Left Busseto at about 10am and already the temperature was nudging 22 degrees!
Busseto
Roads were a mix of Autovia and roads similar to British A roads but, again, progress seemed slow - I had definitely been spoiled by my German and Austrian experience. Eventually things got moving as I progressed towards Firenze (Florence for my English reader) using a toll road for the first time and a bit of a shock at the charge: 15 Euro for only about 175km!!
Fuel stop with Monte Cassino in the background!
Next stop for coffee & croissant was 20km south of Siena. Shame about the pole in the middle!!
Bought a another pair of sunnies at the petrol station - proper jobs this time - Route 66 was the brand so they gotta be right!
The previous pair were so painful that I had to remove them after a few minutes.
I got a bit lost trying to find Florence and ended roaming the hills above the city, at one stage following a local biker a bit to enthusiastically. I rounded a very tight downhill bend with too much lean and managed to scrape the sidestand rather violently which immediately threw the whole plot bolt upright and very nearly had me off. I calmed down after this little moment!
I eventually hit Firenze and immediately ran into a little bit of bother with the local police. I was following a little dust-cart vehicle and didn't notice a pedestrian only sign and was stopped by two police - one was a man the other a woman. She went ballistic .... screamed at me to get off my bike - did I know where I was? I played the dumb Irishman - saying I didn't see the sign (in fact that was the truth). Apparently I was on some famous Florentine street! Well I had no idea where I was. The other copper wasn't in the least bit bothered but the female really let rip at me...
I couldn't find anywhere to park and the streets seemed to be packed with Americans, so after half an hour of riding around trying to park I gave up and left the place ... I won't be going back in a hurry!
Left Firenze as quickly as possible, probably breaking a few more laws no doubt and wandered into the lovely little town of Castiglione on the shores of Lake Trasimeno. With the aid of the maps app on my phone I found a delightful Bed & Breakfast. Residence Castiglione is a huge 2-storey house with gardens and a large swimming pool and I was given a mini-apartment all to myself!
The B&B was situated just off the road in the photo above and I walked up to the ancient village at the top and found a very well preserved but touristy centre with prices to match!
Unfortunately, once again, the [loud] sound of American voices pervaded the medieval atmosphere.
When I left the following morning, the lady owner came out to wave me off and I foolishly left my rucksack on the ground behind ... with her running and shouting after me! We did laugh and she asked me why I was rushing off and I replied that I had to see Pompeii, etc., to which she responded that I should remain in Castiglione - I wish I had....
After a good 6hr ride through the mountains, I arrived at Avezzano, quite a large town, but few hotels and choose one which although lacked any architectural merit turned out to be just right. Hotel Lory provided a good meal - I was alone in the restaurant and had the full attention of the rather nice waitress and after a couple of Italian birra went off to bed.
Part 2 of the Italian Job to follow .... where it all went wrong.
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