I thought i would share some pics, for those interested, from my week in northern Tuscany.
I had never been there before, and got some great advice from the ST-community before I packed my bike and bags and got on the plane to Bergamo. We (me and the wifey) rented a car in Bergamo and drove down to Castelvecchio, a small town 40 km north of Lucca. The weather all week was very good, 30-35 degr. during the day and cool breeze in the afternoon making night temp. around 15 degr. The hotel was ok, airconditioned and situated on top of a hill side - making my every ride ending with a 3 km of 12-20 % climbing…
A short summary of the week: Nice people everywhere, great food, coffee and wine, and the riding was just amazing: Hills, hills and sloping roads all over, I couldn’t find one flat road all week. A lot of great and challenging climbs near by, the hardest one I did was my ride to up to San Pellegrino - way to steep for me and my 11-23… The ride up to Abatone was also hard and spectacular. - Fantastic landscape, good road-surface, small towns everywhere, lots of other riders enjoying, and not one angry motorist! BTW - noone - I mean nobody was wearing helmets - The locals looked at me as some kind of weird tourist - helmet instead of a bandana…
Some pics of the roads in the area:
The view from the hotel:
Barga:
Lucca:
Down in the valley:
A short break on a climb:
Ahh… the climb up to the hotel… everyday…
North east of Castellvecchio - steep!:
Climbing up to Campaccio
Finished with this panoramic climb up to Minucciano:
Hey! Nice pics…I soooo miss Tuscany. You should (if you are still there) head over to Castiglione Della Pescaia! Have you visited Montalcino or Montepulciano? San Gimignano is also a must…try the Vernaccia with some fish…yum…
I didn’t get to experience Montalcino or Montepulciano this time - Now I have this feeling like “I want to give up my life here and move down there” feeling
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I know the feeling. Lived in Firenze for a year…leaving was hell. Good thing Southern California is beautiful, otherwise I would have stayed in Tuscany!
Dude, that is awesome, thanks for sharing. One of these days, I’m going to do a trip just like that. Would also love to ride through Provence in France.
Appears as though your trip was magnifico! Good for you!
Our trip this past June was a teriffic success as well. The climbing is definetly divine. We have great inland climbs and decsents toward the sea that too are stunning. Glad to see your ride was one too remember. Interesting note about the helmets… Almost all of Italian cyclists of coastal regions wear helmets.
Isn’t Italian beer great ? I really liked one called Hell. At least I think thats what its name was. The roads in Chianti are alot more gentle and rolling , and you’re right, I did see a lot of non-helmet riders.
The area is stunning; riding in 30 degr. through wineyards monday and then walking downtown Firenze tuesday morning… I am going back in the spring for sure!
Isn’t Italian beer great ? I really liked one called Hell. At least I think thats what its name was. The roads in Chianti are alot more gentle and rolling , and you’re right, I did see a lot of non-helmet riders.
he obviously drank german “hacker braeu” beer…
I’m sure you will enjoy it! - The hotel we stayed at where very “kids-friendly” with free kindergarten-option during daytime (the italian seem to love kids!) and lots of different outdoors activities, not to expensive either. You could check it out as an alternative to Backroads!
