Hi, everyone! I’m very happy to see how much of you checked out my contents, looking to my paintings and stories here and on my YouTube channel! Like I told you, I love to find inspiration in the nature and what is the maximum expression for me is my bike. I love to travel with it and this Spring was perfect to go on the sea, during a not crowded period. I chose Elba island, where I have been many times before during my diving activity ( do you remember I told you by myself here? ), but never by bike. I planned to take it easy like always, because I love to stop, to take pictures, to speak with people and to “breath” places. The smells are something that our brain never forgets and the ones of trees, sea, and so on keep me company during other times of my life. I love camping, so on my bike there’s always all the necessary.
First day, after the ferry transfer, I chose a place not distant, to pass a day on the beach.
I had a quite night and the early morning after I leaved for the second stage, on the south. First difficult of the day: the way I planned was closed… on the top of the mountain, after almost 1000m of elevation gain!!! Ok, just point my bike on the way back and I enjoyed a free descent π I wanted to visit the house of Jacques Mayol, now inhabited by his son Jean Jacques. It’s in a very remote place, very difficult to reach by bike. I asked a man near the house if the way was correct and, with a surprise, he told me to be the gardener of Jean Jacques and that the house was closed, because he was away and so it would not possible to visit it. Sometimes life is made by these moments… Apart all that, the right pedal of my bike was broken in the inner part, in the bearing. It started to become very hard to pedal, but I decided to continue to my next planned camping stop. I saw so many beautiful beaches, that with car I never admired so much like I did now by bike. I desired to take a swim and I stopped to a great place, but with surprise I discovered I lost my costume the day before in the camping…! So, I came back to another beach I passed before, a naturist one: sometimes strange things happen, but life comes to our aid! I love naturist beaches: they are always quite and people discrete. So, what else? π
Arrived at the campsite in the afternoon, I set up my tent and I took another swim until sunset. It was nice to appreciate all what happened during the day with a tasty pizza and a couple of cold beers.
The morning arrived and I was very excited to start to one of the most beautiful destination of the entire island: the Sansone beach. I crossed a wood pedalling on a difficult track, made more for a mountain bike than a gravel bike like mine, but all went right ( this time π ). The campsite is the only one which permits the access to the beach and… wow! Wild place, crystal water and it’s possible to see the bottom under the surface from the peak!
I think it’s not necessary to explain how fascinating is a sunset here π
I was not able to fall asleep, because the last evening when I’m on a journey is always magical for me. I finished to write my travel diary and I appreciated all what I lived and I was grateful for all happened to me, because I can learn always very much by that. I remembered the people I met, the most part turists with bikes, but not travelling with that like me, who wished me “Have a nice journey!” all the time; people so kind in restaurants and shops showed me the way when I get lost forgetting to charge my cycle computer and no phone signal; people in the campsites, partly curious of my bikes and how I can travel so light and in a minimal way; some driver not so polite on the roads, but this is usual if you are a cyclist…
Time to wake up and to pack everything and point to the ferry, not so distant.
The last two hills and suddenly I went onboard, breathing the wind and defining my next painting processed in my mind during this bike trip.
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Bye π