Inside Italy - Our Diary!

Our first Italian Road-side cafe. Wot no brown sauce!!

We loaded the bike and headed out of Florence with the help of the satnav, it was another beautiful day, the sun was cracking the slabs and the temperature in the mid twenties. We’d decided we would visit Sienna about 69km from Florence on the way to Perugia.

 For some reason the name Siena, conjures up a picture in my mind of a very beautiful place, we arrived in Siena mid afternoon, in glorious sunshine. We parked our bike and set off to discover what delights this Tuscany town had to offer, we were not disappointed, though I would add it was somewhat hilly. We spent a couple of hours exploring and enjoying the sights in the time we had, we even managed an ice-cream and sat in the afternoon sun catching the rays with all the other tourists in the central Piazza del Campo.

We met a great couple from the States, Bill & Jody who were touring on pedal bikes!! Cycling from place to place – total respect, when you see some of them there hills they had to climb, we compared notes on where we’d been and offered each other advice and suggestions on accommodation and food, they were very helpful and we wished them luck on their personal journey.

We were still in our bike kit and with temperatures in the mid twenties, we were startin to feel the effects of both the heat and weight (I’m alluding here to the weight of the kit, nothing else!), so we decided it was time to move on as we still had 120 kms to go.

On the bike it didn’t take us long to realise,with dusk almost upon us, that Perugia was not a realistic destination. We agreed to pull into the next town, which happened to go by thename of Battolle about 60 kms from Perugia. I have to say it was a bit of a ‘Battol’ trying to find accommodation in the dark and did cause us a little frustration. However, we happened on a place called La Foresteria (with a little help from you know who), which turned out to be very comfortable with a restaurant, and in daylight a beautiful setting. We also discovered whilst riding into Battolle the night before, that our dipped beam was not working, in essence we had been riding on sidelight only, which is really not a good idea in the dark. We enjoyed a good meal washed down with a glass or two of the ole ‘vitamen B’ to help us sleep, we retired to our room feeling tired and weary from a long day. That night I dreamt that I was a mechanic and serviced the bike fully, changing the oil, the filters etc, you name it I serviced it - in my dreams!



Washday Blues & Reds, outside our chalet

 Friday 25th March:

We got up early and had a very good breakfast, I decided that having serviced the bike in my dreams, changing a headlight bulb should be a piece of cake, in fact it was (Mike Baggott, you would have been proud of me), but I did check to see that it had not already been done!!!!. We loaded the satnav and set off for our next destination, booked on line, The Colleverde Country House, approx 16 kms from the City of Perugia in a small hamlet by the name of Colle umberto. What an absolute gem, nestling in the beautiful countryside of Umbria not far from the borders of Tuscany; A family business operated by two beautiful sisters Alba & Valentine, who couldn’t be more helpful, with Steffano and Giovanni, husband and son of Valentine, helping out along with cousin, Andreas. The self-contained chalet style accommodation for families and couples, offers horse riding, swimming , tennis, hiking, cycling and more if you have the energy. It is also, a fantastic location if you want to discover, like us, the hidden treasures within the Tuscany and Umbria regions . The added bonus of this jewel, was the on site Ristorante- Pizzeria, run by a big guy, Mario, what else would he be called!!!!

We unloaded our panniers and settled in. One of my first jobs, was a much needed brush down and groom for the trusty steed, only the second since leaving England, can you believe it, we’ve done over 2,500 miles since leaving home. Once completed, we went for a walk down through the site to the busy equine area and watched the budding Harvey Smiths and Zara Philips being put through their paces. We just chilled in the glorious sunshine and eventually finished the day with a couple of glasses of vino and a great meal in the restaurant.



Saturday 26th: We decided that Assisi was the destination for today, no more than 27 kms away from Colleverde. We put the requisite info into the sat nav and took off, the sun was shining, temperatures in the early twenties, we were looking forward to our visit to the beautiful and historic City of Assisi, home of St Francis.

Assisi sits halfway up the slopes of Mt Subasio about 420 metres above sea level. As you approach the elevated City from the main road, tis a sight to behold, quite breathtaking. The first thing you see and most striking up in the distance, is a series of columns (it almost looks like a fortress), upon which, a Church appears to be sitting. This is in fact the Basilica Di S. Francesco E Sacro Convento, which sits on top of a lower church ’ Chiesa Inferiore’ ( in which a crypt houses the Saint’s tomb), this is all flanked by a portico or colonnade, a style used widely in ancient Greece - It was stunning. We were also lucky enough to experience mass which was celebrated in English. Assisi is a city very rich in Franciscan shrines, each beautiful in its own right and all carefully and lovingly preserved; A magnetic tourist attraction and one we thoroughly enjoyed and will always remember.

Tuesday 29th March: After two days of heavy and prolonged rain with thunder storms, and of course the clocks jumping forward, we ventured out on the bike again. We had been recommended to go and visit a nearby town of Gubbio only 50 km away. Whilst the weather was dry we were a little dubious as there were many black clouds overhead. We took the plunge and were rewarded with brighter weather as we neared our destination. It was a lovely town with many historic buildings and of course several churches.



See, blokes can multi-task, Eating my 'Boar' Bap
and carrying Alba's asparagus

 Co-incidentally there happened to be a big market with hundreds of stalls, we almost expected to see and hear the dulcid tones of my brother Paul, with his mate George, selling their gear. We walked around and enjoyed the ambience, we bought some asparagus for Alba, we had only been talking about it the night before and knew she liked it, and we bought a couple of ’boar’ baps (we call it pig), which were ok, but cold boar, aint the same as hot pig!!



Ann pushed the other guy out of the way to
get into the cage first

 We left the market and walked around the old town of Gubbio enjoying the buildings and historic monuments. Out of the blue, we happened upon a cable car station which we discovered took visitors to the top of Monte Ingino (900m above sea level) and gave a glorious view over the town. The lift was not the most recent, in fact it celebrated its golden anniversary in 2010 and the chairs weren’t chairs, they were tall, round metal cages for two – standing room only. So like a couple of lemmings we got in a cage and up to the top we went – it was great fun and a fantastic view.

We decided it was time to leave Gubbio and call to Perugia about 30kms due south on our way back to Colleverde. By this time the weather had improved considerably and the sun was out. Perugia is an ancient walled city, perhaps, the main city within the region of Umbria and no more than 16kms from Colleverde Country House, where we were staying. Like so many of the ancient cities and towns of this region, they are built on steep hills, and Perugia, was no different. However, having walked up the steps and steep inclined streets to the main Cathedral in the Piazzi Danti,in full bike kit, we discovered the chuffin escalators, a valuable modern day technology introduced to assist the footsore and weary traveller. Unfortunately (Not really), so very discreetly positioned and concealed, we missed them!!


View from Perugia




Perugia, being so elevated, has some very spectacular views of the low lying plains, we could even pick out Assisi in the far distance. By the time we reached home it was dark, so we parked up the bike and went down to the restaurant where we spent the rest of the evening wining and dining before hitting the welcome sack.


I had to be quick to get in the picture, it was funny

Wednesday 30th  

We woke up to a beautiful blue sky and decided over breakfast that we would do some ‘bike touring’ and explore the local countryside. Temperatures were around the mid-twenties, perfect for the bike. We went to a small hamlet Castel Rigone, no more than 20kms away and about 5oom above sea level. This gave us a glorious view of the surrounding area including the beautiful lake Trasimeno (which I believe is the third biggest lake in Italy & the direction in which we were heading next) - towards Montepulciano in the wine growing region of Tuscany.




Ann looking cool outside the Polizanno Vineyard

 Montepulciano is a reknown wine growing area which we had been made aware of, so we were kinda hoping that if we passed a vineyard with winery, we would call in and ask if we could have a tour. Bingo, as luck had it we did just that and were extremely fortunate to be given a personal tour of one of the biggest wineries in the area. It was called Poliziano and according to the guide produces 800,000 bottles of wine a year. We even got to see the owner, Federico Carletti, smiling as he drove off in his Maclaren RS123456....sh-t off a shovel sportscar. After the tour we were invited to taste some of their quality blends, but politely declined as we didn’t want to show our ignorance in the tasting of quality wines. Yea, yea, I’m only joking, we were in their as quick as jack flash and emptied each glass as the guide filled it, even to the point of doing an ‘Oliver’ in the Charles Dickens novel, asking for more!  hehehe. It was fantastic to hear and see what goes on in the wine making process, a great and unexpected pleasure.

We carried on into the town of Montepulciano and done some exploring. We went into a couple of wine cellars which were quite amazing as they lay deep beneath some of the ancient buildings. One of them was in fact an old prison dungeons.

It was like a subterranean world, with loads of large wooden casks full of fermenting wine, I couldn’t help thinking to myself ‘what would happen if the barrels burst – slurp,slurp. As we continued walking through the labyrinth of streets, we passed an old boy standing outside a work unit, it turns out that he’s only a third generation coppersmith. He was a lovely ole boy goin by the name of Caesar and invited us in to show us his work. It was fascinating and something we both really enjoyed, he even made us a round copper plaque dedicated to our own family, a wonderful gesture and a gift that will remind us of Montepulciano, along with the amazing generosity, kindness and friendliness of all the people we have met on our journey.

It was getting late in the day so we decided it was time to leave and head back cross country to Lake Trasimeno, this time going the opposite way round the lake. It was a thoroughly enjoyable ride travelling along the narrow and empty roads occasionally passing a tractor or someone on a bike. We arrived back at Colleverde in early evening sunshine and after a lovely hot shower went down to the restaurant to wash down any dust that remained in our throats with some ‘vitamen B’. We enjoyed a good meal and retired back to our chalet for a well earned kip.



Thursday 31st: We woke to another beautiful day, and the birds chirping for Italy. Over breakfast we decided to do some hiking up one of the mountains close by, I think it was Mt Tezio (Alba will correct me if I’m wrong hehehe), about 950m above sea level - so not a breeze (I’m using the term mountain loosely, it wasn’t Snowdonia). We packed some gear onto the bike and set off to locate our starting point, probably no more than 10 kms away.

At the summit - inappropriate dress or what?

We parked up and changed into shorts and T shirt and set off along a track up through the forested area before reaching a single steep goat track which took us through the tree line up to the ‘Summit’. What a view, right the way across Lake Trasimeno into Tuscany on one side, Umbria and maybe even a little of the region of Marche in the distance, on the other. We made use of our binoculars picking out many of the significant landmarks, it was so peaceful, an absolute privilege, just the two of us on top of this mountain, how absolutely blessed to be here and enjoying the beauty that surrounded us. Ann had somehow magiced a little picnic and so we ate our lunch in peace and tranquillity, sat on top of Mt Tezio in the glorious sunshine. We did see four other hikers who made it to the summit but I have to say they were dressed somewhat differently to us, I kid you not, they had heavy clothing, undercoats, top coats, cagoules, hats and in one case, even a scarf.


Using the auto-timer on the camera
We didnt quite make it!!

We had a chuckle to ourselves cos we thought they were mad but actually it was more likely they thought us mad! We made our way back down the mountain where we found our trusty steed waiting patiently, we changed back into our kit, fired up the engine and set forth, back to Colleverde. After an enjoyable meal we retired to bed and slept like babies.







Friday 1st April: - April Fools day.

Another beautiful start to the day. After speaking with Valentine and Alba, we decided to do a round trip, taking in the mountain towns of Visso, Castelluccio and Norcia up in the Sibillini Mountains. We were really going to experience the steep mountain passes with their winding narrow roads and of course the inevitable and glorious ‘Hairpin bends’. We were going to put our bike and ourselves to the test!!

 

 We set off in a south easterly direction, through Perugia, out past Assisi, and on toward the snow capped Sibillini Mountain range in the distance. We turned off the main road and started our slow ascent along the narrow roads which followed the contours of the lower hills and the course of the snow filled streams, racing by. We passed through some glorious scenery and a number of small rural villages, one of which was called Visso, a gateway into the Sibillini mountains, where we stopped for a drink and a sandwich. We had a mooch around and went into the local church, there wasn’t a lot to see or do, so we bid Visso a farewell , it was onwards and upwards!!

We started to ascend quite quickly, climbing up through 1500m and experienced some of the very tight hairpins, which at times were quite scary as we went around them, knowing there was a sheer drop below, but all the time so incredibly beautiful and picturesque. We continued to travel up through the snow line and higher (probably around 1620m), reaching the small village of Castelluccio. We saw a ski lift in the distance but no sign of life, I guess the ski season is over - such solitude and tranquillity, only interrupted by the occasional cry of ‘Oh Sh-t, don’t look’ coming from Ann, sitting in an elevated position on the back of the bike, referring to the severe drop below. I have to say I would not trade the experience, or the views for anything, it is incredibly personal and for some reason immensely uplifting .


A Pair of 'Ice Cool' Dudes


We descended out of Castelluccio onto a large green plateau, surrounded by the mountain range, (just like a sweet dish), the grass was starting to turn green and there were wild crocus flowers starting to spring up all around, life was returning back into the soil with the help of the warm sunshine. From the plateau we started to climb once again reaching over 1700m, before we started to descend into the medieval mountain city of Norcia (pronounced Norcheeia).

Norcia sits about 600m above sea level and is the Birthplace of St Benedict and his twin sister Saint Scholastica (480 A D). It is protected by 14th century stone walls in an outline shape of a bell, the Piazza San Benedetto is the heart of Norcia where the most important buildings are found , the San Benedetto Basilica, Cathedrale di San Maria Argentea and la Castellina, an impressive fortress with angular turret masts, now a museum where precious woks of art are preserved, and right in the centre of the Piazza stands a very fine monument and statue of Saint Benedict.



For all back at St Bens - yet another worthwhile
'Field Trip'


There was lots to see within the Medieval walled city, unfortunately for us it was late in the day when we arrived, and we still had over 120kms to travel back to our base. So we decided it was better to visit the principal buildings situated in the main square or Piazza and experience the full benefit of these magnificent buildings, rather than crush in all the sites, just for the sake of saying we saw them....

With the sun sinking behind the mountains we set off on the bike to make our way back to Colle Verde Country House complex, where we would finish the day with eats& drinks in the restaurant, hopefully, followed by a good nights kip for two happy and tired travellers who completed 170 miles over the course of the day, through the Sibillini mountain range.



Saturday 2nd April: We woke to the sounds of the birds singing, the sky, a beautiful blue and the sun cracking the slabs - another glorious day. After breakfast we decided to spend the day relaxing and just enjoy the beautiful sunshine, I decided that I’d give the bike a full wash and polish and Ann wanted to read her book in the sun, and that’s exactly what we done, both immersed in our own pleasures and I reflected on the joys of the previous days riding and the 2829 miles we've covered since our journey began.

Alas our peace and tranquillity was short lived, it was shattered... we received a call from home informing us of the sad death of Anns dad who passed away unexpectedly at 11.30 am that morning. I do not propose to go into any further detail, but suffice to say that a great sadness descended over us.

Through the blog I would like to express my sincere thanks to Alba,Valentine and their family for the kindness and invaluable help and support they gave us at this difficult time. Also to Arturro, ‘google man’ , sorry we missed you and thanks for your blog comments it was great to hear from you.

We intend to resume our adventure in due course, so the blog will remain quiet for a couple of weeks or so. Until then....

Love from the easy Riders xxx