{"id":1219,"date":"2023-04-28T09:16:51","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T09:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madbikerides.com\/?p=1219"},"modified":"2023-04-28T09:17:33","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T09:17:33","slug":"lucca-to-fiano-in-the-hills-near-firenze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madbikerides.com\/?p=1219","title":{"rendered":"2. Lucca to Fiano (in the hills near Firenze)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Slightly later than planned, we ventured out from our fantastic city centre apartment (only one floor up to lug the bikes) for our first real day of cycling. And it was raining! Not heavily\u2026but quite wettingly\u2026so before we got fully saturated we took cover in a petrol station. Thankfully! For then the heavens opened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it was a damp start on wet roads. But the clouds cleared and spirits lifted as we searched for coffee and breakfast! The latter we found..but it took us 15kms or so find coffee!! So by the time we were really feeling ready to go, we were running a bit late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roads got busier. Mis-mothered by Google, and mis-directed by me. It was not a great start! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until we veered on to the almost mythical Via Francigena, the north-south cycle route Alan and I had tried to follow four years ago. There one minute. And gone the next. Beautiful signs one minute\u2026none the next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first foray laster no more than 100 metres before the new cycleway just stopped!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we did find another version\u2026and it took us up into the gorgeous Tuscan hills. So flat busy roads were transformed into quite challenging deserted hilly ones! Perfect!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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San Gimignano appeared in the far distance, as we climbed up to our night-time stop at Fiano, a small village atop a hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another lovely apartment\u2026but it was not ready\u2026so they bribed us with a bottle of Chianti in the garden\u2026to while away an hour. now\u2026a headache-in-a-bottle is really not what you want after a full day of cycling\u2026but it was a nice touch! And the view from the apartment was great!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thence to the village bar. Pool and table-football and cheap beer. Perfect! But no food! And Google assured us that the one restaurant in Fiano (yes, Pizza!) would not be open for three days. So we worried about having to cycle more hills to find sustenance!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But thankfully\u2026Google had mis-mothered not just us\u2026but also the restaurant. For at 7pm\u2026the five white-uniformed staff arrived for work. It was a lovely place\u2026if slightly weird. No signage whatsoever. Just a house really, with two front rooms packed with tables. We wandered in at around 7.30 to find just one of those many tables occupied. Sit anywhere? No, no\u2026only this table! All others booked!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There were five uniformed, chef-hatted staff behind the counter. And we wondered why really\u2026as we placed our order. Fast service indeed\u2026but five!? But by 8.30 it was rammmed, chock-a-bloc. Noisy and great! Everyone knew everyone else. It was like a family party!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cgigante\u201d pizzas (for the grand price of three euros) turned out to be small! (We never discovered how small the medium size were!)\u2026.so we had to go a second round!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it was a lovely place. so friendly\u2026and a great end to our first real day! And then I enjoyed Iain\u2019s commentary on the cricket on the walk home, as NZ made a spectacular recovery to edge past Pakistan in their T20 game, to square the series. Internet reception was hopeless here..so we probably learned the result half an hour late! But..it really did not matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did later reflect on the Google misinformation about the single local restaurant being closed from Sunday to Wednesday! Probably based on an absurd Californian algorithm which says if lots of alive mobile phones are not there\u2026it must be closed! So Sunday to Wednesday it is mobbed instead by the locals, who choose to talk to each other\u2026instead of to their phones\u2026whereas at the weekend, visitors from the smoke arrive\u2026phones in hand to satisfy Google that the place is actually open! Just a theory of course\u2026but potentially quite damaging for a small local business!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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