Dit zijn de afstanden die er per dag gefietst zijn. Dag 4 was de rustdag.Dag 5 en 6 waren de dagen dat we rond hebben gereden in de Veluwe zonder bagage.
BramTeunissen.com
Italy - Day 9 : Florence part 2
Because we had arrived late yesterday we had decided to stay in Florence this morning as well. It wouldn't hurt for us to rest a bit either. We walked to the center and arrived at the entrance of a museum, there was a row of statues of famous Italians. From there we walked to the cathedral again. For 10 euro we bought tickets for the cathedral and bell tower. First we climbed the 414 stair treads, so we could rest our legs. From the top we had a nice view over the city and the cathedrals' dome, which was even higher.
View from the Campanile di Giotto
We climbed down the tower while our legs felt like spaghetti. Then we headed towards the baptistery in front of the cathedral.
In de Battistero di San Giovanni
After the baptistery we went back to the cathedral. There were two lines, one for going inside the cathedral, the other one for climbing its dome. We picked one without knowing what it was for and were standing behind a Belgium family. The lady carried a spray can with cold air. We had never seen anything like it. It turned out our line was for going inside the church, which was very beautiful.
Inside the cathedral
We queued in the other line. It was around 11:30 and getting hot. After half an hour we had only moved 10 meters. After another half an hour we were only half way. Suddenly, Bram remembered we needed to pay the campsite before 1, so we decided to leave and head back. In the scorching heat we packed our bikes and started cycling. To be honest I wasn't really feeling it. In the mornings it was at least cool when we left. The campsite was cheaper than expected.
We first needed to cross Florence before heading north. The roads were busy. At one point we had to stop by the side of a road to strategize how best to cross. First we needed to get on a bigger road, then immediately move towards the left lane, move into another road, and then take a right turn. Because it was so crowded the cars fortunately weren't driving very fast. We were happy to have made it out alive.
During the vacation we increasingly often bought donut peaches to eat while cycling. They have some nice advantages: they are easy to eat, very juicy, and packed with sugar. As they are flat they also easily fit in the back pocket of our cycling shirts. We each carried 8 donut peaches and two bananas.
Today's route would be one long straight road towards Bologna. It wasn't very crowded and the landscape was nice. We cycled north through a river valley. Halfway between Florence and Bologna we reached the highest point of the climb. That did involve a half an hour climb. It was a nice one, not too steep and including wide turns through the valley. We were a bit disappointed it wasn't a named mountain. That is always nice about cycling in France, every serious climb has a sign at the top.
View from the climb
On top we found a public water tap, there were a lot of those in Italy. At the following village, still high in the hills, we found a store selling all sorts of local products. We bought nectarines and wanted to buy bread. We pointed to two brown breads and the lady looked confused. I think she thought we would never be able to finish them. Tomorrow would be Sunday so we needed an extra supply. We also bought two pieces of 'torte di mele', apple pie. From then on it was mostly downhill until Bologna.
View along the way.
We bought dinner at a supermarket. To consume some fat and protein we bought a rotisserie chicken. We both nearly choked on the dry pieces of filet. I wanted to eat as much as possible, because otherwise I would regret it if I would get hungry two hours later.
We had left the mountains. I told Bram 'now it will be flat until we reach the Brenner pass'. That would later turn out not to be 100% accurate. Around Bologna it was flat though. It was already 8:30 so we needed to find a place to sleep quickly. I prefered camping before reaching Bologna to avoid having to cycle through the city in the dark. We entered a side road but that turned out to be the driveway of a farm. Before we realized we had cycled around the city anyway.
The setting sun
We drove through a rural area with a few farms, most of which were abandoned. There weren't any good places to sleep. All meadows had prohibition signs and we didn't want to camp on private areas. It took until 9 before we found a reasonable spot behind some bushes in a turn of the road. We had just pitched our tents when a plane flew over pretty low. Ten minutes later the next one came, and ten minutes later another. Apparently we were close to the Bologna airport. I didn't sleep well this night.
The route of day 9
Height profile of day 9, today was one huge climb.
Distance cycled : 133 km