Woop woop! I’ve made it to three figures! The time has zoomed by- incredible!

Day 100 was a rest day in Siena. The previous evening we had chatted to a lovely English couple called Sarah and Alan about my ride. Alan had suffered with arthritis so he had a hip replacement done recently. It was interesting to listen to Alan’s experience and his recovery from the operation. It was great to meet you both and thank you for your donation.

My university friends, Carinne and Suraj were meeting us in Siena. They were on holiday in Umbria so they made the drive up to spend some time with me! It was great to see them and I really appreciate them visiting. They picked us up from the campsite and then we spent the whole day walking around the old part of town. We stopped off for ice cream breaks, lunch and dinner! It was a long day but very enjoyable. We walked 8km so I kept up the tradition of the busy rest day. Check out the photos of Siena below- beautiful place!

Day 101 rolled round and it was time to get back on the bike. It was a cold and cloudy morning so the chances of rain were high. Dad and I were cycling to a campsite in the middle of nowhere in a National Park. Before we left, Tim discovered a toad under his tent! He made some lame joke about it being as grumpy as me in the morning but I can tell you that’s definitely not the case (only if I don’t get my porridge!).

We made our way out of Siena on a series of busy roads and it didn’t take long for it to start raining. The road that took us away from the city was ideal though. It wasn’t busy and took us through some stunning scenery (see below).

A couple of scenes from the film Gladiator were shot here. I tried my best to look intimidating in the photo below but I think I failed. The only thing I would be battling was hills!

The road started to climb uphill. It took us through a couple of pleasant villages that would have been busy during the summer with wine connoisseurs (Brandi arrives tomorrow by the way woop woop). The reward for all of our climbing was a long downhill to a main road. The short stint of cycling on the main road wasn’t enjoyable but it passed without any problems.

The final approach to the campsite was awesome. The road snaked its way uphill through a dense forest until we found the entrance to our campsite. Check out the stats from the ride- a lot of Tuscan hills to deal with!

I’m off to warm up and relax for the evening. I’ve got a 70+km ride tomorrow so I need to be in the best shape possible!