saw evidence of the decline in local shops and services just as we have in the UK. In those larger towns that still had a commercial centre everything was closed because it was Sunday. However we saw lots of local parades and religious festivities – in fact when we arrived in Lucignano we couldn’t actually enter the walled section of town because of a parade. Well we could have, but would have had to pay €8 each so we cycled around the town. It’s just more miles……

Lunch was at the top of the climb into Castigion Fiorentino where we had a picnic under the trees catching the breeze.

From lunch we went straight into a 5 mile climb up, around and ultimately over the ridge bordering the valley which gave us a great view of the whole town.

Aside from one absolute pig of a hill which peaked at around 36% incline, it was a great run into our hotel. We had enough time to sit in the bar for an hour or so chatting before getting ready to head off for dinner. Our room is spectacular and big enough that we can spread our stuff all over without tripping over it – luxury.