Giro d'Toscana (sponsored by Chianti Classico)

We have left the art world and museums of Firenze and started our cycle tour through the hills of Toscana.

We caught the bus from Florence to Colle val d'Elsa, were collected by our hosts, Eleanor and Luke, and deposited at our first hotel, kitted out with bikes and instructions. We're in heaven - Tuscany really is this beautiful!

This was our opportunity to get away from the crowds, eat local delicacies, enjoy bike riding in spectacular surrounds and maybe loose some weight after weeks of great food.

Our starting location, Volterra, whets our appetite for the scenery, food and accommodation of the next 10 days.







We did months of training back home and our concern was whether we still had our bike legs. It can't be that hard, it's only 40 km per day.

How wrong we were!

We set off from our hotel on the first morning, excited but a little naive about the hard slog ahead of us - particularly after the 5 course dinner the night before!

Overall we covered around 150 km, did climbs of 5-10 km at times with gradients between of 7% to even 11% and the weather most of the time was an energy zapping 35 deg Celsius. Portions of the ride were on strata bianca , a rough white quartz gravel road, which can be tricky.

I have to hand it to Italian drivers in how polite and careful they were when ever driving near us. Our drivers back home could take a leaf out of how to deal with bike riders - particularly as roads rarely have much shoulder and are often narrow / single lane. Not once were we hassled, tooted or fists raised in anger during our ride.

The towns we stayed in were Volterra, Pancole, Colle Val d'Elsa and Pescille on the outskirts of San Gimignano, the town that was on our horizon for most of the trip, our ultimate goal, getting a little closer each day, and is the heart of Tuscany.

Well, what's the best things about riding a bike in Tuscany?

1 - The Magnificent Scenery

As you ride along you just lose yourself in the vineyards, olive groves, little Italian villages going about their daily routine, oblivious to us and the goings-on in the rest of world, rolling hills, farming lands and the peacefulness.

Day 2 of the ride, from Pancole to Ulignano featured riding along a ridge with beautiful views of valley and hillsides on both sides.

We had superb views of the major medieval town of San Gimignano and full 360 deg perspective of Toscana.

2 - Medieval Towns 500 to 600 years old

The smaller ones we visited were:

• Gambasi Termi on the first day, arriving at lunch time, parched and a little shell shocked after a tough morning climbing strata bianca through oppressive heat. The waitress at the little family restaurant understood we needed water and giant bowls of pasta - STAT! After consuming three litres during lunch, we continued on.

• We took a day trip riding into Certaldo, and up to the Medieval tower, Certaldo Alto. Dating from the 1400s, the old castle is partially original and partly restored and has an interesting history, including time as a court, gaol and executioners locale.

Inside had been re-purposed into an art gallery. It was quite an interesting setting for modern art against the backdrop of Medieval and Renaissance frescos.

Certaldo Alto is a quaint hilltop town that seems to have been overlooked by tourists so it is nice to wander the cobbled streets admiring the curiosities and laid back atmosphere.

And the views are majestic!

• Casole d'Elsa. Very few tourists but so much charm and a glimpse of how the locals still live. A most arty little town, with two streets, a water fountain for drinking water, where locals go about the daily ritual of taking their caddy of bottles down for filling. We climbed the tower, which is above the government offices, so it felt like we were interloping as we walked through their offices, past the tea room, and out onto a ledge, up a ladder, onto the roof, and a short skip onto the top.

And again, well worth it for the views.

• Poggibonsi where we bought water in Lidl (Aldi in Oz) and felt like we'd stumbled through a portal to an alternate reality - eerily identical to Aldi at home. We stopped for an icy pole before joining the Pista Ciclo Touristico bike trail, a delightful trail through woodlands and meadows.

We took a day trip to Siena, San Gimignano and finished in Volterra.

San Gimignano is a world of its own, perched high on a hill with its 11 towers, cobblestone roads, views of Toscana, local food smells and local food that made you feel hungry all the time. They also conveniently have half bottles of Chianti (very reasonably priced) perfect for having with lunch while wandering around this darling town.

The Towers of San Gimignano are iconic and are constant feature of Tuscany. We loved having the towers on our horizon, dawn to dusk.

3 - Food, Food, Food oh, and Chianti, of course!

What can I say! There is never a shortage of places to eat and we did our best to try local produce as much as possible. Outstanding meals were as simple as fresh pesto linguine in the square at Colle val d'Elsa - a mountain of pasta that magically disappeared in the blink of an eye, a pizza in a little village to a traditional family restaurant in a grotto on the side of San Gimignano serving guineafowl, rabbit and wild boar.

We felt privileged to enjoy two meals in the courtyard of the 200 year old monastery where we had the restaurant almost to ourselves, beautiful food and the whole atmosphere was serene.

Whilst we wholly support screw tops on wine, it is nice to enjoy the ceremony of the waiter preparing and opening the wine with a cork. Champagne is also opened in the traditional manner with a sabre and cheers of "Bravo!"

Dinner each night is a treat - especially because we've earned it! And the wine selection is all local.

And all have the most beautiful views.

The food has been amazing. One thing Jen and I are determined to do when we get home is to eat fresh pasta. It is a totally different experience. Fully recommend it.
Each town also was never short of "fagy" shops and each day, no fixed time a "fagy" was always on the menu.

4 - The Hotels and their amazing Swimming Pools

After riding 5 to 7 hours a day, up and down hills and in 35 deg heat, the sight of our hotel and their sparkling swimming pool was a welcome relief for our aching bodies. The views from all were spectacular and each one had their own unique little bit of magic. The hotel in Colle Val d'Elsa was a converted 200 year old monastery with a divine travertine swimming pool.







Rolling into the cool grapevine covered courtyard of Pescille, after a long hard slog in 35+ heat, we rejoice!

and then head for the pool to cool off.

Enjoying a beer in the hydrangea garden of Pancole. The owner's wife had the greenest thumbs.

Sunset over the horizon pool in Volterra, against a backdrop of the Tuscan hills made us appreciate how lucky we are, and soaking in the pools at the end of the day helped us to forget about the soreness of our bums after each day's ride.

5 - Yes we did it!

It is always satisfying that at the end of the day we had achieved something special. Knowing that we were getting away from the crowds, being alone on the roads and being able to stop whenever we wanted was the real reason why we chose to ride around Toscana. You ride along and you see so much more, smell the olive groves, go from town to town and say "Buongiorno!" to the locals as you roll through villages. Our trip notes made us feel a little like we were in a game, giving ourselves a little cheer when we find something we're supposed to. The notes said we would see a "small shrine", La Madonnina. We were on the lookout for a small building, so we had to chuckle when we found it.

Before we arrived we thought that 40 km a day is going to be easy! We were very wrong. The climbs were tough especially the first day. As we climbed and climbed in the heat on the first afternoon, desperately wanting to reach the illusive "Villa del Monte" to signify achieving a milestone that would mean we were closer to the finish - it felt like every large house HAD to be "Villa del Monte", but alas, it was just another lovely Tuscan home, and on we rolled! We made it though, each day, enjoying a fine dinner, glass of wine and a beautiful sunset to reflect on the day's achievement.

(sunset in Pancole)

It took us probably about 1 1/2 days to get our cycle legs back but still we needed to be careful in the heat and make sure we drank water. I have to say Jen did an absolute fantastic job on just rolling along with what ever Toscano threw at her. By the last day she was powering up hills and not even using the granny gear!

6 - Siena and the Tower

On one of our days off we caught a bus into Siena thinking a quick wander around and just chill out. Well, Siena is something quite different, even if there were hundreds of tourists in town.

Siena is the town where they have horse race in the middle of the Piazza Del Campo which was a little bigger than a bike velodrome but on a slope. It is enclosed with all your typical Italian buildings and restaurants but it has a charm all of its own. We loved it! At the bottom corner of the square is the Torre del Mangia, a tower that requires climbing up 400 steps and at the top is a 360 deg view of Siena and its surroundings.

The view is spectacular!

7 - Lunches

Before we left for our trip, our plan for Tuscany lunches was to buy in the morning our bread, cold cuts of meat, local cheese, some tomatoes and a bottle of Chianti and pick a spot along our travels. Well that's pretty well what we did! From sitting in an olive grove next to a villa overlooking a valley to sitting beside a creek near a field of sunflowers or stopping off at a local pizzeria in a little village.

Lunch of a Tagliere and Insalata (not to be confused with Tagliatelle pasta) in Certaldo.

8- Opera, yes opera!

To add a bit of culture and a surprise to Jen, I organised tickets to a 1 hr opera concert in the Chiesa a di San Jacopo church in San Gimignano. This church only held about 50 people who all came to see tenor Jan Lund and piano forte Giacomo Benedetti. For you who know opera, (not sure who that is) the songs played were by Handel, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Faure, Tosti, and Marchesi. The music, the power of the tenor's voice and the single piano all filled the tiny church - no microphones, and overwhelmed us. You sit there lost in the music even though you don't understand a word. This was an opportunity to do something very local and unique and whenever hear opera I will think of San Gimignano.

Overall a great experience, lots of laughs, lots of pedalling and all made better to having done it with Jen.

It was something I always wanted to do and to have Jen with me is something I will cherish and will have great memories.

The climb for the last 5kms up to Volterra was the toughest challenge on the last day.

We made it!

I can fully recommend if you are into cycling then go do Giro d'Toscana!

Also a special thanks to Luke and Eleanor from Headwater for helping us with all the logistics especially getting us to Pisa.