Monday 26 April

Today turned out a bit longer than expected...

We got today's route from Lonely Planet's Cycling Italy - they described a shortish day of 46.1km from Pitigliano to Castel del Piano. So we planned to carry on a little and get through to Montalcino, making it a long day, but the second half should have been fairly easy.

Unfortunately Lonely Planet had it wrong and they missed out (a mostly very hilly) 10kms somewhere at the beginning of the journey.

After a quick descent from Pitigliano we were greeted by some sharp climbs which tested the early morning patience. These were the first real climbs of the trip, so the legs were crying a bit. Most of the morning in fact was spent either climbing or on flat roads, with few downhills. We stopped for a snack at Castellazzara, and another at Santa Fiora where we bumped into some other cyclo-tourists. They weren't very friendly though and we went our separate ways.

By now we'd realised that Lonely Planet had got it wrong, and started discussing our options - it was becoming clear that Montalcino was going to be a little (maybe a lot) too far. So we decided that Castel del Piano would have to do, and we'd make up the distance in the next few days.

There was a nice long downhill into Castel del Piano, and we found the campsite just before the town. It was almost completely empty and we took while to find anyone in attendance. We pitched the tent and had showers, then headed down to town to explore the open-air markets. A trip to the supermarket and back up to the campsite to make dinner - they had a nice seating area with wooden tables and benches we we had our packet-pasta and bottle of vino. We slept very well...