It was cold last night…I mean cold. This morning, part of the river we were camping on had ice on it and the leaves all over the valley were covered in crystals. Last night I was wrapped up in my two-season sleeping bag (I know, stupid choice for winter camping), silk liner, merino thermals, trousers, a t-shirt, fleece, and socks. I was comfortable…except for my toes, which really felt the brunt of the cold.
We were up at about 7.30 this morning…first thing was another dip in the thermals (got some pics of them this morning for you!). It was awesome. Crisp, clear day…another cloudless one. There was no one at the thermals but us now – mind you, last night there were people here bathing until the wee hours…
The pools to ourselves….we took our time…
Once we hit the road we immediately hit a 20% climb out of the valley…this lasted for the next few hours…by the time we broke for lunch at 12.30 we had hardly covered 20km…
I have to admit…although I often have spoken before about the loneliness of the road, I am also experimenting with cycling with others and I do find matching pace with people can be difficult. Where I like 100km+ days and short lunches, Alex and Tiago like long lunches and so far our maximum day has been 62km…it’s not a problem, but I just have to watch myself, enjoy the company, and realise that I am not in a hurry…which sometimes I cycle like I am.
After lunch we did another 40km or so before starting to look for a place to camp, just outside of Grosseto. There is a lot of farmland around here so has been hard to find a good wild camping spot….we got lucky though and found an abandoned house in the middle of some barren farmland. The house is borded up, but the driveway is well sheltered by two rows of large old trees, so we’ve pitched camp on the driveway….30m from the main road. Not a bad spot.
I am really grateful for bumping into Tiago and Alex…without them there would be no way I would be doing this camping on my own…hopefully through this experience I will get the nerve to give it a go on my own later on….
62km Bicycled Today
3179km to Date
2 Comments
I’m enjoying following your trip (found you through the Bike Bits emailing). Quick word of advice on cold nights: ditch the clothing. The sleeping bag (even a two-season) is designed to work best if you’re not insulating your limbs from each other. It’s like how warm your fingers feel in a mitten vs. being isolated from each other in a glove. Also, if your feet are cold, take the fleece or thermal shirt you aren’t wearing and wrap your feet in it in the bag. (Keeping the other clothing in the bag with you will keep it warm for putting back on, and can add insulation like a blanket.) Hope you stay warm and keep up the writing for us armchair followers!
Great advice! Thanks for this!