63 miles ridden – 5900 feet climbed

Boring isn’t it? Another fabulous day cycling in the sunshine. 

Last night’s hotel was very luxurious and we both slept very well indeed so it was a rude awakening to go in for breakfast and find ourselves squeezed into a table in the corner while the rest of the restaurant was full of Saga coach tour customers. Note to self – do not go on Saga coach tour holidays.

As we were spread across 3 different hotels we gathered out side the Cathedral for the morning briefing and then set off.

Although we climbed a long way today we actually only had 2 major climbs, one 6 miles long halfway through the day and the other 8 miles long right at the end. In between it was the typical rolling Tuscan landscape with more spectacular views of medieval hilltop fortress towns and sweeping views that seem to stretch away for miles and miles:

Our first tea stop was on the water’s edge of the reservoir above and from there the first long climb took us up and over the surrounding ridge to lunch. We sat eating spaghetti bolognaise, gnocchi and BBQ spare ribs under a canopy with a delightful breeze before a 20 mile downhill. The road surface was pretty good so I was able to power down the hill at around 35mph which was great fun especially through the twists and turns.

The landscape changed though – quite different from one side of the ridge to the other:

Straight after the bottom of the hill we began the climb back up. It’s very difficult to climb in a group unless you all ‘pad’ along at the same pace and on this occasion I ended up on my own for most of the climb. There was very little traffic, it was incredibly peaceful, and as luck would have it the sky clouded over a bit which meant it got slightly cooler as the climb went on. The only drawback were the swarms of small flies that seemed to coat my legs and arms, get onto the inside of my glasses, and when (somehow) trapped under my shirt, bite me. Aside from that I made it to the summit:

My euphoria upon reaching the top was however short-lived. I then dropped about 100m only to then have to climb up an even steeper hill up to the hotel. It was worth it when I got to the hotel and saw the pool.

Sue did well on the first climb today and had a massage at the hotel. I think she is more proud of the latter!