A big thank you to my family for coming with me on this bit of the trip. 6 days and 166km of off-road adventures from Pisa to Siena following the Via Francigena. I enjoyed it even if certain members of the group might require more time for more agreeable memories to develop ;-).

• 30.3km, 51% off-road, 70m climbing

• 2h 26m moving, 4h 41m elapsed

• Sunny, 35°C average, 41°C max

Starting the day

Saving time and money, we took a very early flight from Copenhagen to Pisa arriving not long after 0800. Pisa is an easy airport to fly into (not so much fly out of) and we were on the Pismover (see last year) into town before 0900.

A big recommendation now for a bike hire firm, Smile and Ride, in Pisa right next to the train station: I met the owner when I was dismantling my bike at the end of last year and he was very friendly and helpful. So this year we’ve left all our stuff at home and rented 4 bikes: 2 x mountain bikes for the children and 2 x gravel bikes for the parents. All inclusive with bike luggage, locks etc. They were really good bikes and we got them picked up in Siena at the end of our trip.

Today’s route

• The flattest day of the entire Via Francigena for me. 

• First part of the day was crossing the plain towards San Giuliano Terme on small roads and some gravel tracks. 

• After San Giuliano Terme, the route becomes the Puccini Cycle Path alongside the river Serchio for much of the way to Lucca. You rarely see the river because of large embankments; but you are on gravel most of the way with a short section of road near Ripafratta.

• We turned off the river onto the Via Sarzanese directly towards Lucca because it was simply too hot to keep adding more km to the journey. 

Highlights

• The Pisamover. I love this thing, though it isn’t really far to cycle or even walk into town from the airport.

• Pisa Cathedral and the Leaning Tower. Not much to say about these that hasn’t been said or photographed a million times before.

• San Giuliano Terme. We took lunch here, about 20 minutes out of Pisa. There’s a square with a couple of pizzerias, we ate at Pizzeria Salsedo and it was just fine; and as a bonus the gelato was good too.

• Next stop was a small cafe in Ripafratta; we sat outside whilst waiting for trains to pass. Got “talking” to a local guy but couldn’t understand much: the only thing I got was that this was the lowest he’d ever seen the river in the last 30 years.

• Final stop before Lucca was at Brivido Dolce on the Via Sarzanese for a really great gelato.

• Lucca itself is wonderfully calm even with plenty of tourists thronging the streets. Simply a great town to walk around. The labyrinth on the cathedral and the Torre Guinigi with the live oaks growing on top are worth seeing. We ended up eating like many of the other tourists in Piazza dell'Anfiteatro and we stayed in a rented apartment very close to the Porta Sant'Anna on the west side of town.

Lowlights

• The temperatures in July