Viareggio to Pisa 25ks1 Jul 2012
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cycle path
swim time
| Sunday 1/7/12 Viareggio to Pisa 25ks Another hot sunny morning. After only 750m of road we join the cycle/Walking path to the sea. Very relaxed riding and the tall trees offer some shade. The beach here is very busy being so close to the town, so we decide to cycle until we find a more peaceful spot. We pass through a couple of huge restaurant/ beach resort areas, cars, scooters and bicycles everywhere. We witnessed “parking rage” horns blaring, drivers yelling at each other, crazy. We had to weave our way through it all. One driver cut in front of Nickie and had to stop suddenly, because of the backup of traffic..why ??? What is wrong with these impatient drivers…?? Generally the cars pass and give us plenty of room, but “the cutting in move” is one to be wary of. About an hour on we found a less well used trail to the beach, we locked the bikes under the pine trees and had a quick dip- bath water temperature and a gentle wave, lovely sandy beach..we didn’t really want to move on.. The usual vendors selling sunnies and towels were about but we were glad one guy was toting a big chilly bin of icecreams. The iceblocks stuck to our tongues but then melted almost quicker than we could slurp them up. We continued on the coastal bike trail, very hot and in one short stretch 10metres, we had to push bikes through soft sand. Shade alongside the river, was a great spot to have a late lunch at about 2ish. We joined the SS1 road, through farmland, and zoomed along at 25kph, very little traffic. At a roadside stall we were “ripped off” when we bought cherries, they were delicious but expensive as we had to throw many overripe ones away. In the heat the peaches and nectarines were too hot and mushy to buy, almost stewed fruit. The camp ground is about 1km walk from the Leaning Tower, very convenient. After setting up camp we took a swim in the pool, but too many screaming, splashing kids to enjoy it. We buy food for a picnic tea at the tower, but the cheese and bread are very “processed” , Christa not very happy. Christa spends some time just getting the right pose with the tower. It’s a great place to people watch and see what imaginative poses people come up with. The cost to climb the tower is 15 Euros, we are just happy to walk around it. We didn’t bike far today but the heat has really zapped us. At the bar, with a small crowd of campers we watch Spain thrash Italy 4-0 in the soccer final. |
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