Back in the 'Pool

Well it's been a whirlwind tour of Italy over the last 2 weeks and although the weather was largely wet, it meant that me and Tom got to visit a lot of places including non-climbing related historical sites of interest and fantastic cuisine.

We spent a good few days in Florence hanging out with the 'Guru' Roberto, who gave us a great tour of the city as well as the climbing gym. Lorenzo's other friends Sabrina and Geovanni from Project O, took us out in the evenings for meals and drinks and we were both really grateful for them helping us to get out at night and see some nice spots around the city.

Upon leaving Florence, we travelled to Siena, the town in which Lore grew up in and spent a day wandering around getting lost and discovering all of the City bit by bit until hooking up with Lore and Valentina for another great meal in the evening. This was followed by a bizaare Irish folk music evening that was at an open air venue near to a University building (I think?). I loved Florence as a city but the calm feeling I got wandering around Siena was much more preferable and I think it's a beautiful place to visit. There is a strong medieval vibe to Siena thanks to the architecture and narrow streets.The Central square is visually fantastic, with an amusing Polish clown keeping the general public entertained, with some classic tricks on unknowning passers by!

After a couple of days in Siena, we went back to Follonica and had a small meal to prepare for the next day of crushing. The weather forecast was grim but the sun was shining brightly above as we set off in Lore's van of psyche to Mount Amiata. As we ascended up the slopes of the Mountain we soon realised it was going to be a complete washout yet again, so we drove over the mountain whilst Lore pointed out the many undeveloped boulders up in the woods (some looked stunning). We hooked up with a couple of Cheech and Chong lookalikes who were meant to be providing us with the key to an elitist hardcore training board hidden in Amiata but alas they were too mashed to remember where it was. Luckily, another guy 20 minutes drive away had one that worked and we released the pent up rage and psyche on these steep boards of ply.

A few hours later and we were thoroughly beasted, returning back to Bruno's restaurant and dining on fine seafood once again whilst he looked on admiringly at our ability to crush all of the food with ease! The last day was spent swimming and sunbathing near the pool and before we knew it we were on the train back to Pisa. The journey was not quite over as we realised there were no more trains to the Aeroporto, so we ventured into Pisa Central and happened upon a cabbie who relayed the bad news about the airport being closed until 5am. We bought some beers from the bar and headed off towards the airport on foot, not looking forward to a night of dossing in front of the Airport doors... but our luck was about to change! We bumped into a couple of Students fom Pisa and they said we could crash round theirs on the floor until 5ish but before we got any sleep, Martina and Petra gave us the tour of Pisa City and the notorious tower that is a lot more piccolo than I was expecting! The street art was really good, so I have posted many images on a facebook gallery, with just the 1 large picture on here. We managed about one hour of sleep before having to get up and head to the Airport and then it was followed by a stress free flight back to sunny Merseyside.

The trip has been fantastic and I am really grateful to Lore and Valentina for letting us stay so long in their several homes dotted around the West Coast of Italy! The climbing was great fun when we managed to get outside and the indoor sessions with Lore and the Guru were amazing for the psyche and future training plans. I'd like to thank Sabrina and Geovanni for the cool t-shirt and hospitality whilst we were in Florence and also the Austrian girls for saving us spending a night sleeping on the streets! Adopo.