Italy - Part 5 - From Siena to Montalcino

The morning of the 23rd of August, we woke up and started packing up camp as we had to check out by noon. It was also Sunday so we had to get to a grocery store before they closed down for the rest of the day. Jon, Gordo and I packed up quick and took off before the others to go to the COOP for groceries. Alex, Beth and Greg tried to get Internet at the campground, but it wasn't working.
Except for one small wrong turn we made it to the COOP easily. Unfortunately it was all closed and locked up, despite it being before noon and the sign saying it closed at 1pm on Sundays. Apparently it was a holiday. Since this is where we were supposed to meet the others, Gordo stayed at the COOP while Jon and I biked over to another grocery store he knew. This second store was in a mall by the train station and was open all day. Jon bought the groceries and then we managed to get them all over to the COOP just as the others showed up.

We ate some lunch in front of the COOP while people kept showing up to see if it was open. Unfortunately I had recently developed a sore throat and a bunch of canker sores that made eating not that much fun. After lunch we biked back to the second grocery store because there were a few items we forgot.
Outside the mall there were 3 fountains shaped somewhat like giant pinball machines. It would have been fun to have toy boats to race down these things. After buying the food we set out by bike and then walking our bikes into the historic center of the city to look for an Internet place. We found a couple closed ones but then managed to find an open one. We took turns waiting outside watching the bikes and people dressed up in costumes for the holiday. Alex and Gordo planned some of their biking route through Germany for the next week. Greg and Beth looked into flights leaving Italy in early September. I was on the computer for 20 minutes during which the guy who worked there was in the basement and just walked by a couple times. No one seemed to be paying and I didn't know how it worked so I just left. Later Greg and Beth were telling me I should go back and pay, as they had finally paid. When I went back to pay (1 Euro) the guy was so confused about why I was paying but not sitting down and using the Internet. Beth had to use Google Translator to finally explain to him that I had already used the Internet. After about an hour and a half that seemed way longer because I'm too impatient, we were ready to go.

Now we needed some food for dinner, and most people wanted McDonald's so we ended up going there. I ordered some food for Gordo and I who ate it outside while watching the bikes. I didn't deem McDonald's cool enough to take a photo of but the one above is just outside it. After the meal I led the way following a map to take some back streets that would be less crowded to get across the city.

When we came to this view of a church, we decided to take a bunch of group photos.

We took at least 4 different photos with different cameras all set on timers to take the shots.

They were some pretty sweet shots, and I hope
to get the other photos from everyone else at some point.

A block from here we came to the back of the city's Duomo which was pretty impressive.

The front of the Duomo was much more impressive though and quite pink for some reason.

There were a lot of little details carved into it. After taking a bunch of photos we were able to make our way to the edge of the city where our tour route started the day. From here there was an awesome view of the countryside just before sunset. Then we got to zip down a series of switchbacks and then stopped at a roundabout next to a large highway.

After consulting the map and directions we figured out
where to go and were soon on a smaller road.

We biked quite a bit that night. For the most part are bikes were fairly well lit up and there was very little traffic on the road. We stopped in a small town around 9pm and it was pretty active. A group of people walked by where we were relaxing and one guy said "Now that's real biking!" It turned out the group of people were from Ontario.

Despite a lot of uphill after the town we managed to bike at least another hour before Alex found this really good spot for wild camping. It was just below a pullout and the trail dead ended. Being down hill from the road it was pretty out of sight. We slept without the tents.

In the morning we were ready to go after some quick breakfast while packing up. We heard some other bikers shouting to each other above us as we ate. Here's the pullout just above our camping spot.

We stopped in this small town and bought some lunch food at a local store. We ate in a park where there was a ton of ants crawling everywhere. We got in a good amount of biking that day and took our siesta in the middle of it. At one point we rode past a signed that warned about nuclear testing. It was very odd. The scenery was great and the road wasn't that well travelled.

We arrived in the city of Buonconvento around dinner time and I spotted the COOP just as we entered town. I got some yogurt to feel good for my throat but unfortunately the fruit stung my mouth. We all shared a quarter of a watermelon and Beth bought some ice cream that we helped her finish. Once again there were a lot of ants! Alex took a time lapse of them swarming over and destroying a piece of meat.

We had to go on a busy road for a km but then were again on a side road and about 10km from Montalcino but unfortunately it was all uphill. As it got dark we biked up to a crossroad with two smaller roads to look for a place to sleep. Choosing which road to take we biked along looking for a place that would be ideal for wild camping but found nothing close. It was too open and it was all vineyards with houses nearby. Eventually we settled on sleeping at the edge of one of the vineyards on the rocky corner. At this point we had been hearing gunshots once every half hour for the last couple hours. I believe the noises were setup to scare birds away instead of using a scarecrow. We looked all our bikes together and went to sleep but this was probably the worst sleep in Italy for most of us. The ground was uncomfortable and a bunch of cars went by during the night, catching us in their headlights. The next day we would have a talk with the farmer...