Last night we stayed in a charming farm house in Orvieto. I thought that it might be familiar as Helene and I attended a weddding there 20 years ago. As the bride and groom were Spanish it was probably in the similarly named Oviedo in Spain so nothing seemed familiar to me. Anyway - we had a lovely stay at the farm house, relaexed in the pool had a good meal in town, and this morning a few adventurous souls went ballooning with Neil who feels naked if he is not wearing one - or at least in close proximity to one. Me - in spite of being 6'5" I am not desperately keen on testing the pull of Mother Earth on a wicker basket at a height from which terminal velocity can easily be reached. So I pretended to be otherwise engaged (no pretence required).
This morning I (again ) decided to hit the road early - yesterday we tried as a group but "early" was more like "siesta time" (Mad Dogs and Brits!). So this morning I headed off on my own at 0715 heading for beautiful Toscana. It was hilly - very hilly , and in spite of the early start soon became hot.
The scenery was lovely - Cypress trees in rows ( they used to be planted a graves but now every Tuscan farm house has at least a few), Olive trees and vineyards - them vines like hill sides. I like wine but could do without the hills and there were lots of them
I reached our destination Montalcino mid afternoon - 110 km and 2317 metres of vertical ascent.
Upon my arrival in town I met three young mates of Jonathan's from Bury St Eds (the Nunn brothers and a friend) who are exploring northern Italy by bike. They do carry their possessions on the bikes but a daily distance of 40-50 miles seem much more sensible than our ludicrous goals of 65-130 miles per day.
Montalcino is not only a very pretty town but also the home of the famous Brunello de Montalcino - a wine so close to perfection that it seems pointless to look any further. So a bit of wine tasting is on the cards -AFTER my protein shake, clothes washing etc etc.
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