The Italian Job - Day 2

Our first day on the road was one of the longest (427.5 km) that we will have. Our destination this evening was Sienna, but we had a few interesting stops on the way. We left Treviglio after an 08:00 briefing from our group leader Stefano. We spent the morning on the road, which was mostly motorway riding, with a few stops for coffee and loo breaks. Our aim was to get to Pisa where we arrived in time for some sight-seeing and lunch. Neither Roma nor I had seen the leaning tower of Pisa before, and it is spectacular! For some reason I thought it was a lot smaller than it is, but I was very impressed with this priceless building, as were the thousands of other people who were there too at the same time as us.

At the leaning tower of Pisa

The bike is going well - we had just one stop for petrol today. I did get cut off from the group for about 20 minutes. I had slowed down in heavy traffic and lost contact with the group. The next 20 minutes were worrying, but I eventually caught up with the group. Some of the sharp bends were taking me a bit more time to get around than my fellow riders.

Getting used to the big machine.

One of our stops was Volterra overlooking Tuscany. It was a 30 minute stop, so a little time to take in the fantastic views, and get an ice-cream. Volterra, and the roads going up and down, is very popular with bikers - we were not the only bikers on the road today.

Overlooking Tuscany from Volterra.

We arrived in Siena at about 17:30, most of us were weary after a long day in the saddle. Siena is beautiful! Lots of old buildings and walls - it was like stepping back in time. There was a carnival celebrating horse racing on, so lots of colour and music going on in this very hilly city. We had a very relaxing evening meal in the city square, and it was fun getting to know the group better. We are off to Rome tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

Our group.