Day 22

So the final day of cycling dawns. Eric drives Rowan and Danielle to Siena to catch the train to Pisa, I cycle off for the 120km ride to Pisa. It is a beautiful morning, with cloud beneath me in the valleys that soon clears for a hot sunny day. I ride the ridge then steep descent to Poggibonsi before pushing on to San Gimignano which I have not visited before. I can ride right into the main square and look around at the famous skyscraper medieval towers - an ego driven desire by families to have something as tall as their neighbours. In some ways it is reassuring that man was as unhinged then as now, in others just a bit pathetic. Anyway the road climbs on and over the last of the Tuscan hills, with Voltarra looking imposing in the west atop its plateau, and finally brings me to the Arno valley en route from Florence to Pisa. I follow the old, hot, dusty Saturday afternoon road on its deserted way into Pisa. I was last here 19 years ago, and it made a big impression on me. Pisa is a cycling town [ordinary folk on old bikes] with a lot less tourist pressure than elsewhere. The Tower has been stabilised, and together with the Cathedral and other buildings it makes for a lovely airy experience after the claustrophobic mesh of Venice and Florence. We got a brilliant B&B in Pisa with a really helpful patrone [my bike is locked in the garage].

Farewell to Chianti