Day 6 – Sunday 20, Monday 21 July

La Chiocciola to Montecatini Alto

Campsite

Camping Belsito (http://www.campingbelsito.it/)

Notes

I set off after a good breakfast and headed down to the Arno and into Florence. My idea was to see if there was room for me at the Florence campsite (Campeggio Michelangelo) and then spend the afternoon sightseeing. I was at the campsite by eleven o'clock and waited in a queue at the camp office. They could fit me in without a problem, but they did not register new campers until two o’clock. I was hot and sweaty and not really happy about hanging about for three hours, so I decided to carry on through Florence to Montecatini Alto where I there was a back-up campsite. I stopped at the viewing piazza overlooking Florence, with a copy of Michel Angelo’s David in the centre. It was crowded with sightseers, as well it might be on a holiday Sunday, with pizza and hot dog stalls at every corner. I stopped for a while to take it all in and then cycled down to the Ponte Vecchio following the Bl-1 cycle route that crosses the historic bridge. The streets were cobbled down by the river and I bounced along slowly, avoiding pedestrians, until I came to a dead stop opposite the bridge. An impenetrable mass of sightseers was crowding across with no space for a bicycle, so I abandoned hope and carried on to the next bridge that was passable.

After that it got easier and the route went through pleasant parkland on the north side of the river. I found the S66 towards Pistoia and as I went through Poggio a Ciaino a motorcycle policeman rode up alongside me and pointed emphatically to the side of he road and shouted in English, “Stop now, there is a race”. I didn’t argue but pulled in, and sure enough a peleton thundered past. After they had sped away followed by team cars with bicycles strapped to their roofs I cycled past spectators and got an encouraging cheer.

At Olmi I left the main road and took to much quieter semi-rural streets, often single track, twisting between fields, houses and canals. Eventually it ducked under the A11 Autostrada and I wound uphill to the campsite just north of Montecatini Alto. A splendid site with friendly people and a small restaurant where they offered to charge my ’phone and satnav. All was good except that during the night there a heavy thunderstorm and in the morning it was still raining, so I decided to stay where I was on Monday and set out again on Tuesday.