Cycling Eurovelo 7. Italy Austria Odyssey Episode 14

Cycling Eurovelo 7. Italy Austria Odyssey Episode 14

Sunday May 28th Sunday morning just uh had breakfast just packing up it’s another beautiful day and I’m by the wheat Fields sun coming up over the wheat Fields first morning in Tuscany well it’s 10: to 7: that’s a record all packed up ready to go got up earlier this morning started stretching

At4 to 5: want to be at the campsite earlier or on the way earlier because I’ve got to search around a little bit I know roughly where I want to be but whether or not it’s going to work out or not I don’t know so I want to get an

Early start and I need to go to a Euros spin or something because it’s Sunday I don’t know what’s open so I’m going to have to rely on bigger chain stores which I’ll have to go and find well it’s a nice crisp morning it was supposed to be 13 overnight feels

Nice this morning to be up going in the uh cool air had the best sleep so far I think and I had the worst ground I was I’ve been on so far I think I was just that exhausted I was a little bit uh worried about today with this um cycle way with

How rough it would be but it’s pretty good so far so good if it stays like this cuz I think there’s about I don’t know 20K of this more Maybe [Applause] the other reason I wanted to get away early is it’s an East Northeast wind today and I’m really exposed I’m not going to have much cover today from hills and trees feels good to be away early um feel like I’m making pretty good time and it’s uh pretty easy going like it’s

A little bumpy but this track is very doable [Applause] Quick banana break and my bike is just covered with this seed need stuff it’s Everywhere it looks like there’s probably more like 40K of this bike path Farm track but it’s fine with me I’m cruising along it’s pretty smooth I just had a look at the phone to see uh where a supermarket was and there’s one near here but then there’s heaps at arzo

Anyway and it looks like the same about the same distance I’ve just come to a reso and I’ve done about 20 so yeah probably another 20K on this Track well I’m on a road that might be the end of the bike path and I’m about uh 12K out of Aro I’ve done a bit over 40K it was about 40K of cycle way and I did about 10k of cycleway from chy yesterday to get to the campsite so it’s

About 50k of Cycle Way on gravel single track or dual track banana break that’s good I got 10K left to get to AO done 42k and what’s the time 9:37 so that’s great I wanted to um get away early and beat this wind still not

Too bad but it does gust a little bit it’s not a straight head wind but it’s a cross head wind East Northeast I’m glad I got that extra water I’ve got one small water bottle left drunk a third of that so it’s going to work out pretty good but yeah definitely needed that

Extra water arzo well that was a bit of a my bucking around I and I just went to euros spin whatever it’s called and again they had the pole out the front that I could lock my bike too but anyway I’ve got enough stuff foron night all my bottles are

Full and um if I can filter water if I need to I was needing a break so I made myself coffee sandwich tuna and peanut butter who would have thought that tasted good two of them and then a Nutella and peanut butter all right feeling B ready

Recharged another 40K to go to San Giovani well we’re off road I’m glad to be off that main road and I just missed this track and let’s hope this doesn’t go to I don’t need it going to on 100K day there’s pigs just ran up there I

Wonder if they belong to someone or if they’re wild they they looked wild black hair Tuscany is a captivating region renowned for its Timeless Beauty rolling Vineyards iconic cypress trees and historic cities like Florence and Sienna Define its landscape Tuscany is a hub of art and culture famous for its fine wins

Art treasures and stunning country Countryside making it a must visit destination this leg of the Euro 7 is a reso to San Giovani which is about 50k and it’s pretty nice so far you never see a water tap on the outside of a house I’ve been looking and looking and

Looking the next house I got to had a water tap I you Not All I can think about is jumping in the lake o oay Oay oh this is so nice I could just feel the temperature drop when I got in here this has gotten a bit rougher now but seems to be fairly well worn and I just passed a pedestrian walking through so it’s probably well traveled hopefully it doesn’t this is not a re-root

Situation this has gotten muddy but it’s possible wow this is so nice so tempted to jump in there some sort of bridge up there maybe an old train Bridge decided to push on not go for a swim I’m really hoping to get there early I’ve been trying to get to my campsite earlier every day but uh seems difficult to do that that’s that’s the second time today I found a tap and it’s had a hose on it

They don’t have hose fittings in Italy like they got clamps hose clamps they can’t pull them off and water out the end of a hose tastes disgusting the problem is it’s Sunday if it’s not a big chain store it’s just not open so there’s just nothing in these little

Towns I just put a hydroly tablet in my drink bottle and that already made me feel better I just Dro gold right through that gate on the wall there’s a tap Okay so I’m at the bike path that runs along the river I remember this from Google satellite Sanji iani originally I was looking for campsites along here next to the river but there’s a highway over there I’m going to pretty much start looking for places because if I

Get to this Lake and it’s no good I might have to come back down here well I just finished the arzo to San Giovani route that was 50k and I’ve put in my route I made at home that goes to the lake well I really hope I can camp up

Here cuz I’m having to climb I knew I had to climb to get to it but I didn’t it be this steep I didn’t remember it being this steep all I made it it this is the trail I could see on Google Earth and there’s people well that’s a shame that was a

Really good spot and there’s just too many people and I don’t know when they’re going to leave if it wasn’t Sunday I think it would have been perfect I filtered some water filled up all my bottles had a swim wash my shirt and yeah going to go back to that River with the

Highway I found a camp got lucky down here it’s a bit there’ll be a lot of bugs there’s water right there actually you might be able to see the bugs I am buggered well all cleaned up had dinner just got to book a um hotel or Airbnb for tomorrow night and I can

Relax okay root notes I didn’t have any problems um this day there was no turning around and re-rooting this is the route between Chuy and arzo that went through the farmland and this was fantastic it’s actually 65 km and nearly all dual gravel track Bikeway through the

Farms this is the town of San Giovani where I started looking for camp and came all the way down here looking for Camp down here had to backrack and go up to the lake and this would have been just an amazing spot next to the lake there’s nice grass under the trees here

It’s nice and Shady but there was just people fishing swimming all through here you can see where I went into the trees to check it out and it was really nice and I end up finding another spot next to a little Dam down here where the end point is

Is and I don’t recommend this it was crawling with mosquitoes and it was knee high grass through here and but in a pinch it’ll get you out of trouble if you’ve got nowhere else

In this Episode I wake in a wheat field in Tuscany and spend the first couple of hours riding through the farmlands on the way to San Giovanni Valdarno. Episode includes route notes and tips.