Up early to finalise our packing, dressing, and ride to Portoferraio for an 8 am ferry. Only a 10 km ride, and the road was fairly quiet until we hit the capital.

Nice view on the outskirts, looking up at Fortezza dell Volterraio.

Arriving at the port and having our tickets checked, the guy offered us the opportunity of hopping on an earlier ferry that was just docking. Absolutely, as that would give us an extra hour in Volterra, today’s destination.

The ferry was fairly quiet, with less than a third of the vehicle deck used. Massive trucks were on board, dwarfing me as I stood there tying my bike up to the side rails.

We headed up to the top deck which was fairly cool once the ferry got moving.

Some last views of Elba, an absolute gem of this trip.

Moby is another ferry company. All their ferries are brightly decorated.

We watched this seagull hop on board and it sat there for 2/3 of the crossing and then flew off back towards Elba.

From our route map below you can see there was a longer straight stretch adjacent to the Mediterranean. Riding you could not see the sea as there is a strip of vegetation maintained with plenty of parking.

Interestingly EasyPark is all over Italy and you need a ticket here, despite no towns or villages for many km.

Did cross the vegetation to look at this section of beach though.

A nice vineyard entrance gave us a reprieve for a short break.

After 40 km of flat, headwind riding we turned to the north east. Hills grew closer.

The day was still overcast but becoming humid as there had been a little rain. Only sprinkles for us, but the rain had obviously been through before us as the road was wet in many places.

We had a few shorter climbs and up the heat was turning up as we started sweating more. The sun still had not quite managed to poke its head out.

Finally our destination was in view. Volterra. Accomodation always seems to be at the top of a hill. In this case, a 10 km climb, 450 metres ascent. The first few km were very gentle, pushing the final 7 km to around 5.5% average.

The climbing graph. The climb shows obviously.

A few photos during the climb. By now the sun was out, it was 32C, humid as we were drinking water frequently to try and stay hydrated.

The road was busy and you could guarantee the car behind you would want to pass on the right hand, steeper bend meaning you could not go out wider to a less steep incline.

Shade was non existent as it was very open. The best relief came when one of the big buses descended, generating a breeze as it passed.

The actual town starts about 2 km before the top of the climb. The last 500 metres was difficult as there was a tricky junction to give way, cross and climb steeply.

It was a huge relief to make the fairly flat, cobbled main street and I had indicated I wanted to stop at the very first gelato sign.

We both had two scoops of limone gelati! It was soooo nice.

We found our accomodation easily but were quite surprised. It is a family run albergo and as we took luggage off the bike it disappeared and was immediately transported to our room, up three flights of stairs!

We took our bikes up the street, around the corner, up a very steep cobbled climb to the allotted spot where they said someone would meet us. It was their backyard and here was a young lad offering to take our bikes the last 10 metres, then an older man taking control of our bikes. We were like….what the heck? Who are these people? No one has that kind of interest in our bikes at accomodation!

The older man is the family patriarch, he has proudly built an amazing bike box with retractable roof, lockable doors, adjacent to their rooftop cafe.

We have never had any accomodation do this for our bike luggage or bikes before and we walked down about three flights of stairs empty handed to our room.

If in Volterra, come to Albergo Etruria, run by the Moretti family.

We spent a few hours walking around the town inside the old walls. The centre was transformed by the Etruscan’s in the 9th century.

Many current buildings seem to be from the 12-14th century.

Alabaster shops are frequent, as it is a local speciality. I watched one guy carving alabaster, no protection over his mouth or nose and wonder about alabaster dust and the lungs,

Photos from our meanderings.

There are many narrow laneways.

Wonderful old buildings and churches.

Colourful flags

Colourful pasta

The old Roman theatre and baths were rediscovered in the 1950’s when excavations started for a sports field. There was not enough money available for an archaeological excavation so patients were used from a local psychiatric hospital to uncover the 3,500 seat auditorium and baths.

Originally constructed in the late first century, the theatre is regarded as one of the best remaining in Italy. There were three men busy with slashers working and I think when finished, the definition will be greater again.

Walking up and around the old Medici fortress, we only got so far…

Some distant views from the walls.

Dinner time

Ciao ciao, thanks for reading, another day in our adventures. 93 km and over 900 metres climbing. 😊❣️