My plans for today were to take me to Rimini from Arezzo. I had toured Arezzo the previous day on bike. It’s a pleasant town with churches scattered around the centre. If you’re into that kind of thing. I on the other hand was a little bored and spent most of the morning in the park then back to the campsite in the afternoon to chill out.
I wasn’t looking forward to the days ride as I knew I had a three thousand foot mountain to climb to get to Rimini and there was no real alternative. I left just after nine in the morning and instantly made a wrong turn in Arezzo.
Back on route I could see the mountains looming in the distance. Before I knew it iwas sweating profusely and climbing my first big climb. It was only 500m but it was steep.
After a brief descent, passing through the picturesque medieval town of Anghiari, I ended up in Sansepolcro. Here I bumped into three mad polish cycle tourers who were heading in the opposite direction. They had stopped for a cigarette after completing the mountain I was fast approaching.
The climb started here. It continued for a good two hours before I reached the top. As I’d expected I was greeted with beautiful views before descending pretty much most of the way to Rimini. I’d calculated todays ride as 84 miles yet it took no time at all and I arrived and Camping Italia by 16:30.
I’ll have a day looking round Rimini, then continuing on Wednesday for a two dash to Venice where I’ll wait for my fiance to arrive. She’s hopefully bringing me a new back tyre that should see me through to the rest of the trip.