Toscana

This map has gone in a day early 'cos it's pouring here in Rome today and is likely to be doing the same tomorrow as we wend our way out of Lazio and into Toscana, and so computer work may not be possible.
Sadly we're more than half way through our trip...time flies when you're having fun.....

Day 21- Capodimonte to Castel del Piano...74km, 1283m climbing
Day 22- Castel del  Piano to Siena...91km, 1314m climbing
Day 23- Siena to Firenze...67km, 1267m climbing
Day 24- Rest day
Day 25- Firenze to Castel San Pietro Terme...116km, 1724m climbing


 

Signs

Some I’ve just had to remember eg

• Ugliano..suburb or restuarant
• Fartaria…dunno what..just saw it
• Analcolico…actually non alcoholic..but how boring is that?
• Via Propaganda
• 
• 
• 
• 
• I was also highly amused riding into a hilltop village..no I tell a lie the hamlet was  actually atop a grovelling, bar chewing, rivet sitting drooling climb to the top of a frigging mountain and going both ways on the road were rumble strips and the words PIANO writ bold on the road (ie go slow)!!!!!

Rome..transport

Vespa, Vespa Vespa..

all sorts and sizes, even a style for those not wanting to get wet .  

or you can have tourist fun

or plain hard work (unlike the hard work we’re putting in, which is also fun)

and even the mini taxi’s are into cows

Rome..people

Musicians

Street sellers

Soldiers after the parade

and cows++++++++++++

plus a disturbing amount of beggars I (naturally)didn’t take pix of. Plus touts of course, Roman soldiers, and “living statues” and tourists by the truck load.

Guess there’s always someone wanting to demonstrate, but when you chose a day of public celebration re the creation of the republic, you can expect  a bit of overwhelming police/SWAT team presence

Oh..and the Pope giving his Wednesday 11am  blessing…I got to within a mile of the occasion..sitting on an open topped tourist bus.

Pompei to Roma..2 days' riding

Yesterday we farewelled 2 great friends and fellow cyclists from NZ...we're all very sad ...a couple of us more than others.....not only 'cos they're great guys but also 'cos they were part of our riding group and were good with navigation(!)..hopefully we'll catch up in NZ for the Lake Taupo ride.

So from Pompei we rode to Cassino and stayed in a camping ground where the birds never stopped singing, then onto Tagliacozzo where we were to camp but it was shut for maintenance so we had to stay in a hotel...for which we were truly grateful ...especially after the night time bird song.

Our group had a couple of dramas that day..with 2 geographical errors, the first one resulting in us riding about 10 km on a VERY major highway, the second one gave us the opportunity to approach Tagliacoozza slightly differently  avoiding a rather nasty climb...shame that!

The other dramas that day were that we couldn't find the lunch van and ended up buying stuff from a supermarket...and as we closed in on the food  I managed to fall off the bike...no injuries except to my pride.

The following day's ride into Rome was through fantastic country side with lakes complete with fishermen,

towns up on every spur along the whole mountain range and great riding.

more tomorrow on Rome and other topics...a catch up post in fact due to having 2 days off the
bike .

Pompei to Cassino

Travelling through the outskirts of Naples was never going to be easy, so for the first 40km of today’s ride we stayed together.  The road surface and scenery were to say the least average, but the rest of the ride made up for it.
Our lunch stop this day was at a play ground, complete with bike racks…we made use of all the facilities.


Not sure what sort of duct this is..but it sure looks impressive

Lazio..at Cassino today

Day 16- Cassino to Tagliacozzo...110km, 1726m climbing
Day 17- Tagliacozza to Roma....134km, 1496m climbing
Days 18 and 19- Rest
Day 20- Roma to Capodimonte...117km, 1546m climbing

so we're at Cassino today..famous for the war time bombing and then fighting forthe monte Cassino monastery.   Hopefully pix will follow tomorrow when we're in a hotel..today's camp ground is just a tad basic.