The weather here continues to be a bit iffy…one minute blazing sunshine and thunderstorms the next…in between downpours, we’ve been out and about on the bikes…a quick cycle into Bucine for provisions the other day and a trip to a lake nearby…Lake Trasimeno, where we cycled along the lake following a rather muddy track…
Bucine, like most of the little towns and villages in Tuscany, is on a hill…so, lots of ‘uppies’ with the promise of ‘downies’ as well 
Destination – the Coop in Bucine – and, it was closed for lunch – doh! You’d think that by this time we’d have got the hang of the continental siesta time…sigh… Never mind, we went off to explore the town before finding a little cafe for what turned out to be the best coffee in Italy so far! Spent a lovely hour just chatting and watching the locals before hitting the store…the chap who served us there must have seen us hovering outside when it was closed, as he kindly gave us a leaflet with the opening times… 
This little chap was on a gatepost right in the heart of the village (Bucine) looking over a wonderful view of the valley below…
Just one of many many flights of steps in Bucine…
A tiny house!
Our coffee stop in Bucine …
Our drive down to the lake took a little longer than planned (navigation error!) but we eventually parked Buzz in Borghetto – a tiny village on the north side – in an Italian ‘aree di sosta’ which had 5 or 6 motorhomes parked up making use of the free space – 4 of them had electric hookup but we couldn’t see if this was chargable or not…We set off through the village and went to explore a campsite we’d seen on the way in – Baddiaccia Camping – nearly every car/campervan/motorhome was Dutch or German – it looked nice but we’d heard lots of stories about the clouds of mosquitoes…the campsite is right on the lake so guess you’d need to take a bucketload of mossie spray…
Cycling along the lake was magical – we met very few other cyclists and the sounds of the forest was incredible – birdsong (even cuckoos..) and frogs…
Hot and sunny for most of the day which made cycling through the cool woods even better – we did about 20kms in total, most of it on the track by the lake – no traffic – bliss…
Poppies in the vines…
The cycle path…
Cool forests…
My favourites – poppies by the thousands…
Blue sky + a bike + a track = heaven 
An old ruin by the lake…
Map of the lake…
Our picnic lunch stop was right on the lake where I spotted some driftwood – nearly got stuck in some quicksand and decided the piece wasn’t up to standard after all…
That log was perfect for a sit down and picnic…
Nope – not this one…
Onwards to the next town – Castiglione de Lago – where we stopped for a gelato and coffee…a beautiful spot but imagine it gets pretty crowded and hot in the summer…
View across the lake when we stopped for coffee…
Not a bad view…
So calm…
On the road to Castiglione del Lago…
Reflections…
Boats!
Castiglione del Lago…
Nice spot by the lake – the only house we saw…
Very muddy track – got the hang of it eventually – straight through the middle
Big storm clouds ahead…pedal!!
By the time we headed back, storm clouds were gathering fast and we could hear rumbles of thunder in the distance…had to pedal fast to get back before the rain and we made it…a wonderful day out…
Tagged: Borghetto, Bucine, Castiglione del Lago, cycle, mosquitoes, Tuscany
