Day 119 - 120 - Lunchbreak in Siena

We stopped somewhere close to the river and walked across a muddy field till we found a nice remote spot where we could easily get into the river. Swimming trunks on and off we go. It was very relaxing to sit there for a while in the steaming water and see the sun go down. On the other hand it was not so relaxing and quite a challenge to get from completely naked and wet on a muddy field into space Astronaut mode at sundown...With winter time the sun already goes down at five and there will be no day when we will arrive at our daily destination at sunlight anymore. Thank good our spaceships have powerful area LED lights to see all the surroundings on unknown territory.

After the dip we wanted to continue to Grosetto to find a place for the night - but we had bad luck and the road to there was blocked because of landslides from the heavy rains last week.

Our bad luck turned into something good when we found a nice remote hotel up a hill. The host Luca was very friendly and gave us the key to his kitchen... Cooking night!

A nice change to all the restaurant business over the last weeks. We made a huge pot of pasta with tuna-tomato-something and chocolate pudding.

I mean.. The chocolate pudding was desert, obviously... Not in the pasta. After dinner we and the local cat where superstuffed and fell happily into bed.

Next morning we had sunshine and a breathtaking view for breakfast.

We took the winding roads up to Montalcino and made it to Siena just for lunch break.

Thats the trip now. Its more sightseeing and getting from one city to to the next than heading into the unknown. Not much adventure anymore in Italy and I kinda miss the vast emptyness of the  tibeatan plateau, the mountain passes in Mestia, the times when you start in the morning and have no idea where you will end up in the evening.

You run into a problem and just deal with it because that is what keeps you going...

That makes this way of traveling so outstanding compared to any other way - at least what we did. - It makes a difference

Even the bikes run smooth and fine since Turkey - not that i miss bike problems.. Dont get me wrong - actually i am quite surprised that us two fools on our chinese bikes made it that far -

I just think back when we have been in Xinjiang 3 months ago... this feels very far away already... Like a totally different trip...and what a trip it has been.

We will take some time to realize all that happened in the last moths.

I am getting already a bit melancholic here... But the trip is not over - not yet.

A few more days.