A short trip which is wonderful for the first half following the walking path, then on typical busy Italian roads for the second half even though that’s the official cycle route: avoid these roads. If you can then take the walking path the whole way.

• 17.08km, 31% off-road, 297m climb

• 1h 53m moving, 3h 44m elapsed

• Sunny, 23°C average, 32°C max

Highlights

• Lovely gravel climb and views back to Monteriggioni to start the day. Followed by some great off-roading in forests.

• We took a second breakfast at Bed and Breakfast Il Ceppo that was perhaps ¾ of the way to Siena. Nice pastries and coffee.

• We ate a fantastic third breakfast at Bar Pasticceria Nannini Conca d'Oro having got into Siena early enough for a 3rd cup of cappuccino.

• Don’t need to say much about Siena: its a great city, plenty big enough to find places you can get away from the crowds. Feels like people really live here and have done for centuries (compare with San Gimignano).

Lowlights

• We needed to get into Siena relatively quickly today and so we followed the official cycle route most of the way. This shares the walking path initially but then remains on roads coming into Siena. Even Google marks these roads as cycle friendly: they’re not. I’d not do this again. The roads are far too busy and full of impatient drivers to do this too often with children: huge respect to cyclists in Italy that can put up with it.