Under the Tuscan Sun (and Moon)

Day 16 - August 14

Yes, I was quite glad to be well and alive in the morning - no wolf bothered me that night. Still, I thought it would be a good idea to be out of there as soon as possible, so I woke up around 5 am and took a recording of the wolves howling just after 6 in the morning. I rode through sleepy mountain villages, without much sign of life, especially in the twilight hours. The road was a lot less steep than the evening before, so I made good progress.

At around 8 am, I reached the Passo Cisa at 1,041 meters. This is the door to the Tuscany and lies on the Via Francigena, an ancient road and pilgrim route running from Cantenbury in England to Rome, The route passes through England, France, Switzerland and Italy. The route is known in Italy as the "Via Francigena" ("the road that comes from France"). In medieval times it was an important road and pilgrimage route for those wishing to visit the Holy See and the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul.

Now riding downhill, I had some breakfast in Montelungo at an OK place, though I have to say I would have preferred the restaurant across the road, run by an elderly couple, but it was not open yet. Anyhow, the lady at "my" place confirmed that there are indeed many wolves in the area, but no human has been hurt by them (their livestock is another story, but wolves are strictly protected).

Similar to the prior day(s), I was up for quite a surprise (forget not that now I was in beautiful Tuscany…): I got into the city of Pontremoli (meaning "trembling bridge"), there was a medieval castle (a large one!) up on a hill and directly below it, was a charming town. The access to the castle, called Castello Piagnaro, was either through a very steep road from the other side of town or via a nice elevator, reachable for through a tunnel - I went for the latter option.

I took the elevator back to town and I was still very much impressed (again, bella Italia!) by what the place had to offer. At a farmer's market in the city, I bought some good goat cheese.

I snacked at a park at the edge of the city, there was a nice automat to seen: for the nominal amount of 5 cents, it served cool, sparkling mineral water. A local guy, who marveled at my bike, invited me for a liter of sparkling water. Grazie!

Now I was riding through landscape with Tuscan architecture, here a stone church, there a fortification, an old bridge, on the hillside a castle ruin, a village built right on the top of the mountain. Quite amazing!

I reached the town of Aulla, I was expecting to see a bit more medieval architecture, but it was more of a modern town. I did find, however, an ice-cream parlor, where I had one of the best icecreams of my life - without exaggerating. There I met a French lady, Guillenette, who was doing one of the pilgrimage routes of about 1,500 kilometers - by herself and on foot! I treated her for this excellent ice cream.

I had to climb for a while to reach the outskirts of the port of La Spezia and was expecting to have a nice view of the sea, similar to Rijeka. What a disappointment! On a bike trip about 10 years ago, I had been to La Spezia and was not too found of the town, this impression did not improve. It is basically a huge port, where you simply have no view of the sea - either due to the large ships or huge buildings, barriers and silos.

Here I had the idea of jumping on a cargo ship - I've heard and read that these take regular passengers. I had no particular destination in mind and was curious how it would work out. To cut a long story short, it did not. After a lot of searching (i.e. riding back and forth), I found an agency for MSC, or Mediterranean Shipping Company. They informed me that yes, this would be possible, but only for certain nationalities and Hungarian wasn't one of these. About two hours spent with this mission, but no luck. One good thing about it: I did not get wet, while I was talking with the shipping agents, a quick storm passed through the area.

I decided on staying in La Spezia - or at least intended to, expecting to find reasonable hotels. Wrong! I forgot to take into account that Ferragosto, one of the largest public holidays in Italy, was coming up the following day and that practically all hotels were running at full capacity. On top, the holiday started on a Thursday, so my chances of staying at a hotel at a reasonable price for the next four days were rather slim.

I was told there would be a campground to the east. I found one, they did allow tents, just camping cars - the next one was rather far, in the next town, in Lerici. Finally, I spotted the blue of the sea. Despite it being close to 8 in the evening, quite a few people were swimming. I would have loved to join them, but still had no place to stay. There was quite a climb over a hill to get to a small camping site - and I got lucky, they let me stay for the night (a few minutes after I arrived, people were already being turned away). The camp was in a bay, I was warned that water could be rough, that got me going! I pitched my tent and went in for one of the most exciting and refreshing swims in a long time, with the bay gleaming in shine of the full moon. No wolves that night...

Here is the map for the day, I covered some 95 kilometers, gained 820 meters, at the same time, I dropped double that amount...