raTodays ride can be broken into 4 sections: the Alpi Apuane, the coast, the Bay of Poets, and La Spezia. Each had its own flavour.
The ride through the Alpi Apuane was beautiful, in a different way than the area we cycles through yesterday. Today’s ride took us up through a green gorge, past marble quarries, through tunnels, and down a thrilling descent to sea level.
The coastal strip through Forte dei Marmi, Marina di Massa, and Marina di Carrara started with exclusive resorts lining the beach side of the road (but which probably paid for the separated bike path), streets in dire need of repair, and a busy port with container terminals and at least one cruise ship. Happily the traffic died down as we continued up beside the Magra estuary.
Public access to the water is available through the Dune di Forte dei Marmi WWF Oasis. But first you need to push through the sand and we decided not to at this point.
At Romito Magra, we turned left and started climbing over to the Golfo di Spezia, also known as the Bay of Poets. Then we descended and found ourselves entering La Spezia past its port.
Riding into a large city is rarely enjoyable and La Spezia wasn’t either. At least it’s not that large a city so the unpleasantness didn’t last long.
This was a surprise to us as our route was over this bridge. According to cde.news, the mobile part of the drawbridge opened to allow a boat through but then collapsed at the moment of closing. This was in May of 2021 and it seems it hasn’t yet been fixed.
We are staying in an apartment that was arranged for us by the B&B I’d booked that had to cancel our reservation due to some issue with the room. Now that’s how this sort of thing should be handled. The apartment is decent, though the flooring is very strange, and the building manager is excellent (it seems to be all vacation rentals). There is a craft brewery nearby, a small bistro where dinner was available for a very low price, and breakfast will be provided tomorrow morning. So what if the windows look out on the railway maybe 20 m away?
