In Portoferraio: one last bike and hike

October 30, 2021

It’s grayer this morning than we’ve seen it here so far, and windier too. I go out on the deck for a look around before breakfast but don’t stay there long, chilling quickly in the brisk southerly wind. It makes us both glad that we picked yesterday as the one for our ride out to the east end of the island. Dry or not, I’m sure it would be less comfortable today.

Instead, we opt for what we assume will be the last bike and hike outing of the tour. It starts out with a short four mile ride along the north extreme of the island, just behind the city. Unlike the other, much busier routes out of town this one is very quiet and appealing to cycle - unsurprisingly, because it eventually dead ends only four miles from town. This is the direction Rachael walked on her 13 mile hike two days ago.

Today we’re biking to the end of the road, Viticcio, where we lock up our bikes at the starting point for our hike.

Rachael’s been feeling anxious about the traffic and drivers close in to town, so she coaxes the GBO to to provide an extra eye today. An easy sales job - he’s never been on a bike and hike outing before, and is always up for something new.

From this side of the island we get a good view of the Scoglietto lighthouse.

From Viticcio we look across its small gulf to Cape Enfola, the headland Rachael hiked on earlier.

Our hike begins with a traverse across Punta Penisola to Forno, another seaside village on the opposite side of the port. The information board tells us that we’ll be following a historic route trod by Etruscans 2,000 years ago. We’ll take the direct route on the way out, crossing it over the top on hiking route 49 (the green route on the map) and return around the seaward side of the peninsula on route 52.

Our route across Punta Penisola follows in the footsteps of Etruscans and Romans. Our journey will be significantly easier though since we won’t be hauling iron ore - unless you count the GBO.

The GBO quickly warms to this bike and hike thing, immediately hopping up on the nearest prickly pear for a good view across the bay.

I’m not sure if there’s really two millennia of wear here, but many others have clearly preceded us here.

That GBO is such a rogue! Rachael had to slap him around to get him to behave himself.

Looking above to the crest of the point.

At the far side, entering the outskirts of Forno. Actually, Forno is too small to actually have outskirts. This is nearly the heart of the small settlement. No doubt it was much busier when it was filled with Etruscans and furnaces.

From Forno we pick up the pavement on this side of the peninsula, another dead ender that carries no traffic at this time of year. We pass a few closed hotels and resorts along the way, so I imagine it feels quite different in high season. Along the way we pass some beautiful homes and gardens, puzzle over some of the vegetation, and decide it’s time to pose a final quiz for those plant experts out there.

How about this place, Bruce? Would it suffice? Looks like there would even be space for a decent garden.

Mystery plant #3. This one is quite common - we’ve been passing it by the roadside ever since we hit the coast.

From Forno we walk south on it’s small sandy beach, skirt a small rocky headland, and then walk the length of longer Biodola Beach. They’re both beautiful, with clean white sand that feels like walking on granulated sugar, and are nearly deserted today. The satellite view of both beaches on Google Maps though shows them as being densely blanketed from one end to the other with beach umbrellas and the bay filled with swimmers and floaters. Much better being here at the right time.

On tiny, deserted Forno Beach. Actually, it wasn’t quite deserted. When we rounded a corner we startled a man in the process of taking off his pants to change into his swimming trunks.

Our plan for the hike was fairly ambitious. At the end of Biodola Beach we intended to continue following the shoreline trail south around the next large headland to Procchio, the pretty resort town I biked through on my west end ride. The entrance to this trail is prominently signed today indicating it is closed, so we sit down on the stairs to eat lunch and consider our options.

Soon, two women come up to the trailhead and indicate that they’d like to get around us. I point out that it’s signed as closed, but they proceed anyway. We decide to wait to see if they come back or not and consider doing the same thing ourselves, when they return about two minutes later.

With no obvious way to continue other than climbing straight up into the hills, we reverse course and walk back to the bikes. When we reach them Rachael checks out her Garmin and sniffs her nose at what a puny hike it has been; and she’s right. I don’t mind though, and both of us note with surprise how hilly the four miles back to the bike seem to than when we came out.

Recrossing Punta Penisola, this time on the seaward path.

Looking south along the coast again, we see that the weather is definitely changing.

Back by the bikes, we pause to look at the collection of ceramic tourism tokens from around the world on the side of the shuttered albergo there. Pisa, Bosa (Sardinia), Bastia (Corsica), Bryce Canyon, Death Valley, Sicily, Regensburg, Orta San Giulia! We spot one place after another we’ve been to that brings back a quick memory.

So is this really the End of the Road? Looking at the weather in the coming days, it’s quite possible that today brings to a close the biking on this tour; but we’ll see how it goes.

Ride stats today: 8 miles, 900’; for the tour: 2,578 miles, 96,300‘

Hiking stats: 4 miles, 900’

Today's ride: 8 miles (13 km)
Total: 2,578 miles (4,149 km)

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