First day on the bikes

The day out of Rome of course needed to stop for the group start photo with the Coliseum behind us. 













From there a convoy out of town in remarkably light traffic - a weekday would have been worse - and past some of the sights of Rome









After about ten km, we were on our own on bike paths along the Tiber  River away from all the trappings of a city and its traffic for about 15 km before leaving the dedicated bike path...   

... and getting onto secondary roads for the rest of the day...
...through small villages with their piazzas and churches...
...and on dirt roads through hazelnut groves.
But once out of Rome and the Tiber valley, it was hills everywhere - and that will be the story of the next five weeks. Today was 97 km with about 1600 metres climbing usually in a pretty low gear, and a few places where we were not the only ones to walk our bikes.   
First day done - got in to the hotel dead tired, quick shower, dinner (we're eating well), and then asleep by nine thirty - tomorrow is 0715 for breakfast and for the bags to be on the van - the will be the routine most days.

Next few days in the next post... cheers... Rae and Ursula

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Farewell Sardinia

Image
October 3rd-4th - just those two days to finish our ride from the north of Sardinia to Cagliari in the south. The first of those days was a big day for climbs - 2750 total metres of climbs and 120 km distance - a long tough day. The morning was dry as we climbed away from the coast...  ...but by noon, it was raining. The thing about rain is that you don't want to get the camera wet and anyway, you can't see the scenery let alone get a nice picture. Ergo no photos and in the years to come when we look back, the bad weather is forgotten. But for now, we still remember pouring rain driven by strong gusty winds, and cold temperatures at the higher elevations - not at all nice.  The weather eventually passed and it was brightening up as we approached Aritzo for the night. Better weather and more scenery changes for the following day into Cagliari. Rae and one of the other riders, also ex Canadian Forces, took a detour in the afternoon to go by an Italian Air Force Base at Decimoman...
Read more

Ajaccio to Bonifacio

Image
Rest day in Ajaccio, capital of Corsica, The citadel, no longer a military facility but only partly utilized now for tourism,... ...sits between beaches on one side and a busy harbour on the other. ...and within a few minutes walk, the 16th Cathedral Santa Maria Assunta where Napoleon Bonaparte was baptized. Another couple of minutes walk is the Bonaparte family home, now a museum focused not on Napoleon's battles but rather on the family history and Napoleon's life there. In he lower level in a olive mill and press, part of family businesses, Don't even try to get dinner at a restaurant before 7 pm here so it was dark when we had dinner near the bright lights near the centre of this photo. The starter course was these little fishes that looked very much like one's we ate in Nepal a few years back. Of course they couldn't be the same as these come from salt water while Nepal was local stuff a long way from the sea. Nevertheless, Ursula has made a supreme effort to p...
Read more

Viva Italia

Image
'Viva Italia' - our next cycling tour - five-and-a-half weeks starting middle of September. Once again, we're with TDA Global Cycling with whom we've done most of out cycling tours - we know them well by now, and they know us - and they even take us back again and again. The route is from Rome to Rome via Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, and various interesting places in between. The bikes are now in the boxes and pretty much ready to go and so are we.   See you in Rome ! ! !
Read more