Unpaved Roads Punta Ala

Unpaved Roads is a gravel weekend with no clock and no ranking, part of the Bike Adventure Series family behind the Tuscany Trail. The organisers say they ride every road themselves before choosing it, and build each weekend with local people, from the food stops to the Saturday aperitivo and social ride.

At Punta Ala the loops leave from a pine forest base on the Maremma coast. The longer one runs a wild stretch of shore above Cala Violina, then climbs inland to the old mining village of Gavorrano and hilltop Caldana; the shorter one threads the Zinghera woods and the vineyards of Cacciagrande. Both pass the seafront at Castiglione della Pescaia and the Diaccia Botrona wetlands, with a few sandy metres near the sea. You choose long or short at the fork on the morning itself.