Day 23 – Tuscany Bike Ride – last day of ride

69 kms travelled – Elevation gain 960 metres.

So about 300 kms travelled on the second cycle.

Making a total of of about 650 kms on our two cycle journeys.

We left yesterdays bad experience behind us. Making sure that we always had a full charge on our ebikes.

We stop in a small town – called Castellina in Chianti – small (nice) museum to explore – then assend the obligatory bell tower to get views of the surrounding countryside.

Next stop is Monteriggioni – a large castle at the top of a hill. The castle has been converted into a shopping precinct – wines, cheeses, leather goods and Gelati all being sold.

We find a nice park for a picnic. We have stopped at many towns along our journey and can’t quite work out when things close for their siesta time. It all seems a bit vague – somewhere between 11.00 am and 4.00 pm – shops will close, some but not all – but I think that is also influenced by the day of the week and the location.

I guess we should have been more attentive today. We finish our picnic lunch – source our daily gelati – then we go to collect our bikes to continue our onward journey.

But, Houston we have a problem – bikes are still at the bike rack where we left them. However, locked gates now bar our access to our bikes. Place where we left our bikes are now on a siesta.

Fortunately, sign indicates that we have a 30 minute wait. Could have been 2 hours.

We eventually continue our journey to arrive at our final destination – San Gimignano – about 4.30 pm.

We are staying two nights here – so more about S.G tomorrow.

Our room overlooks the central square of S.G. – we watch the line for the world famous Gelato, snake its way across the square.

We have been in constant contact with Michele ( we think he is the owner of the bike tour company) during the day. Where to leave bikes etc and when he will pick them up.

On our return from dinner (up another steep hill) we meet Michele – riding both bikes down the hill. Actually riding one and guiding the other.

We bid him farewell and thank him for the great trip.

We return to the hotel – L leans on a pillow and watching the passing parade in the square – while listening to excellant buskers in the square.

L does this for over an hour.

R tries to continues to catch up on the blog (falls asleep and gives up). Another day gone.