From: Giovancorso
To: Bettolle
Miles: 17
Total: 783
After last night’s amazing rest at the very nice L’Albero di Gameli B&B in Giovancorso, we were back on the road this morning at 8:30 with crisp temperatures, clear skies, with no wind.
Today’s route was pretty straight forward. We spent most of the day on paved, flat roads, with some short walks on gravel and dirt roads through farmland. By about 10:30 we passed through a little town, but it wasn’t time for lunch or a break, which we try to save until we’re at least half way for the day. Little did we know that town was our last chance for the day. By about 1:00, we were very overdue for something to eat and a chance to get off our feet. Unfortunately it didn’t look like that would happen before we got to our final destination around 2:30. So we found a ditch in a field where we could sit on the grass and eat a candy bar and take a brief rest. I was fresh out of candy bars, but Dave has a couple so he shared with me.
So we walked, or climbed, into our destination of Bettolle about 2:45 with a couple of choices of where to stay. The first was a hotel right in the center of town. The second was another mile down the road. As we usually do, we stopped at the first hotel and if it looks OK from the outside, we’ll go in and see if they have two rooms, and if so, we usually look at the rooms before committing. Today, the first hotel, in the city center, was not open. Dave called the number listed on google maps and the owner answered and said he’d be here in 10 minutes. As promised, he got here quickly and showed us our two rooms. They are very nice. After negotiating on the price a little since the rate did not include breakfast, we took the rooms. I must tell you, we’re walking through Tuscany at the perfect time of year. Not only is the weather perfect, but there is no way we would be getting these accommodations at these rates in the summer tourist season.
Because we missed lunch, we headed across the street to the Tommassini bar/cafe after dropping off our backpacks. The cafe had a full menu and we scarfed down some awesome pasta prepared by the cafe owner’s wife.
Tomorrow we have a very short day of only nine miles unless we come up with a different plan. It still looks like a Sunday arrival in Florence with a day off on Monday. We hope everyone’s day was as good as ours and thanks for following along.
