Italy

I celebrated my 54th birthday today in the best possible way - doing a rollercoaster day on the bike! The tree trunks were sulky and stiff at breakfast but eventually realised there was no choice and pedalling was required.  The roads were much quieter today and the scenery was stunning, Tuscany really is as beautiful as everyone says. This was the morning coffee stop We then cycled through the centre of Siena, yes really! We missed the central square initially so went round again to make sure we infuriated the maximum number of strolling tourists. After that interesting diversion, the rest of the day was spent cycling up, down, up... My legs are now properly aching but I loved the cycling today, well and truly in my happy place. We are staying in a former monastery this evening with a gorgeous view from the room We had a walk around this beautiful town and then a huge dinner with the group - my pudding had a candle in it and the embarrassment of a group rendition of ‘happy birthda...

Well that was a varied and somewhat tough day - that beast of a hill at the end was frankly just rude! There were lots of cyclists out and about today and unfortunately also some truly atrocious car driving, Italy is definitely not bike friendly. It didn’t help that we went through the beautiful but very busy Lucca on market day, it was an interesting walk! The flattish bit before lunch was fast in a paceline, never my favourite way to ride but it gets the miles done quicker. I’m much happier pootling up hills at my own pace and they were definitely beautiful hills. It was hot today so I resembled a beetroot lobster by the end, but I really enjoyed the stunning scenery - the tree trunks are however rather sulky. San Gimignano is just gorgeous, we walked up through the town before dinner And then had a particularly good refuelling which will hopefully work its magic on the hills tomorrow.

Day 1 and straight into the hill climbing after the usual group cycling post breakfast faffing. It’s a strong and very competent group with some impressive hill climbing today. I’m fine on the upward bits but definitely the wimpiest on the descents. The views were spectacular as we went up and down along the coastline The coffee stop was in a bit of a tourist trap town and I’m not sure the cappuccino was worth the battle through the coach parties down then up another huge hill. We then rode through the port of La Spezia with some interesting Italian driving - overtaking cyclists is obviously a whole new challenge! Lunch was on top of the last hill with a great view of the marble mountains - pasta salad, bread, cheese, melon, apricot tart... yum Bob has not had a good start with a puncture on one of the descents today, but he enjoyed the views, maybe needs a gelato or two After 53.4 miles and 3553 feet of climbing, time for refreshment We then found a lovely restaurant, yummy fish and f...

Concerned about traffic issues, we managed to arrive at Stansted Airport ridiculously early for our flight to Genoa, even by the usual Good family ridiculously early standards. Stansted was shockingly and very unusually quiet and therefore civilised, making the start of the trip considerably less stressful.  Genoa is a small airport so Bob and the suitcases zoomed out of the plane at warp speed. Unfortunately this also seemed to involve squashing Bob’s bag and it was looking worryingly lopsided.  Genoa is a beautiful port city and we managed to see it twice whilst attempting to navigate out of it, so a longer than expected drive to Monterosso al Mare but amazing views of the coastline. The big advantage of a supported bike trip is a wonderful mechanic who helped me put Bob back into shape with seemingly no lasting damage, phew. There are 12 in the group who all seem to be very experienced long distance cyclists, I need to keep reminding myself this is a holiday not a race - ge...

Italy - Grand Traverse - North to South (17 days) In my continuing quest to cycle around the world bit by bit (I do have to go to work sometimes!), the next country on the list promises fabulous food, wine and lots and lots of hills.  I’ve been attempting to train for the hills, but Cambridgeshire isn’t exactly known for 2800 metre climbing days. I’m hoping the gelato, pizza, pasta etc will motivate the tree trunks to keep going,  but I am rather nervous about how hard this trip is going to be. I decided to tackle this trip as part of a group so my usual support crew is going to have more of a holiday (assuming he can cope with driving a hire car on Italian roads and finding parking spaces in hilltop medieval towns!)