Barreling along
Date: May 18 2025
Luckily there was no accommodation at the top of the Apennines last night, so we spent another night in Barberino di Mugello. It’s a big enough village to support two teams in the Canta Maggio event – a celebration of spring and local pride where, with typical Italian passion, they roll barrels, stage tug-of-war contests, and race carts madly down the hills.
We happened to be there for training day. On our way back from the Co-op supermarket, we were hustled off the road to make way for a louder-than-usual group rolling a barrel up the hill past our B&B. The whole town was draped in orange and green or blue and red bunting to show support for the two teams, and I bet the place will be heaving next weekend – happy, excited, noisy, and wonderful. This is why we adventure slowly.
Our early start was delayed by a tyre issue – not a puncture (we never say that word out loud) – and Jill’s navigational sorpresa del giorno was a back road out of town to avoid the main one. It quickly turned into a rough track – better than yesterday’s “road,” but still a few notches below, say, the Timber Trail in New Zealand. No worries. We rejoined the main road – along with about five thousand motorcyclists.
This was the old Florence–Bologna route, now mostly avoided by cars thanks to the autostrada, but it’s a magnet for every boy racer with a big bike. Winding, climbing, echoing with engine noise – it felt like biking on a Grand Prix track. I yahooed and laughed all the way up – Jill used rude words instead – watching the riders grazing knees on the corners and flinging themselves into the next.
It’s one long 700-metre climb – the most we’ve ever done in a day – and at the top we accidentally crashed a family gathering in a bar in Traversa (they didn’t mind, or even notice) for a much-needed coffee. Then we tootled across the highlands to Pietramala, passing the German war cemetery with its 30,000 residents. There’s not a single good thing to say about wars.
Our anticipated celebration at the highly praised (and only) restaurant in the village didn’t happen – it closed early – but we happily grazed on snacks from the local alimentari and felt quite content with being at the top of Tuscany.
Max elevation: 929 m
Min elevation: 259 m
Total climbing: 976 m
Total descent: -395 m
Total time: 03:36:19
Battery use:60%. And we weren’t even all that careful. Towar$ the end of the climb I eas on Turbo when the slope reached 8% which is really wimpy, but it shows how unfit I am. Turbo is usually only for 14% and more.