A surprisingly social experience
Siena to Radicofani, 19th - 20th April
Although the weather forecast had been uncertain about rain, it was beautifully sunny as I left Siena early on Easter Saturday on my way to San Quirico d'Orcia. I'd arranged to meet my new friend Clem the French cyclist there but she wouldn't be arriving until the evening, so I took my time, taking a peaceful hour of reading in a roadside field and stopping by a small-town bike shop to finally clean out the sand from my chain (I picked up sand on my very first night, camping by the river Ticino, and it's been abrading my gears ever since) and replace a mudguard cable-tie with a real replacement screw (seemingly an Appenine descent casualty). I also bought a new rear-view mirror which pleased me immensely: I'd really been missing it and my superglue revival attempts had sadly failed.
In the evening, Clem and I had an unusually good picnic dinner, with quality Italian cherry tomatoes, olives, pecorino, burrata, a local dessert wine, and panforte. You can tell we went shopping while hungry (always a mistake), but it was about the right amount for our cycling appetites, and we had the forethought to also get food for Easter Sunday and Monday when shops would be closed in very Catholic small-town Italy. We also had a look around San Quirico, a rather touristy village along Via Francigena with no less than three churches. With my increasing proximity to Rome, I'm beginning to see more information signs about the pilgrim route and more cafes advertising "get your credential stamped here". Combined with Easter, I'm sure it'll be a bumper weekend for pilgrim traffic.
Clem had already planned her next day and offered to continue travelling together, which I was happy to accept - it would be a fun change to ride with someone. Thankfully, the Easter rush didn't prevent us from booking two spots in a pilgrim hostel in Radicofani, another Via Francigena town to the south which was only around 30km away but with a challenging 700m of ascent along the route. That's Tuscany for you. The short distance had us feeling relaxed: we left after lunch, having attended a special Sunday mass (I fell asleep). Honestly, I was a bit intimidated to actually cycle along with Clem, with her minimalist bikepacking bags, bike that weighed half as much as mine, and strength built up from spending the past two months on the bike. Thankfully she was happy to take a "chill day" and take it easy on the hills to Radicofani, and a few hours later we were on our final climb towards the town.
As we stopped for a roadside water break along that final climb, we were passed by another cyclist going up. This happens a lot - most people aren't carrying their entire life on their bike, after all. This person however, was. He stopped to say hello and I was immediately struck by the amount of luggage on his bike. Along with four panniers (two on the front, two on the back), he had an empty jerry can strapped to the front of his bike and an extra bag strapped atop his rear rack and covered with a solar panel. He soon explained the jerry can: it was for carrying water in deserts, as he planned to cycle to China from his home in Lille. Brilliant - another French cyclist. Can't they ever be from somewhere else?
Seriously, though, I was excited to meet another long distance traveller, and he was excited to meet us too. We shortly agred to stay together in Radicofani, and got Paul (our new friend) a bed in the pilgrim hostel. He'd been wild camping for the past six nights and was thankful for the opportunity to have a real shower and a bed for just €20. Sharing our food together for a Sunday night feast, Clem and I thought we would be the ones doing Paul a favour with our contribution of hot pasta and pesto, but were proven wrong when he started pulling out an entire kitchen from his bags: bread, avocados, onions, cream cheese, peanut butter, sun-dried tomatoes, radishes and more. I was surprised to see how many glass jars he had with no worries about the extra weight, and my respect for him instantly jumped. His story is pretty cool: after doing a couple of multi-month bike trips in the last few years, this is his really big one. He anticipates taking two years, across Europe, Central Asia, China, South East Asia, and potentially even further. I would have struggled to take his plans seriously (he's never been to Asia before) if not for the experience he already has both with bike trips and general outdoors skills. As it is, he's clearly more experienced than me despite being two years younger, and I really believe he can do it.
Clem had arranged to work on a farm starting on Monday, but given the excitement of having travelling companions she's going to continue on with me and Paul. Tomorrow, the three of us will ride south towards Rome - we're expecting to reach it in just two days, faster than I'd have done it on my own. All of a sudden I need to start thinking about where I'm going to sleep once I get there, but I'm not worrying too much about the prospect. I have a weirdly serene confidence that everything is going to work out, and it's very reassuring to be travelling with two capable individuals. It's been fun swapping stories already, and I'm excited to see up close how Paul travels as well.