Friday, 23 June 2023
Alex writes: The official Via Francigena route would go by the coast near Massa today, but looking at the routing options this seemed to require using major roads and/or comedy off-road cycle paths. So instead we opted to get to Lucca via an inland route giving us a scenic day in the Tuscan hills and "Apuan Alps".
The experience was, as Bill put it, "idyllic cycling". Who could want more than sparse traffic, challenging climbs, fast descents, beautiful weather, distant mountains, attractive countryside, picturesque villages, and the odd bit of Roman heritage?
We also experienced our first rain of the pilgrimage: a biblical thunderstorm with a lot of intense lightning. Fortunately this rolled through when we were taking our afternoon gelato break.
After the storm passed we rolled down to Lucca and installed ourselves in a well-equipped villa.
In life, it is usually a bad sign if one can smell oneself, and all of us have long since passed into this realm. So it was with great excitement that we discovered a washing machine in the apartment. We piled all our whffiest stuff in and - What's this? No washing powder? Oh well, never mind, some shampoo will do. Better use a low temperature though; don't want to damage that precious gear.
Reader, the result was not as hoped for. In some awful odiferous catalytic reaction, the process seems to have mingled everybody's individual smell into a new über-smell, which now afflicts us all. Whoever gets a seat next to one of us on the plane home will have drawn a short straw.
Word of the day: biohazard
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