San Gimignano to Montereggioni, Day 33
A fanstistic and mixed stage with a bit of everything. Flat old railway routes. Hilltop towns. Unique river walks with the most amazing colour of water. Finishing in the magical village of Monteriggioni.
31.24km, 60% off-road, 452m climb
3h 24m moving, 9h 04m elapsed
Sunny, 24°C average, 37°C max
Highlights
Self made breakfast at dawn. We had to pay for breakfast at the hotel and we wanted a very early start so we made our own breakfast (that we bought in San Gimignano the day before). Watching the sun come up is always great.
So some members of the family had had enough of “hills” so we decided on an alternative route for the day: we’d try out the actual cycling route of the Via Francigena.
We were up so early that there was very little traffic on the road down to the outskirts of Poggibonsi where we took a short section along the river Elsa before our first coffee stop.
The old rail line from Poggibonsi to Colle Val d’Elsa is simply wonderful. It was such a contrast to the previous days. It heads through beautiful meadows and forests along a flat gravel track. I rate this so highly that I’d even recommend it to walkers if you could find a way to get to it without having to trek along the roads to Poggibonsi.
Colle Val d’Elsa is great: it has the new town, almost Spanish in its early 20th century whiteness and the old town at the top of the hill. A great contrast. After yet another coffee and ice cream in the old town (at Bar Caffè Pizzeria Santa Caterina) we headed back into the new town threading our way through market day.
The river walk at Colle Val d’Elsa is like something out of Disneyland but for real. It's a beautiful karst (limestone) landscape tucked in the forested valley bottom with amazing blue water. Note: it really isn’t for cyclists; there’s 5-6 flights of rough steps and lots of stepping stones; you’d need to be very strong and fit to lift heavy touring bikes with panniers over this but we managed ok with our lighter gravel bikes.
We took lunch at La Locanda di Strove, a lovely shop/cafe place with plenty of shade. Strove itself was kind of odd: very small but extremely neat centre; almost as if some landscapers from London had been asked to tidy the place up by building some paving and raised beds.
There’s some fantastic forest trails, a little tough for even gravel bikes perhaps, but passing through olive groves and looking over the valley below.
We stopped to repair a puncture at Abbadia Isola, a monastery where quite a few pilgrims stay. Nice old place, though under repair when we travelled. I loved the old style Italian garage over the road from the monastery.
The cycle across the fields from Abbadia Isola to Monteriggioni is amazing; the old village with its fortified views getting closer and close.
Monteriggioni is unique. Completely surrounded by medieval walls and yet so small that there’s only one and a bit streets. We stayed at Rooms and Wine al Castello di Monteriggioni which is in the biggest building in town; with a fascinating history: in the same family for generations, was even used by the Carabineri as a prison and so they keep wine in the cells.
Really recommend the view out of the north west gate at dusk whist the sun is setting.
Lowlights
There really weren’t any today but if I had to choose I’d nominate the elevator at Colle Val d’Elsa which was out of order (in fact many of these hill towns seemed to have elevators that were out of order).
Might also include the last 300m up to Monteriggioni: I think that this was the steepest “cyclable” climb in the entire Via Francigena (and that’s including the top of Grand St Bernard / Radicofani etc.).
