21 February
2024 – Cheerio Tuscany, Hello Lazio
Miles
driven today = 101
Total Miles
to date = 1,493
We retraced
our tyre tracks to Poggibonsi this morning but before we did so I couldn’t
resist pulling over for one last cheeky snap of San Gimignano resplendent in
the morning sunlight.
Then we
rejoined the Florence to Siena Autostrada and got ourselves Southbound
again. It had originally been our
intention to spend the day in Siena and stay overnight. Many people consider it to be the loveliest
of the Cities of Tuscany but having pounded the pavements of Lucca, Pisa and Florence,
all within the course of the last few days, our hearts just weren’t in it. I’m a big advocate of always leaving
something on the shelf for a return visit.
So we wriggled our way onto the SR2 towards Rome and kept on trucking.
The SR2 is
a non-toll road but it is nevertheless quite a major arterial route, so we were
really quite shocked at the state it is in.
I don’t remember the roads in Portugal being this bad and they are
probably the worst I have driven to date in Europe.
The surface for the most part is terrible, creating
a cacophony of rattles in the van, and then you have regular areas of
subsidence to deal with as they lurch you towards the kerb.
We made a quick stop in Monteroni d’Arbia to
empty the loo and admired the quaintness of San Quirico d’Orcia before pulling
over for a sandwich stop beside the almost completely bone dry Torrente
Formone.
Shortly
after this the SR2 was closed, no doubt for some much needed repair work, and
we were diverted high into the hills to the east.
After 7km
of climbing we reached the hilltop village of Radicofani with its rather
angular looking fortress and tower.
We spotted
the village had a free Sosta so we parked up for a bit and stretched our legs
before snaking our way downhill for another 7km to rejoin the main road.
Shortly
before reaching the interesting looking fortified town of Acquapendente we
crossed the provincial boundary from Tuscany into Lazio and immediately the
road surface improved immeasurably.
Then
as we dropped down the hill we could see Lake Bolsena stretched out before us.
With a
circumference of 42km, Lake Bolsena is the largest volcanic lake in Europe.
It has two islands, one of which, Bisentina,
has several monastic buildings and used to be a Summertime Papal retreat.
We made our
way a few kilometres around the northern shore of the lake to the town of
Bolsena where we found our way to a lakeside carpark.
It’s €5 from midnight to midnight so €10 for
an overnight stay but only an additional €5 if we were to stay another night so,
given we have effectively banked a day by swerving Siena we may well just do
that.
The old
town is positioned a little way up the hill and looks an interesting place to
explore and, who knows, we might actually get around to extracting the bikes from
the garage tomorrow and meandering around the lake a little more.
After some successful
DIY to fix an errant locker hinge we went for a short walk and found a very
pleasant and popular lakeside bar.
We
tried a bottle each of Ichnusa, which is brewed in Sardinia.
And we enjoyed it so much we stayed for
another.
And then we
strolled back to the van while taking in a fabulous sunset.
There is an extremely relaxing vibe to the
place.
We really quite like it here.
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