Perugia to Spoleto: Nothing's gonna stop me now...

...meaning my brakes are shot by the time I got to the hotel. Last night's accommodation and meal were, to my mind, the best of the entire trip to date, but that could be because I'm getting short term memory loss. Anyway, the bacon and eggs were without peer and the fact that Prosecco was available with breakfast (not that we indulged) sealed the deal. Today's ride into Spoleto was to be a relatively short affair with a bit of flat riding through agricultural fields. Whilst flat, open areas are often notorious for winds. Headwinds, cross winds, anything but tail winds. 

We soon came upon the delightful old town of Brevagna with its narrow cobbled streets and old stone buildings. A perfect place to stop for cafe corretto sambucca and a gelato. Lunch was just 7km away at Montefalco, the jewel of the regional wine industry but, of course, at the top of a climb. Our group of 5 decided we might press on rather than stop there as a 2 hour sit down meal by the time everybody arrived and ate, was going to make for a longer day than necessary, especially as we had set out planning to do an extra loop into the hills.

Suffice to say I was beginning to have second thoughts about more descents given the state of my protesting front brakes. It's an odd thing when the descents are more feared than the climbs: quite the opposite to what you would expect. The others also decided to make tracks straight to the destination at Spoleto except for Mick, obviously keen for more. Turned out to be a little more than he bargained for given the state of the roads (or lack thereof), a chase by some dogs and ending up in some abandoned village. Now this was not necessarily his fault as, for some reason the navigation devices sometimes do funny things and one can easily take a wrong turn. Anyway, he obviously found the challenge a hoot and came back full of beans.

Meanwhile, the rest of us enjoyed a beer at the hotel then a wander into town on foot for a sit down lunch followed by, you guessed, gelato. Next time I see Agnello socottiolo (or something like that) I'm ordering it. Grilled lamb chops. You should have seen the smile on Harold's face as he wiped the grease from his chin. My grilled chicken breasts were quite tasty though I must admit.

Spoleto has some associaton with Hannibal. After the Battle of Lake Trasimene Spoletium, as it was then known, was attacked by Hannibal, but he was repulsed by the inhabitants. During the Second Punic War the city was a useful ally to Rome. Spoleto still sports an old Roman amphitheatre, where Christians were persecuted and the nearby 1st century BC stone bridge, dubbed the Ponte Sanguinario (bloody bridge) is a reference to that.

Not many photos today I'm afraid but here's a few.

Brevagna, where we had morning coffee and gelato. An old man with red rose in hand offers compliments to lady passers-by

Mick climbing up to Montefalco

Followed by Richie

and Aaron

The sky looked pretty as I waited for Harold

Harold: last, but by no means least. This man is a real goer!

And so to the story of my brakes. By the time I rolled into Spoleto one of the front pads was destroyed (I could tell from the noise) and I have managed to rig up a new working front brake set by taking one of the (relatively) unused pads from the rear and pairing it with the remaining serviceable front pad. It's only got to go 48km and mostly flat. Plan B will be to use Jess' bike but I do really want to start and finish on the same bike. Big brake overhaul coming up when I get home.

Sant'Anna di Camprena to Perugia

Not so many kilometres today but we've come to expect there are never any easy days on this ride. Despite being less than 100km, Dylan still managed to find some nastily steep climbs to make us suitably tired at the end of the day.

After breakfast at the former monastery of Sant'Anna di Camprena we were bound for a bit more Hannibalic history around the shores of Lake Trasimene. First however we headed for coffee at the delightful hilltop village of Montepulciano. A long slow climb ensured that we were ready for the recuperative powers of a cafe corretto sambucca.

On the climb up to Montepulciano

Lake Trasimene was the site of one of the major battles of the second punic wars but, to be honest we were more interested in food, specifically lunch, at the time. A delicious gorgonzola and walnut pasta at a restaurant overlooking the lake, oh and the preceding obligatory gelato, was followed by a climb into the hills above the lake where, it is said, Hannibal lay in wait for an unsuspecting Roman legion. As they, the Romans, were caught on a thin strip of land Hannibal's men descended and, with great gusto, despatched some 30,000 Roman soldiers. The name of a small village we passed through: Borgo Sanguinetto (Bloody Village), bears testament to the battle.

Looking back down on the Trasimene Lake and, presumably, the battleground where 30,000 Romans were killed.

Next followed some seriously steep climbs, which I might add it was possible to skirt around as at least one inadvertently managed to do. The climbs themselves are not so bad (although not everyone would agree) but the descents on the increasingly deteriorating road surfaces are just plain uncomfortable. My poor bike's front end has had the daylights shaken out of it (but it's still in one piece at least).
Mick, Richie, Chrissie and I ducked in for a beer at a bar with just 2km remaining as we knew we were going to be out of town and didn't know the situation at our overnight stay vis a vis the availability of liquid refreshments. We needn't have worried. Another fabulous destination: one of the best on the entire Hannibal ride I dare say. Craft beer, roasted almonds, tasty olives... a perfect end to a hard day's ride. Dinner was spectacular as well and I'm looking forward to breakfast.

Sir Rustalot standing guard outside my room in the 13th century castle

and the sun sets behind a cathedral on the ridge

Entrance to Castello di Monterone, our overnight home in Perugia

Frederika, Phillip and Christine arrive at Castello di Monterone

Caught this one peeking through the bushes

Looking out from one of the gardens at Castello di Monterone

Finally, for this episode at least, I should mention that Felix came good on his promise of a book for Mick and I after we both completed the challenge of the wickedly steep climb up to the marble mine. As there was only one book we had a guessing competition and I lost. Mick got the book and I got a consolation prize of a jersey designed by one of Felix' mates. How does black, pink and dark green go with red? We shall see tomorrow unless the fashion police are out in force. Aaron received a cycling motif keyring for generally being a nice guy as well as the strongest rider amongst us. Thanks Felix.

San Gimgnano to Sant'Anna

Well, it was certainly another interesting day today. Dylan had promised us a full immersion into the delights of the Tuscan countryside. The day began with breakfast gazing out over said bucolic idyll before we mounted the steeds and dropped quickly into the valley below San Gimignano. After winding around the outskirts of Poggibonsi we pushed up a climb into the heart of Chianti. Picture postcard Tuscany, Dylan promised and it was indeed beautiful.

View from the window at breakfast in San Gimignano

A longish ride along the Chiantigiana (Chianti way) took us the the vineyards of Brunello di Montalcino. The temperature was starting to drop and the wind began to strengthen such that several of the riders with whom we had started out the day elected to forego lunch and press on.

I was glad to have stayed because shortly after Fredericka arrived with a swag of delights for a picnic lunch. After parking up to shield us from the wind we enjoyed stuffed capsicums, olives, cheeses, salamis, wild boar sausages, focaccia, fresh grapes and panforte. It was heaven. Were had just had our fill when a number of the others arrived and began to eat but, as we were beginning to feel the cold, elected to move on.

Thereafter followed quite a bit of climbing and descending and riding along exposed, wind-swept ridge lines. A couple of picture stops for some classic Tuscan scenes were obligatory, as well as one entry to the official l’Eroica ride. The Eroica is a sportive along the famed strada bianche (white gravel roads) on bicycles manufactured in 1975 or before. 

Ollie and David climbing up into the Chianti hills

Chrissy in her favourite outfit

Mick, Harold and Richard do the same

One of several entrance points to the Eroica ride along the strada bianche

The vineyards at Brunello di Montalcino. The chianti grapes were delicious. Is that a scare crow, or a scare chook?

Typical Tuscan countryside. Ridgekines with strada bianche lined by pencil pines, leading to some building on the top of the hill

I liked the visual appeal of the freshly mown wavy fields .

Another photo stop as we battled cross winds along a ridge

Finally we made it up the steep climb to the gravel driveway of the Sant’Anna di Camprena. This deconsecrated monastery, our home for the night was once used as a setting for the film “The English Patient”.

One of the many rooms inside the old monastery

A view from the courtyard

Looking out on the courtyard, Mick leans his bike against a pear tree and checks his bike: flat Di-2 battery!

Pisa to San Gigminano

A few of us decided to make an earlier start than usual as we wanted to help Harold along the way, given he was unwell. The other advantage of an early start was that getting out of Pisa potentially involved a lot of traffic. We also figured the newbies would take a bit of extra time to get themselves sorted on the first day, especially as some had been up late watching England go down to Wales in the Rugby World Cup.

120km with about 1400m climbing was the order of the day, with a step climb to morning tea and another to lunch in the beautiful old town of Volterra. We stopped inside the old town after riding our bikes up narrow cobbled streets crowded with Sunday tourists. Pizza and gelato filled the hole before we headed off for San Gigminano.

The Tuscan countryside, although very beautiful, is not as green as the fields of Parma and Piacenza which we passed through last week. Nevertheless, there were some lovely, fragrant orchards redolent with fuit. Many hunters, complete with camouflage gear, poke around in the valleys looking for grouse. The odd shot rings out from time to time.

The final leg involved another longer but less steep climb up to the day's high point and shortly after we were rewarded with a downhill run into the finish. That is until you get to the steep ramp up into the old part of town because, as you will recall, the old Italians loved to build on the top of things. Once again we negotiated narrow old cobbled streets to find our hotel in the old walled citadel. Hotel Bel Soggiorno's dining room looks out over the surrounding countryside from a high vantage point.

Dinner was left to us to make our own arrangements. Aaron had found a burger type restaurant which looked good as we are happy to go with a single course and finish early, as opposed to the Italian tradition of stretching the meal out over several courses (and hours). My hamburger turned out to be a 700g slab of beef, cooked blue. Interesting challenge but I was equal to the task. The real reward for the day's effort was the world championship winning gelateria, whose wares we just had to sample on our way back to the hotel to watch Peter Sagan winning the men's road race at the world champs live on TV. A great day.

Tuscan countryside from Volterra's city walls

Rolling down into San Gigminano

Dylan "Fresh Legs" Reynold's, co-owner of Ride and Seek actually earning his keep while we watch on and enjoy a beer

Washing adorns the hotel window 

view over Tuscany from the dining room window

Inside old San Gigminano

The piazza outside the award winning gelateria by day

The piazza outside the award winning gelateria by night

David and Chrissy

Pisa

Yesterday’s was a relatively easy affair. Not quite a roll down the hill from Castenuovo to Pisa, but one that was a welcome respite from the arduous efforts of the preceding days. Felix Lowe, the author of 'Climbs and Punishment' I previously mentioned in this blog arrived for dinner at this little trattoria nestled away in the hills just a short drive from Castelnuovo. Over dinner he treated us to some more insights into both Hannibal and the local area.

During conversation he recommended we take a detour from the main route to visit a marble mine as we were going to be descending into Pisa through one of the world’s most prolific marble producing areas. Depending on how gullible you were you could take up his recommendation. Perhaps it was more of a challenge for, as the details emerged of how this visit would encompass a gnarly 3km climb up a broken road with gradients up to 20%, to the very top of a mountain, there were fewer and fewer takers. Not even the fact that it was gleaming white marble, or that from the top you could view the Mediterranean Sea seemed to attract much interest. I simply rationalised that having a bike with no rear brakes, the descent would be too difficult to contemplate. Felix was last heard adding something about a signed, autographed book for anybody that took the ‘challenge’.

Of course, you can guess that one or two idiots did have a go and you can probably guess who those idiots were: Mick and me, naturellement! So it went like this, after a bunch wrong turn leaving the town, I found myself on the front of the 20km climb (it was almost a false flat really at just 2-6%) with Aaron and Richard. We gradually ascended through a steep chasm in a magnificently forested canyon, passing by a number of marble quarries. One or three idyllic scenes demanded a photo stop, whereupon I was content to let Aaron and Rich disappear up the road.

Deep in the Apennines, some old, unnamed and uninhabited village

Another abandoned old stone building set amongst marble mines

Before I knew it I had reached the day’s high at the end of a one kilometre tunnel (sure glad I took my lights) and there was the challenge. I’ll just head up round the first corner and see what there is to see. Hmmm, nothing. Next corner, same. Oh well, better keep going then. The road got steeper and steeper as I passed by first one ‘Proprieta Privata’ sign, then another (as Felix had warned but urged us to ignore). Finally, there it was. Like a beacon in the distance, the absolute top of the mountain. Massive boulders of white marble placed on corners below gave some idea of what was in store, but I was quite unprepared for such a sight. A huge quarry of gleaming white angular surfaces where massive excavators looked like a child's Tonka toys.

There were people working and so I reasoned that I shouldn’t hang about. It was, after all, private property. I would have loved to hang around and admire the view but instead took some photos and headed downhill with a vice-like grip on the front brake and my bum hanging over the back wheel to prevent going over the bars. Blow me down, half way back down here’s Mick grinding his way upwards. “Keep going mate, You’re about halfway” I said. He said “Bugger, I thought I’d be the only one”! I crawled done to the bottom and waited from him but began to worry when half an hour later he had not returned. I was weighing the options between riding back up (definitely a last resort) or riding on the to van for assistance as there was no phone reception. I chose the latter and just round the corner was another superb view of the mine from below. As I was putting the camera away I saw a truck descending the road and a white flash behind it. Beauty, that’s Mick. Turned out he was more brazen than I. He met and chatted with the caretaker/sentry/guard and persuaded him to take his photo. Then he simply sat and enjoyed the view for a while while I worried about his failure to show up. Anyway, looks like we'll both be reading Felix' book very soon!

Final pitch up to the mine's gate. You can see the slope of the mountain and the Mediterranean Sea at lower left

This is the mine from further down the valley. A river of white gold flows from the font atop the mountain. If you can enlarge this photo to 100% or more you can see an excavator at the top.

We regrouped and headed for lunch another 20km or so away at a small town called Pietra Santa, driving just as the others were departing. News of the day: Mario Cipollini had been spotted in town leading a bunch of riders on a tour. One celeb for certain. I also spotted an African dude in a MTN-Qubekha shirt heading the opposite way at considerable speed. I reckon it was Daniel Teklehaimanot, Eritrean nation champ and holder of there maillot a’pois (polka dot jersey) for several days at this year’s TdF. I’m claiming celeb number 2.

And so to Pisa. Did you know it was once a republic? A couple of centuries ago Pisa was much bigger than Florence. It even had colonies, including one in Syria! This was too much for the Florence based Medici (the family who became fabulously wealthy as the Papal bankers.) They coveted Pisa and eventually managed to win control, whereupon they added their own globe emblem to the former flag of the Republic of Pisa. So now, from a distance, the cross looks like four chooks feet.

Pisa also heralds the end of stage 3 of the Hannibal Epic. A week that, as I previously (and probably laboriously) recounted was both challenging and magnificent. We had grown accustomed to the strangely peaceful sounds tinkling cow bells on the high alpine slopes and it was somehow sad to leave that behind, but the sun, lush green hills of Italy were beckoning, as they must have done for Hannibal and his men some eleven centuries ago (I wonder if they had coffee and gelato back then).

We were able to enjoy this view from the rooftop bar of our hotel as we welcomed the newbies at Aperitivo!

We met the newbies last night including a young couple Dave and Belinda from Sydney and another 6 from the UK and this morning, after breakfast said our goodbyes to others. I snuck out early to catch the tower leaning into the sunrise and later Mick and Harold joined me for a trip to the top of the tower. Uncannily off-balancing!

The adjacent cathedral shows just how much the tower lens: sure looks like more than five degrees!

The Baptistry, Cathedral and the tower

In a different light and with Romulus and Remus (being suckled by their wolf mother) showing which way is vertical 

Beautifl pale sandstone and marble catching the early morning light

View of the cathedral (foreground) nd Baptistry (background) and the surrounding fortified city wall from the top of the tower

Wish my arm was longer. I wanted to show there were no floors visible below on this side

Whereas, on the other side you can see other floors and the base of the tower

Galileo's feet have graced this step and many others, by the look of it, since 1173 AD when the tower was first constructed

Fixing those rear brakes has not been a success story. Dylan and his crew have been extremely helpful in their efforts to get me fully operational but sadly, the parts just are not available here.

Under the Tuscan Sun, er Clouds. Would you believe...rain?

So there's this movie where some American woman moves to Tuscany and it's all very romantic and sunny. Well, so far we haven't seen anything of the sun since we scooted down from the Passa della Radici into Castelnuovo. The day started wet in Reggio Emilia as it had been raining during the night. Wet cobbles and lots of traffic demanded caution as we found our way safely out of the city and onto quieter country roads. That's when they went skywards. Yep, more climbing. In fact yesterday was one of the tougher days of the whole tour. 120km and 2500m of climbing. Up, up and up to lunch, although one descent did break the monotony.

The rain began well before lunch and by the time we got to the 'Tennis' bar we were cold and soaked. A heaped plate of pasta with local sausage was supremely satisfying. But we had to face up to a fourth 20km of continuous climbing before casting the Passa della Radici. In fact there were a couple of flatter and even slightly downhill section before the summit which was quite fortuitous as it allowed me to discover that, once again, I had lost my rear brakes. This made the long, steep and winding decent of the last leg in Castelnuovo infinitely more challenging. Wet roads, poor visibility and cold demanded caution. No brakes either demanded extra caution and so I took it vary carefully, even stopping on a couple of occasions for photos as nothing suitable had presented itself before then.

At last I was able to glimpse some warm sunbathed villages in the valley below and arriving there was a welcome relief. Hot chocolate on arrival and a fabulous dinner at  small trattoria several kilometres away in the hills was a fitting end to the day.

First real glimpse of what lay below after many kilometres in the gloop

Some warm sunshine in the valley below.

Today's stage will be a much shorter affair. Just 80 odd kilometres and 1200m climbing into Pisa for a well earned rest day.

Until then...