Hello all. Things have finally calmed down and we are sitting on the train right now to Florence. I thought that since there is a break now and I have about an hour before we get off the train I would write a quick little blurb about all of yesterday's ride not just the breakdown at the end. I will write a post later tonight or tomorrow morning about all of today's events (and there were some events).
So yesterday began with us waking up in a medieval fortress, this really was a very cool place to stay. I wish I had some good pictures of it to really showcase it but unfortunately none of them really turned out from the evening before and in the morning I was not able to really get a picture that truly captured it, but below is the view from the bathroom window.
We set out that day first to find a bike shop to get Ben's carrying rack truly fixed and then to push on to San Lorenzo Nuovo on the north side of Lake Bolsena. The ride to the bike shop was largely uneventful and went by easily. We were making good time and chugging along, and best of all we had finally found the actual Via Francingena! We started to actually see other travelers which was really nice, and we got to talk with a few. Overall a lot of the riding was on dirt paths around and trough fields. Aside from one particular path that was more mountain biking trail than anything else (it even involved a small stream fording), most of paths were not too bad, while others were essentially old Roman roads... that while they were built really well and it is impressive they still exist, riding a fully loaded touring bike on large cobblestone like roads... painful, bumpy, and hard to say the least.
Overall, though the riding was smooth until we hit Montefiascone when we had an incredibly steep hill to climb, steep to the point it was really hard to even walk up. At the top, while struggling to catch our breath and rest, we met a man from Spain who was biking from Marseille, France to Istanbul, Turkey on an old looking bike and just wearing tennis shoes, shorts, and t-shirt. In other words he kind of put us to shame since we were struggling so much... That being said though he was biking substantially less mileage than us a day and he planned three months to do his trip. Regardless, we talked for a bit and then kept pushing on where we finally came upon the view we were looking for... The overlook over Lake Bolsena.
After a short break to take pictures and soak in the beauty, we filled up on water and made the fun ride down to lake shore and the town of Bolsena. It was at this overlook that we thought about trying to fix the chain issues Ben had been having all day, but we figured it could make it to the overnight stop which was only 15 miles away. We made great time down to Bolsena and were soon quickly making the final climb to San Lorenzo Nuovo. While climbing I pushed ahead (not having my chain rubbing and being able to use all my gears helped), after I got a few bends from the top I decided to stop and wait for Ben... And after 10-15 minutes turned around to go look for him. That's when I saw Ben pushing his broken bike up the hill. I stopped to hear the story of how his chain had broken and tangled in the wheel and taken out the derailleur in the process. Since we were quite a bit from the top, I went down a dirt road to a supposed B&B to ask for help. About 100 yards down the road I came across a nice man in a Jeep Grand Cherokee (probably the only one in Italy) who was willing to load Ben and his bike up and take it to the top. This man ended up being very kind and after I got to the top, drove Ben and his bike to the mechanic and bike shop in Bolsena 10 miles away, and drove Ben back as the bike needed to stay a night in Bolsena. That night ended with a nice meal at the restaurant by our hotel. The man in the Jeep had set it up for the owner of the restaurant (a nice older woman who spoke no English) to drive us to Bolsena and for a friend of his to pick us up at the mechanic and bring us back up to San Lorenzo Nuovo. We thought this would all work out... It didn't quite work out, but that is for the next post, about today's great adventure. So for now I say best wishes and until next time.
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