To Buonconvento

May 20, 2023

Once again we are carefully watching the weather as the wet conditions keep us on our toes. The weather forecasts update regularly and fortunately this morning the forecasts changed from being light rain every hour to clouds instead. This gave us a green light to head out on our bikes and complete what was really a quintessential ride in Tuscany. We must be living right!

At 08.30 we went outside the front entrance of our hotel as a group of cyclists were preparing to leave for their ride. We shivered in the hotel breezeway, looked at the sky and wished them luck. This was not the weather that we were hoping for but we had not yet given up on the day

We returned to the almost empty breakfast room and tried to find something appetizing. It really was sad. Scott had a small a bowl of flake type cereal and white bread with butter and jam. Pat had a prepackaged bun and some sort of processed cheese that come wrapped in aluminum foil. Even the coffee was from a powder. Uninspired, we went back to our room to continually open the shutters and look to the street below and report if the umbrellas of the passersby were up or down. But at 10:30 things started to change. The sky was brightening and the roads began to dry. It was official, the planned ride was a go today and there would be no plan B back up to consider. Scott was very pleased as he believed that this route to Buonconvento was going to be very good and he was right.

Leaving our hotel just before 11 o`clock we picked up some lunch items from a local shop. Today`s ride was mainly in remote countryside so we wanted to be prepared in case we did not find a place to stop on the road. That and our measly breakfast may not get us far. We then made our w out of Siena on a busy road before turning off on the much quieter SP438.

Emanuele Giannelli sculpture. Group discussion about the weather!

The ride is a go but we are dressed for showers.

Out the big doors of Siena`s historic center and onto the busy streets.

Rolling hills in Tuscany. You seem to be either going up or down on today`s ride. Not much was flat.

The views of the surrounding country are outstanding. This is really scenic riding.

The whole route today took us through really nice countryside. Some of the views seem out of a painting.

Everything is so green with the recent rain.

Quiet roads and if cars did pass you they mostly used the far lane.

Pat heading up another hill. There were many today.

We had a coffee stop in Asciano. It was a popular stop over for cyclists. We bumped into four other tourers that we had crossed paths with at the same stop.

In Asciano, the clouds are threatening and there are some sprinkles but no serious rain.

Many bike riders are in this area, I guess because the cycling is very good.

All smiles - the right side of 15 degrees!

But eventually you have to go back up. The signs are exactly the same weather you are going down or up. 15 degree hills are tough.

We reached Buonconvento after 4 pm. Its name comes from the Latin bonus conventus translates to "happy place". Well we were happy to be here. The town has a wall perimeter and the area dates back to the 1200`s. Today the population is about 1000 people, so it is quite small. But it is one of the major centres for riding the local dirt surfaced backroads known as L`Eroica routes. They are also hosts to major cycling events on these ¨white roads¨. There will be an Eroica Montalcino official event on May28th that will pass through Buonconvento. There are six different courses of varying levels of difficulty, but the long route is 153KM and over 3000m elevation gain. Half of the route will be on the gravel back roads.

Arriving at Buonconvento. The sign indicates that Roma is only 201 kms south. It was the destination of many of the cycle tourers that we met the last few days.

The top of the walls are very decretive. This small plaza is just outside the walls.

The town of Buonconvento really only has one main street in the small walled village, and this is it. We found a nearby bar and had a beer when we arrived.

We are bumping into a number of other cycle tourers. We are feeling a bit like dinosaurs as everyone is now on an electric bike.

A poster in our hotel for the Nova Eroica hosted by Buonconvento in 2018.

Our restaurant tonight was the La Porta di Sotto Restaurant. It was a nice cozy neighbourhood feeling place. The food was very good too.

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Patrick O'HaraBeautiful photos. Enjoying following along.
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11 months ago

Scott FenwickPatrick,

Thank you for following. Tuscany is way more stunning than I would have thought. The scenery here really is spectacular. You would really like it. Today was another great one.
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11 months ago

Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 394 km (245 miles)

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Rachael AndersonI’m glad you are getting some better weather!
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10 months ago