To Toscana

As the title suggests I am now in Tuscany, just outside of my new favourite city - Firenze (that's Florence to any non-Italians out there). This is another truly beautiful part of Europe, and definitely another place that I will visit again in the future. This segment starts where the last left off - on Lake Maggiore in the North of Italy. I spent a couple of days on the lake soaking up the sun and the atmosphere - I arrived there on a Sunday, so the beach next to the campsite was predictably full of Italian families taking advantage of the weather and being as unrestrained as only Italian families can be. After being told that the campsite didn't accept credit-cards (as an aside, it seems that pretty much nowhere except big shops in Italy accept payment by card - small wonder why their tax collectors are so inefficient...) I went in search of a Bancomat which resulted in a lovely little tour of the area and surrounding towns (the first was out of order, the second had been demolished, along with the bank it had been attached to, the third had run out of money so it was only the fourth on my list that was of any help, hence the slightly exaggerated tour of the surrounding area!). I left Maggiore after a couple of days with a slightly heavy heart - it was truly stunning, and being so close to the lakes was just great, but the next part of my trip was one that I'd been looking forward to since the planning started in Jersey - Tuscany. I had done a little research on the possibility of cycling down through Northern Italy, but this was a no-go. It's not just the Appenines stretching across the middle of Italy that caused issues, but the fact that there appear to be no campsites between the lakes and Tuscany! Rough-camping is very much against the law in Italy and I didn't really fancy a fair few days worth of travelling with no facilities at the end of the day, so I hopped on a train (well, technically four (five if you include the one I was thrown off)) down to La Spezia. Arriving at about seven in the evening I had looked forward to a couple of k's ride to the campsite for the evening - unfortunately I had worked this out from a different train station to the one that I had alighted from, so I had a good hour-long ride minimum before I could settle down for the night. Once again my GPS provided me with a couple of little traps that I hadn't considered, sending me half-way up a hill full of little steps before I came to the path that it was sending me which was straight up a load more incredibly steep steps - a total no-go which resulted in me having to work out my own route up to the campsite, swinging round the hill in almost the opposite direction - not fun. Arriving at the campsite at around nine o'clock wasn't ideal, but the fact that it led directly down into the Med was a real fillip - being an islander and not having seen the sea for two months, this was a big deal. I therefore set up my tent (after being fed a lovely cold beer by a Swiss chap that I never saw again) and donned my swimming shorts and headed down for a late-night swim off the rocks in the warm salty water of the Mediterranean. Heaven. Unfortunately the rest of the night wasn't quite as much fun - no wind, stifling heat, a full moon and enough mosquitoes to put vampires out of business culminated in a grand total of 0 hours sleep and a night spent counting the hours slip by. Not fun. I had planned on spending a couple of days here (just outside La Spezia) to try and plan the route down through Tuscany but the hellish night, high tariff and lack of WIFi quickly put pay to this notion. Instead I loaded up the bike as quickly as possible and headed off to Viareggio. The ride was great - a big slug of downhill as I left La Spezia and the Apennines followed by a long straight road following the beach for mile after mile in the hot sun. I stopped off at a rather strange establishment - a motley collection of chairs, swings, hammocks and the likes all arranged underneath a load of leafy trees providing as much shade as could be wanted. Their only fare was freshly made fruit juices so I settled down for a lovely banana, peach, strawberry and orange juice which provided enough energy to finish the trip to Viareggio. Once there I realised that in my rush to leave La Spezia I had left my battery with the office to charge overnight. Rather than backtrack for a few days (and spend another night of no sleep) I called them and they agreed to pop the battery in the post down to where I was. It really was no hardship to wait for it however, as Viareggio was lovely. I spent a day in the town shopping for a few bits and pieces that I needed (mosquito repellent, t-shirts to replace mine that were falling apart etc.) and took advantage of a couple of days off by visiting a very accomplished Italian barber for a trim! I also met a lovely German couple, Leonard and Miriam) camped in the tent next to me - we got on like a house on fire and spent a long night cooking a barbecue (very slowly as it happened), listening to music and generally just chilling and beering until three o'clock in the morning! After my battery arrived I headed off to Pisa - the ride was pretty short, but very pleasant and arriving at the campsite in the early afternoon gave me plenty of time to cycle the 12k to Pisa and spend the afternoon in the city. After visiting their stunning cathedral and, of course, climbing the tower of Pisa, I headed back to the campsite to prepare for the next ride. Unsurprisingly these preparations included a lovely big pizza, lots of white wine, several beers, a group of French students and a Polish couple motorbiking through Europe. Leaving early the next morning I got as far as the front gate before realising that I was missing my GPS, resulting in me unpacking ALL of my gear outside the main entrance to the campsite which went down well... Thankfully it was only hiding in one of my shoes, so after hastily repacking I jumped on the bike and aimed in the general direction of Florence. The ride was pretty hard truth be told, but rewarding. After a stonkingly hot day (36c) and climbing to several hundred metres above sea level I arrived at Camping International Firenze. After setting up camp and showering I settled down to an evening in the cafe/restaurant for a few beers. Bliss. I spent the evening in the company of a lovely Kiwi girl chatting for hours and trying not to fall into a coma whilst watching the Olympic water-polo (they didn't even have horses - what a con). Today was spent in my new favourite city of Florence, spending my morning in the Museo del Bargello, crossing the Ponto Vecchio, lunchtime in a lovely little cafe overlooking the Palazzo Pitti and then my afternoon soaking up the Medici and Renaissance culture. After all the slagging off of my GPS that I've done, I think that I'd better come to its defence a little - it is a great piece of kit and although it tests my patience sometimes, it is a life-saver at others, especially on days like today when visiting a new unknown city and flitting from landmark to landmark. Tomorrow will be spent in the Uffizi, one of the best galleries that the World has to offer, and then it's off to Rome in preparation for heading off to Ireland for my Brother's wedding! So that brings me to where I am now. I'll see some of you in Ireland in a week or so, but until then, ciao!