Biking the White Roads of Val d’Orcia

The two of us rented fat tire e-bikes and rode down from our hilltop city to explore the countryside on the white clay gravel roads. The bike shop set us up with a route to follow on Google maps and off we went. The weather was spectacular and the scenery even better.

Around lunchtime we found a small farm restaurant, and because we were making good time, we decided to have a glass of wine with our meal, like all the Italians do. We didn’t know that after lunch our host would bring us two shot glasses and a bottle each of limoncello and dessert wine to sample from! Well, we’d worked hard on the hills before lunch, even with the e-bikes, so we sat and enjoyed the ambiance at the farmhouse—chickens, a big fat turkey and a young family at the table next to us, and then we were ready to ride again. When we got to Monticchiello, we parked the bikes and strolled the village, which dates back to the mid-1200s. It was a pretty quiet place, compared to some of the places we’ve visited.

We took a small detour to a spot marked “Punto Panoramico Cipreces en Zigzag” (panoramic viewpoint of zigzag cypress), because we were curious. Cute, but they only zigzag because the road does. You’ll see the photo.

We’d saved enough e-bike battery power to make it back to our hilltop home by the end of the day. What a great day!Read more