Nearly cycling

A bit like the ‘nearly went running’, we ‘nearly went cycling’ too. We were all set to join ‘a 12 mile cycling tour of rural Tuscany including a three course typical Tuscan lunch’ when we realised (a) it was only 12 miles (b) we didn’t really want a three course lunch and (c) it was €75 each. That’s very nearly £150 for the two of us to cycle 12 miles and have a lunch we didn’t want. So we didn’t.

Then we nearly hired bicycles in the centre of Florence to cycle along the river Arno (there’s a nice cycle path) until we realised that we would have to firstly navigate the impossible and highly dangerous one-way system with manic Italian drivers and very narrow roads… So we didn’t.

But it was ‘very nearly’ cycling, which practically counts as training. So in place of ‘nearly cycling’ we walked round Florence again. Only this time we tried to navigate our way from one end to the other without using any roads we had been on before… a novel way to see different bits of a city, and we certainly found some bits we wouldn’t bother with again.

So now we’re packed, we’re back to the UK very early tomorrow, and we have had our last meal – pizza with a local ‘vino ruffina’. And very ruffina it was too…

Proper training for the mud race starts on Sunday. I have two weeks… Eek.