alla Toscana in bicicletta
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Hoofdstukken
- Day 1: Bristol-London-Brussels-Dies · 4 pebbls
- Day 2: Diest-Baelen · 11 pebbls
- Day 3: Baelen to Arlon · 5 pebbls
- Day 4: Arlon-Remich · 9 pebbls
- Day 5: Remich - Metz - Strasbourg · 7 pebbls
- Day 6: Strasbourg to Milan via Como · 4 pebbls
- Day 7: Milano - Piacenza · 9 pebbls
- Day 8: Rivergaro - Cremona · 11 pebbls
- Day 9: Cremona - Bologna · 5 pebbls
- Day 10: Bologna - Badi · 10 pebbls
- Day 11: Badi - Montemurlo · 11 pebbls
Day 1: Bristol-London-Brussels-Dies
We're off!
The story begins at the Temple of Mead.
St Pancreas
A quick coffee with the parents and a bag handover in exchange for a packed lunch. Thanks mum 😊
Bussels
Off the Eurostar and onto the bici
Snippets from Brussels-Diest
Day 2: Diest-Baelen
Aiming to get 100km in today...let's see what happens.
Spoiler: I managed 100km but fell in a ditch halfway.
Setting off from Diest
Ready to feel the burn and probably get a burnt.
Setting off from the kindest Warm Showers host who fed me, have me a bed to sleep in, helped me bandage up my little boo-boo and shared many stories of her cycling adventures. Marie-Josée you are a legend.
Ditch I fell in
Yael-shaped dent in this ditch.
Note to self: clipping out of just one pedal isn't going to save you.
Thank you to kind Matthew for stopping to help me fish bici out the ditch and advising me on a less steep route. Didn't appreciate your comment on how heavy my loaded bike was though that wasn't helpful.
Rainbow after the rainstorm
I was about 30 minutes from camp and it starting pissing it down and I couldn't remember which bag had my waterproof and then I found an ice cream shop to shelter in and then there was a rainbow and that was nice.
Camp at Mont Dragon
It was a day. Some big climbs but also rewarding downhills. A little fall in a ditch but kindness of strangers. A rainstorm but also a rainbow. Weaving through borders and not even realising of crossed them. Europe is so quirky like that.
Shabbat shalom
Day 3: Baelen to Arlon
Mother of all storms started last night and thunderclaps all morning. Very soggy. Today will be a train day.
Good morning thunderclaps
My new Dutch friend, Vincent, lent me some matches after I dropped mine in my pot of water making dinner yesterday. And then again when I dropped them into the pot of water for coffee this morning. I introduced him to the aeropress and his life is changed forever.
This storm looks relentless so I'm not sure I'm going anywhere today.
This episode is sponsored by Charlie Grossman. Thanks for the tent, it kept me dry.
These little leggies are taking a rest
Liege station
Train is delayed so just practicing my wheelies and having some of yesterday's boiled eggs (the ones that didn't get squished in my bag).
Stumbled upon the old synagogue of Arlon
Just arrived in Arlon and followed signs to the city centre to get me a tasty snack and stumbled upon Rue de Synagogue. Further down the rue is the oldest synagogue in Belgium. Freaky Friday night dinner am I right.
No tasty snack in the end but a delicious downhill.
Shabbat shalom
Day 4: Arlon-Remich
Ready to get back on the bici after a rest in a bed at the lovely Warm Showers hosts in Arlon.
Ding dong witches, we're off!
Officially joined the Eurovelo 5, pilgrim's route and I can see why. Churches every 5 minutes. Lots of lovely roads through fields that smell very sweet, i'm not sure what they do to the wheat here. The storm passing through has left a very welcome breeze in the air and it is feeling good to be back on bici.
This is turning into a temple tour
Another surprise synagogue in Luxembourg. I think god is trying to tell me something.
Pit stop in Luxembourg city
Arrived in Luxembourg city sooner than expected after a delightfully pleasant cycle. Little shopping stop for wedding outfits in Louis Vuitton?
Quick coffee and daily games, of course. Weird that travle was from Luxembourg today...
Remich
Arrived in Remich and greeted with fresh cold mint tea and a home cooked meal by the most generous and Warm Shower's host who happened to live in Bristol for 9 years and said the only reason they took me in was because of the Bristol connection so that was a great result of the happy accident that led me to Bristol. We went for a post dinner strollington around Remich and pondered the word choice of Oriental Kebab seen in the photo.
Day 5: Remich - Metz - Strasbourg
Had a planning session last night to figure out how I'm going to get to Tuscany in 7 days and decided on a bus to cross the alps. I had a weird dream that I had gotten off said bus to through something away and then the bus left with all of my things and I tried to run after it but one famously can't really run in dreams so I ended up going back to the warm showers host to get a lift with him towards Hungary. Then woke up.
Will try to not get off that bus.
We're I'm wine country!
Sighting of a heron patrolling the vineyards which is supposedly very auspicious
Arrived in Metz
Arrived in Metz after 70km on riverside paths and no climbs but passing what smelt like all of Europe's sewage facility.
Bum is sore. Need coffee.
All better.
Caffeinated and hanging out in a cute bookshop/café until the train to Strasbourg and trying to find somewhere to stay tonight
En route a Strasbourg
Made it onto the train with moments to spare, in a classic style.
Equipped with delicious raisin and walnut bread from the Warm Showers host in Remich and special import tahini that I have been carrying with my from Bristol, of course.
Day 6: Strasbourg to Milan via Como
I was wined and dined on short notice yesterday by amazing Warm Showers hosts in Strasbourg. This morning we had fresh pastries before heading to the bus station.
Bonjour Strasbourg
In an old maids quarters
Not this time my mountainous friends
Some shoddy photos out the bus window but driving through the Alps actually made me sad to not be cycling through them even though I'm a lazy boy who doesn't like cycling up hills.
Finally.
Arrived in Milan after getting drenched sideways in the second thunderstorm of the trip. I thought the first was biblical but this one was the mother of all storms. As the bus chugged along further into the Alps, we entered further into a dense cloud that hid the scale of the montañas. Then the rain come. Then the lightening and thunderclaps. And on the sixth day, god gave Yael a sign/spanner in the works.
I was looking forward to camping tonight near lake Como and I don't know, going for a little dip and then waking up and making a coffee outside the tent with a nice view. Instead, the bus dropped us off on the side of the road as the sky offered torrential sideways and upsidedown rain buckets. The driver was so kind to leave my bike not under the shelter that wasn't really sheltering because of the sideways rain, where I tried to reattach my wheel that really didn't need to come off but he insisted when we stowed it. So I'm faffing with my wheel, my shoes are collecting puddles in them and I'm giving my goretex jacket the test of its lifetime. Wheel attached, bike bags back on, I try to get up the route to the campsite as the sky flashes with lightening. I have a more sensible idea to seek a proper shelter first and find my way to the train station. At which point I realise that I don't need to camp. I can get a train to Milan.
Soggy.
Hair drying my wet garb and shoes for the best part of half an hour in the hostel I finally arrive at.
Spirits are low today but tomorrow looks sunny and looking forward to doing more pedalling, less bus/train riding.
Day 7: Milano - Piacenza
Sun is shining and today is going (has to be) a good day.
Brekky. The Italian way?
My bike was still in the shared parking of the hostel where I left it last night, unlocked because no key. Big sigh of relief when o saw those handlebars peeping out at me.
Found an institution of a bakery, going since 1930 and nonna gave me a sexy slicé of pizza to start the day. And espresso, of course.
OJ break in Pavia
111km ice cream break
Been a long and hot day, though all flat so no complaints.
Dinner at camp after 132km trip record
Smoked tuna in a Classic style.
These legs are tired.
Day 8: Rivergaro - Cremona
Ridden with mosquito bites after a night in a riverside campsite even though I loaded up on the deet. But it's a gorgeous day and there will be gelato.
These leggies are sore after 130km yesterday so the plan was to take it easy today but there it was still a long day with a fair bit of road cycling.
Morning
Well ain't that pretty
Hay&poppy aka the name of my brunch bar
Pit stop
Had to cycle back to Piacenza to rejoin the cycle path. Lorries rushing past you on a slither of the main road is not the one. So I have espresso to refuel and then we go onwards to Cremona
Day 9: Cremona - Bologna
We've got some big Tuscan hills coming up so going to supplement with a train or two today because my knees are a bit sad.
Grasshopper sheltering in my tent
Last night my German neighbours with a massive motorhome took pity on my huffing up my sleeping mat and helped me inflate it with an electric pump. Then a bird shat on my bag and I got a mosquito bite in the middle of my forehead.
Sustenance
Actually yesterday's lunch but when I stopped to eat it when I met that friendly cat, I got munched by mosquitos so had to move on. Today we've spiced it up with the now quite chalky Green&Blacks 85% to complement the tahini date barberry Brazil nuts and chia seeds. And yes I am eating with a silver teaspoon. Thank you Ella for this teaspoon I love it
Searching for coffee in cremona
Spent hours, literally hours this morning trying to find a place to stay in Bologna that was not £200. Even the campsite wouldn't take me. Finally sorted somewhere and made my way to the station to discover that the next train is cancelled. I think surely this is all for a reason. I spent hours goes in circles trying to sort accommodation to then miss the next train to have an hour to kill in Cremona for...maybe the best pastry of my life?
Stay tuned.
Ciao Bologna!
What the hell. Bologna is so ridiculously pretty.
I wish I didn't dilly dally this morning and had more time to see the pretty sights and eat all of the tasty things. Still looking for that reason that makes sense of why I was delayed getting going this morning. Am starting to think that maybe it is just a lesson in patience and not rushing 🤌
So I don't rush and have aperol and arancino.
Day 10: Bologna - Badi
Today is gonna be hilly. Let's see how these old knees hold out.
Stocking up
Focaccia fr breakfast and picke cup some fresh pasta for dinner later and I think we are sadly ready to leave this beautiful city.
Maybe after one more croissant for the road.
Ok last stop
Single origin 70% chocolate croissant? Yes please.
And now we follow eurovelo 7 aka the sun route alla Montemurlo!
Little swim and focaccia stop
A dream
Just spotted a nonno and nonna sitting in their garden playing briscola no less and I asked them if I could fill up my water and she gestures for me to follow her in the house inn which there was a table full of cherries like the scene of some renaissance painting and the absolute legend gave me a whole punnet for my travels. Had to distribute between the punnet and the easy access snack station and I think these will get me through the next 30km of hills