Day 14 of probably 16 days cycling along the Via Francigena from Piacenza to Rome.

We decided to squeeze three short stages into two typical stages. But was there something we didn’t know? Actually, there was!

Anyway, with yellow wind and rain warnings and forecast for thunder, we were not surprised to wake to heavy rain and black clouds. But suddenly it all past, blue skies and bright sunshine. The lake was calm. Great breakfast overlooking the lake. We decided to set off without waterproof clothes. However, it was very chilly, so we wore fleeces. We started to climb the rim of the crater and noticed a large black cloud creeping up behind us and rumbling thunder. We stopped to put on our waterproof gear and then the heavens opened. We slogged up to the town on the ridge and took shelter in a car wash (ironically) until the storm had passed. Morning coffee then we set off only to discover that this town had a lot more going further up a steep hill than we realised and that the traffic was crazy busy. But there was a fantastic view back over the volcanic lake. We didn’t explore the medieval old town or the old papal palace on top of the rock.

We started downhill and were directed down a super steep path taking care not to let the wheels slide from under us. Shortly after, we were directed up an improbably steep path made with huge lumpy cobbles. We had to push our bikes. Some mistake surely. It turns out that this was the original Roman Via Cassia. We could barely cycle over these boulders and made painfully slow progress. Although it was also fascinating and scenic. The non cobbled stretches had suffered due to the heavy rain and had become deeply rutted. We gave up and made our way to a road. Which was busy with fast traffic which whooshed past and made us wobble. We were approaching Viterbo which is a large city. The road entered via flyovers, underpasses, left filters, traffic merging from the right, roundabouts leading to roundabouts and weird lane changes and filter lanes. And heavy traffic. Eeek. And then a steep hill before entering a pedestrian zone. What a relief. We were not loving Viterbo. It was tatty, rubbish on the streets. We struggled to find somewhere for lunch. And the restaurant did not have a VF stamp. We set off up more steep hills and gravel roads, but thankfully traffic free. With relief we arrived at our destination. In terms of altitude, one of our most arduous days surprisingly. All those short sharp ups and downs add up.