1. Ventimiglia to Lucca

 Well…we did cycle nearly 30kms…so I felt it counted as our first day!

A later start today….so after crashing down the six flights of stairs from the apartment we had time for a leisurely breakfast of coffee and croissant..

……before tackling the stations own stairs!

Most trains in Italy are impossibly high off the platform. Add in 30+kgs of bike and panniers…and handlebars too wide for the absurdly narrow doors…..and each transition on and off the trains is a challenging adventure! (..thinking of Alan doing this trip alone all the way back from Rome!). Combine that with a bit of weight lifting to hang the monsters onto bike hooks…it is not easy! And a bit stressful…wondering if the wheel rims can stand the load! (..great go have Iain here…so I was more than happy to let him practice his weight lifting!).

Only two trains today, with a hour+ stop in Genoa extending to well over two hours, after our train was delayed. 

Our coffee in the small plaza beside the station was punctuated by a memorably loud fart which seemed to echo around the square! Plenty of !!!! and not so many ??? as Iain and I dissolved in fits of giggles. “Mama Mia” an old guy nearby was heard to say, as his wife suppressed a wry smile.

We had planned to get off in ViaReggio to start our ride…but stayed on for one more stop…to arrive in Pisa. A place I have never visited. And it seemed almost churlish to be so close…yet not have an inclination to visit the famous tower. So we did!

And BANG…! 

The world has changed since a year ago! The Chinese tourists are back! The American tourists are back! Everyone is travelling again. It was mobbed! And it reminded me how very pleasant it was last year when folk were still Covid-nervous…and absent!!

Thence to Lucca…one of the great revelations of our Italian trip in 2019. Probably because it is so close to Pisa, Florence or San Gimignano…that it gets missed off the tourist maps.

The leisurely 28 kms ride…a section on a nice riverside cycle path until it ran out…was a great opener! For lazy muscles…and softer bottoms!

Nice evening wandering the streets and squares of Lucca…listening to some jazz over beers…very nice end to the day! So glad to now be off the train. The oval main “square” has to be one of the best public spaces in Italy!

And we did learn an interesting snippet about the city of 100 churches. It should possibly be nicknamed…Lu-roll-cca! For Lucca apparently produces most of Italy’s loo paper…and manufactures machinery to make most of the world’s loo paper!

6 Comments

  1. Iain CJ

    No prizes for guessing the culprit of said fart

    • Anna

      Must have been an Italian lady, I’m sure they fart a lot in public.

    • Shennae

      I really hope this was followed by a hearty game of mackeral, the locals would have been well perplexed…

  2. Liz

    Oh poor you Bean! I was hoping it had been the old Italian man……not your father!! How embarrassing 😳
    Lucca sounds lovely

  3. John Charles-Jones

    Giggles reached Nottingham too!!

  4. Gill and Chris

    we didnt hear it in Essex you will be glad to know.

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