• 1327 m climbing

• 7h 12m elapsed

• Biblical amounts of rain

• 56.50 km

• 4h 28m moving

• 5% off-road (worst day)

Sivizzano to Pontremoli GPX file

STEEP AND WET

My original aim today was to “very” off-road. I’d even plotted a tricky path off to the south of the official route, cycling along a ridge for about 20km. Worst case I thought, I’ll just follow the official Via Francigena walking path which is clearly very steep in these parts, but probably nothing much worse than what I’d done in France and Switzerland.

Unfortunately these days weather forecasts are very accurate and today was due to be terrible, even dangerous. So the “southern” route was off the agenda > leaving only the official walking path or taking the roads.

For the first 6 km up the mountain the walking path follows the small roads so I had plenty of time to make a decision before the roads and the walking path diverged at Terenzo. What I hadn’t expected was that the first 6km were the steepest section I’d tackle today… I swear those roads were steeper than the top of Col Grand St. Bernard! I couldn’t pedal for at least a km out of the six up to Terenzo… did I have too big a breakfast, am I just really unfit or is my bike really not up to steep climbs (if/when I get another bike I swear to have better lower gears)?

So by the time I got to Terenzo I was pretty freaked out… “if this is what it is like at the bottom, just imagine how tough its going to be higher up” was the refrain my brain kept saying to me. Despite that I checked out the bottom of the walking trail but after about 50m of traipsing up what my brain considered “a muddy waterfall” I turned around and decided that I would have to become a “Roadie” for the day (a gravel bikers worst nightmare).

Roadie for the day

So having made what was almost certainly the right decision, however painful, I ploughed on up the mountain to some extent expecting the same kind of slope I’d experienced up to Terenzo. But triple great news: 1) The roads up to Cisa despite being quite big and wide were virtually empty (very few cars), 2) They’re in great condition and best of all 3) The roads actually get less and less steep towards the top, so much so that it is really quite a disappointment going over the Cisa pass since at that point the real effort (the really steep roads) was a couple of hours earlier!

Cassio

After the Terenzo decision, the next key step in the day was when I could get my first coffee and cake. Since ther'e’s really not many towns up here, it was going to be Cassio. Its a pretty enough place but very small. I know it is one of the official stops on the VF but I couldn’t see many places you could stay (perhaps pandemic related).

Berceto

Next stop after Cassio was going to be lunch in Berceto. Relatively straightfoward from Cassio to Berceto on the roads, however just before Berceto I found a sign for the VF walking path and really felt the need to go off-road.

Though this little trail looked easy enough, it was clearly not. Despite only being a few hundred metres it was wet with many ultra short (a few m) steep ups and downs. Tough to walk it today nevermind pushing a bike.

Berceto was a much bigger place than Cassio and had a few places open for lunch, though sitting outside was going to be tricky in the rain. Fortunately just opposite the church there’s a little bar/cafe where you can basically sit in the window which is open.

Cisa Pass

So fully refueled after lunch the next goal was one of the major milestones on the Via Francigena: the Cisa pass.

Getting higher and higher, the clouds got closer and closer, until I was basically in mist/fog towards the top. It was certainly a day for lights on the bike even though there were very few cars.

Down to Pontremoli

If anything the fog/clouds were worse on the Tuscany side of the pass. I met a couple of people walking the Via Francigena on the road there: they felt the walking path was too dangerous to walk today which certainly made me feel better about being on the roads most of the day.

I did however find a safe route that was kind of “off-road” to get down: you can turn off the main road down to Pontremoli at Montelungo where there’s a motorway tunnel access road that is slowly disintegrating and turning from asphalt to gravel. It takes you down to join with the walking path in Groppoli. Very off-road bike friendly.

Overnight: Cà del Moro Resort

When the weather is so bad it’s difficult to have a balanced opinion on places. I mean most people think that England is really grim and even I’m not tempted to visit western Norway again despite the scenery.

The only good thing about the weather after I arrived was that it was worse than when I was cycling which at least made me feel good about keeping moving.

The hotel is fine, with a nice pool… I did swim in it… it feels great swimming in the rain. Room fine. Food was good but difficult to say much more.

This hotel is 3km out of town and I’d definitely stay in Pontremoli centre if I did this again.