1/12/24
It didn’t freeze. When we went out before bed to brush our teeth we found it had completely clouded over. The temperature had increased and the dew on the tent had gone. It was a restful nights sleep.
The beauty of camping is that you wake up early and get a jump on the day. We were awake an hour before sunrise and packed away by the break of dawn. The crisp air around us as we continued straight down the master canal to Chiusi. The path continued to be wide gravel track, narrow rocky trail and anywhere in between. To be completely honest, we’d got a little tired of it. It was a little too monotonous and the gravel was hard work despite being flat. Nevertheless, it was car free, which is always more relaxing.
We rode for an hour or so, over many bridges, past Lago di Chiusi which wasn’t as picturesque as we’d hoped, and waved a reluctant hello to hunters with their dogs before arriving into Chiusi Scalo. We were below actual Chiusi and the route didn’t demand us to go up there. We went inside the first coffee shop we came across. A hot drink, and we were fortunate enough to have a vegan croissant each too!
We left Chiusi down more gravel but it was slightly more predictable. There were actually signs for the Ciclopista de Sole, which doubles as the route for EuroVelo 7. There hadn’t been a single EV7 sign yet, probably because the route is still entirely undeveloped. That in mind we headed to Ponticelli where we had decided to leave EV7 and cross over some of the Apennines to join EV5 instead.
From Ponticelli we embarked on a beautiful winding climb up through the mountains. It was a more consistent gradient that we’d become accustomed to. We soon became very warm in the Sun and given the attire of the locals, they must have thought we were crazy to be in a single layer of clothing. The scenery was sublime, a huge area of woodland spread out in front of us, coloured with every autumnal shade you could think of. The road was also mostly well surfaced.
, why aren’t there more in the UK?
Though it felt a long time coming we reached the base of the town of Celle sul Rigo eventually. We didn’t go into the town because that was even higher, it being perched on a little hill. We reassured ourselves it was prettier to look at from a distance.
After stopping for a messy snack of bread, peanut butter and bananas we were ready to descend. As we left the top we could see the fort town of Radicofani in the distance. We’d unfortunately missed it being on the 7 instead of the 5, but it’s one heck of a climb up there anyway. The descent was steep and shallow, windy and straight. We went fast, though at times we were buffeted by winds from the side and had to slow down.
There was a weird little climb near the bottom, we’d been going fast for so long that the sudden change in speed, as well as the hard to read gradient, made it feel like the hardest flat ever. At the bottom we reached the SS2, just outside Ponte del Rigo. There was a sign here for the driving version of the Via Francigena, we had no idea there was such a thing as a driving pilgrimage! We’d already checked street view to identify the viability of riding on this road as it bucked the trend of SS roads being large and fasf. We had a choice here, either follow the official route and climb at least 400m of election over 14km, or take the SS2 directly to Acquapendente over 7km with 186m to climb.
We took the latter option. The additional elevation would be too much for today and the idea of reaching our room, in the beautiful sounding Acquapendente, was too enticing. The perfectly slick tarmac of the SS2 was easy to ride and being a Sunday there was presumably less traffic while being a lot more forgiving. They were easy miles and we couldn’t help but wonder how Google maps had got the elevation so wrong.
Just outside the town we diverted to finally join EV5. Immediately it became obvious that all of the elevation was a single climb into Acquapendente. It was absurdly steep in places and rejoined the SS2 at the top. Our flat for the night was just inside the town and we located it quickly. We had to unload the panniers and take the bikes up a flight of stairs. It was a lovely little apartment but had minimal amounts of natural light. The owners had clearly used daylight bulbs everywhere to try and mask this fact.
Just as we left to go to the supermarket we received a message asking if we’d found the cellar key for the bikes! Stupidly we replied no and so started an irritatingly long winded episode because the key wouldn’t open the door. After a WhatsApp video call, one of the hosts insisted on coming to try and open the door! They couldn’t and we left eventually after explaining that we don’t mind if the bikes are in the flat as it’s only one night.
On our way to the shop we passed the magnificent cathedral, where not only could we walk around unrestricted with not another soul in sight, but we could also explore the incredibly expansive crypt. There was a €1 switch for the lights but we were content to explore with our phone torches which also felt a lot more adventurous.
After gathering our supplies we hurried back down to make dinner, which was the oft repeated pizza. We would finally be on the fabled Via Francigena in the morning, a hopefully more trodden route with some exciting sights, or so the website told us.
Surly They Won't Make It 