That should be an amazing route! There are one or two hills on the way - Chianti is very hilly, but it looks like you'll be following river valleys coming out of Florence towards Radda, which is smart. Radda is a fair climb up, and Volterra is a long way up too! Both well worth the effort though - the simple rule over there is, if it's on top of huge great hill, it's usually worth seeing! And you'll be feeling so fit by the time you get to Pisa!One more tip with Open Cycle Maps - it shows little blue tap icons where there are public drinking water taps where you can top up your bottles. They're an invaluable resource! The search feature in Galileo is pretty good for finding all sorts of things too.Have fun!
Also, it would be remiss of me not to mention Poderaccio, an excellent agriturismo about 25km south east of Florence. Iv'e stayed there a couple of times and it's a beautiful place ot stay, and Francesca who runs it is an excellent host.http://www.agripoderaccio.it/
Hi. I've cycle toured quite extensively in Italy over the years, in fact I've just got back from a three week self supported trip from Genoa right down to Bari. Using a roaming package, I've never had too much trouble finding a 3G connection, even high up in the Abruzzan Appenines. The exception on my latest trip was the Gargano peninsula, where I did find myself without a signal for prolonged periods.However, I would strongly recommend using offline mapping. The trouble with using Google maps or similar online is that it will use up your data and run down your battery quickly too. Use an offline mapping app and keep your phone on airplane mode most of the time to save battery. Your phone's GPS will still work, but it turns off a load of other battery draining services. Then you only need to turn airplane mode off whenever you want to check your emails, messages etc.For offline mapping, I use an app called Galileo (https://galileo-app.com/), and I'd recommend it. It's cheap and you can download free vector mapping of the area you need (you can download Tuscany just on it's own). It also saves a cache of any of the online mapping you've viewed for use offline, so you save those just by browsing your route at couple of different zoom levels before you go. The Open Cycle Map mapping is particularly useful, with a lot of detail and full terrain contours to help you identify how big that next hill is!Make sure you have a way of recharging your phone on the move too, such as a back up battery and cable, and of course a plug adaptor so you can recharge at your hotel or B&B (or campsite). And I'd always recommend having a good paper map as a back up too, phones can let you down (I've been there!)Have a great trip - it's a beautiful region, and there's no better way to see it than by bike! The road surfaces (and drivers) can be a little 'erratic' but honestly, you're going to love it. Do you have a detailed route worked out? I'd like to hear more about it, if only to make myself jealous!
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That should be an amazing route! There are one or two hills on the way
- Chianti is very hilly, but it looks like you'll be following river valleys coming out of Florence towards Radda, which is smart. Radda is a fair climb up, and Volterra is a long way up too! Both well worth the effort though - the simple rule over there is, if it's on top of huge great hill, it's usually worth seeing! And you'll be feeling so fit by the time you get to Pisa!One more tip with Open Cycle Maps - it shows little blue tap icons where there are public drinking water taps where you can top up your bottles. They're an invaluable resource! The search feature in Galileo is pretty good for finding all sorts of things too.Have fun!
Also, it would be remiss of me not to mention Poderaccio, an excellent agriturismo about 25km south east of Florence. Iv'e stayed there a couple of times and it's a beautiful place ot stay, and Francesca who runs it is an excellent host.http://www.agripoderaccio.it/
Hi. I've cycle toured quite extensively in Italy over the years, in fact I've just got back from a three week self supported trip from Genoa right down to Bari. Using a roaming package, I've never had too much trouble finding a 3G connection, even high up in the Abruzzan Appenines. The exception on my latest trip was the Gargano peninsula, where I did find myself without a signal for prolonged periods.However, I would strongly recommend using offline mapping. The trouble with using Google maps or similar online is that it will use up your data and run down your battery quickly too. Use an offline mapping app and keep your phone on airplane mode most of the time to save battery. Your phone's GPS will still work, but it turns off a load of other battery draining services. Then you only need to turn airplane mode off whenever you want to check your emails, messages etc.For offline mapping, I use an app called Galileo (https://galileo-app.com/), and I'd recommend it. It's cheap and you can download free vector mapping of the area you need (you can download Tuscany just on it's own). It also saves a cache of any of the online mapping you've viewed for use offline, so you save those just by browsing your route at couple of different zoom levels before you go. The Open Cycle Map mapping is particularly useful, with a lot of detail and full terrain contours to help you identify how big that next hill is!Make sure you have a way of recharging your phone on the move too, such as a back up battery and cable, and of course a plug adaptor so you can recharge at your hotel or B&B (or campsite). And I'd always recommend having a good paper map as a back up too, phones can let you down (I've been there!)Have a great trip - it's a beautiful region, and there's no better way to see it than by bike! The road surfaces (and drivers) can be a little 'erratic' but honestly, you're going to love it. Do you have a detailed route worked out? I'd like to hear more about it, if only to make myself jealous!