Corsica/Tuscany Day 12

Day 12:  Cycling Elba

Another gorgeous, warm sunny day.  Bill's route talk bore no resemblance to his brief description last night at dinner.  The crude hand drawn maps he hands out were daunting.  43 miles with 3500' of elevation.  That wouldn't be so bad, except 2 of the climbs were about 10 miles each.  The views were again spectacular at every turn.  Our lunch spot had great views of the town of Marciana 1,000 feet below on the sea.  Today we ate smarter than yesterday, but still had too much for the ride back to the ship.  It began with a terrifying descent for about 5 miles, then a 500' climb, and a final descent to the port.  We were thrilled to get back to the ship and off the horse.

Next order of business was breaking down the bike.  It went pretty well, and Erik and Beth (they team break down and build there bike) and I finished well before most others arrived.  After a shower and major grease removal, Jeri and I packed for an early morning departure tomorrow.

The ship just left port on the way to Rome.  Last dinner tonight with Erik and Beth and goodbyes to all of the great tandem teams  that we met.  Tomorrow we disembark at 8 and head into Rome  for the start of the next phase of our journey, our BackRoads tour of Tuscany,