Tuscany
(Italy)

In July 2019, I did my first bikepacking trip, in Tuscany. Back then I was working in Pistoia, hence why the trip started from there. I am writing this five years after I did this, so the memories have faded slightly, and apparently I cannot find anymore any pictures from that trip. Hopefully I will find them and add them to this page.  The trip lasted 4 days, I was very inexperienced, but I planned it the best I could and I remember everything more or less went just fine. I downloaded the Komoot app to plan the trip and bought the map of the world, which I still use; the best and most useful 20 euros I have ever spent in my life, no doubt.

Tuscany is very beautiful and I totally recommend riding there, and also in this case, I suggest avoiding riding in July and August, and in the Mediterranean in general, way too hot.  

And this brings me to my first (and only maybe) miscalculation of the trip. I was, and I am, quite passionate about wine, so I figured... this trip was a great opportunity to merge two of my passions together: wine and bikes. Wrong. Do not visit wineries in July during a bikepacking trip. Or if you do, be sure to be prepared to eat and drink plenty (of water afterward). And I was not. I remember quite clearly suffering the first day because I did not drink enough, also I was not used to planning fueling for this type of trip. A lot of lessons learned. On the good side, I surely caught the attention and sympathy of the tour guides in the wineries.

Besides this inconvenience, no big problems. I slept three nights in hostels, which can be easily found in this region. And all the cities (Siena, Firenze, and Arezzo) are amazing, with amazing food.