A journey is an adventure, the adventure is in the journey, not in the destination. And today nothing was missing, it was so intense that it’s hard for me to remember, or I don’t remember due to tiredness, who knows. I leave at 8.45 from the Milano hotel in Pistoia after having further adjusted the brakes with the new keys purchased yesterday evening in the center of Pistoia. Not Brico or another superstore, a nice old hardware store with two ladies working behind a mountain of tools that only they can find.
Photo 2: The Google Street View operators were in the same hotel as me in Pistoia, I understood that they don’t know what a Guiding Star is!
After making my way through the streets of Pistoia, I take the old via Fiorentina, which evidently prevents me from taking the new state road. The route traced on the Locus map isn’t bad until you get to the climb that leads to Carmignano.
Here I see that my internal engine is certainly not as powerful as that of those who overtake me at full speed, could it perhaps be the weight of the bags? Is that even a good excuse? With a few stops I reach the top. Given the tiredness, I decide to ask a lady if that road leads to Siena. Her eyes widening she says to me: But why did she go uphill when the road is at the bottom on the other side? Tell me where to go, I’m a mother of cyclists. I take the road you indicated and practically go down to the plain, I do 7-8 km for nothing. I remove the Locus map application and decide to rely on the skills of Google Maps bike version which sends me on country dirt roads, obviously uphill and downhill. I recover the paved road with relief and at the end of a further descent, in a well hidden curve, a sign with a small number, 15%. Who cares! I go up at a brisk pace, perhaps 100 meters, as I lose momentum, I have no more gears to downshift, I have no more horses on my legs, I get stuck in the surplace, I put my feet on the ground. I check if I’m right on the navigator, yes I’m on the right track, “via compliant” do you know why it has this name? It’s not that doing it on foot is less tiring, the breath is labored and panting.
Arrived at a first brow she tells me to take a path but there is a chain that blocks it, so the indications are very wrong. I continue uphill for 15% and after 200 m the descent begins, always at 15%. If the climb to 15% seems difficult for you, try the descent! Luckily the brakes hold up well indeed very well and I am very satisfied with my work. But in two hours I covered 20 km, I will never get to Siena. I avoid taking the cycle path that runs along the Arno and take the state road.
Photo 3: Lunch in Montelupo Fiorentino, town of terracotta and artistic ceramics Photo 4: A boat-bench in the center of Montelupo Fiorentino
In Montelupo, a town of ceramics and terracotta, I decide to eat. In three and a half hours 38 km, the Apennine pass was easier. After lunch, I definitely focus on Siena. Here the road is beautiful and always paved, I start to grind km, but for a short time. Google makes me take a side valley, a road that becomes paved, then a country cart track where the bike jumps on the footprints of the tractor wheels. Even the french fries I ate jump which is a delight. The cart track becomes a sheep track and I have to pass over an expanse of cut hay, luckily there isn’t a soul alive.
Photo 5: the arm devastated by the wounds (I removed the blood) caused by the brambles Photo 6: Incredible landscapes on the Florentine hills, but the storm is predicting Photo 7: Incredible landscapes on the Florentine hills, but the storm is predicting
Google takes me into the woods and tells me to take a specific route after 500m turning left. The path becomes a water drain with mud and everything covered with brambles, thorns, brooms and anything else that could be thorny. 15% in comparison was extremely easy. I find that in times of difficulty you have to appeal to someone, even if you don’t know them and maybe sometimes you refuse, and without uttering a word against them I beg them: get me out of here!!!
On the contrary I had a lot of words to google when I managed to reach the road over the hill of course. More exactly, I thought, in the moment of absolute raving, but I say it for the record, that the manager of the Google Maps bikes must be a Nazi-fascist who has never been captured and who wants to take revenge on partisan cyclists, perhaps a formation of bersaglieri on bicycles; imagine where the human mind of a balanced man goes when he is distorted by fatigue and fear! I don’t know where the hell I am, I have to rely on the navigator, which however is now imposed on cars, no highways, no tolls, no ferries, etc. you never know! Now I’m on the state road towards Siena, overtaken by an endless line of cars and trucks.
Thunder, I raise my head, it’s all black. Seeing the damp road, I think maybe it has already passed and is moving away. A very strong flash, I’ve arrived in Certaldo, I’m looking for a bar. One drop, I see a building with a large entrance hall, I jump in time to avoid the furious storm. Just a drop on the bag in front, and then the water descended like hell, but I’m sheltered, even if they arrive with gusts of wind from all directions, sprays of water that force me to move several times from one side to side of the building. I decide that going on doesn’t make sense, also because there are still 45km to Siena, the road is wet and according to forecasts there is a risk of more thunderstorms.
Photo 10: The road parallel to the funicular that goes up towards Certaldo alto, with a 30% gradient Photo 11: The Renaissance-style Castello hotel in Certaldo Alto welcomes me Photo 12: Certaldo. From the hotel window I see Boccaccio’s house. A sign of fate? Let’s hope that my newly published novel “Diomira” has the blessing of the great Florentine novelist. Photo 13: Certaldo alto. The medieval village after the rain
I find a hotel in Certaldo Alto, which I reach on foot as soon as the rain subsides. They advise me to take the footpath, paved (wet). In my opinion it is the village’s Via Crucis, so no bad words along the avenue! But who could imagine ending up in an enchanted place like this! This is adventure, planning yes, but not so much, letting chance sometimes show you the beauty of trusting, of accepting even what you see as a defeat, but which you can actually transform into a dazzling victory: I, the unworthy narrator, have the window of my bedroom overlooking the house of the great storyteller, Giovanni Boccaccio and tell me why I’m happy! Today about 60 km, but who cares!
Photo 14: Certando Alto. From the terrace of the Castello hotel restaurant the view is spectacular over the hills with the mists caused by the storm. I have never seen such an intense show, up to a flaming sunset
The movie of seventh stage
keep sharing your wonderful journeys. All the best
