Day 32 – Sossano to Noale (73km)

Morning cappucino, and a catch up with Italian newspaper on current EuroCup standings. Poland to play Check republic tomorrow, and I’m as usual chearing on all the Eastern European nations – perhaps Croatia will come out on top this year? Am wondering what the football fever must be like in co-hosting Poland and Ukraine right now… With years and years of preperations, building roads and stadiums primarily, I hope the locals are atleast enjoying the current tournament fever

We head out in blazing heat to Padova and roll into a children’s playground around 13:00 where we find welcome shade and a picnic table. A colourful lunch of a salad type suggestive of travellers in Italy who are tired of pasta – lentills, corn, mozarella, rucula, vegg… Delicious and filling. We spread out under various trees for the obligatory post-lunch nap. Temerature is well over 35 celcius.

Around 16:00 we get unceremoniously kicked out of park by the organizer who informs us that it is for children only. I guess being child-like and curious to the world is not enough to stay in the park, I muse, as we walk our bicycles out under the suspiscious gaze of young parents…

Padova is ridiculously beautiful. We stumble upon the main square, in fact the biggest Piazza in all of Europe, very open and decorated with over 50 roman statues. This, and the heat, are breathtaking.

Chatting with locals, I receive my first athletes complement of the trip, as one of the security guys looks approvingly at my strong legs calling them “triathlete legs”. Thanks!

We split ways with the guys. They continue to Venice and along the Croatian coast while I stay inland heading towards Slovenia. I continue my riding heading to Treviso, stopping in a corn field near Noale to camp for the night.

All is peaceful,

Kasia – your cyclist

Day 31 – Verona to Sossano – 65km

Camping in Verona city goes well, only we didn’t think both the garbage truck and street-cleaning guys would wake us up at 6:30 with their big and loud machines.

We down extra big coffees in an attempt to make up for not enough sleep and head out of Verona. The bigger the city the more difficult it becomes to navigate out of it while staying on small roads – in our case we end up back-tracking to the grocery store when the only road we see to Vicenza is the A4 autostrada…

There we meet Mauricio, a local who speaks Spanish with us since he learned Portuguese while living for a while in Brazil… he invites us to his home for pasta (of course!), promising to show us the road going through the smaller villages after lunch and siesta. Our bellies full, espresso’s tipped back and some cherries in hand, we head to his garden to find a spot to pass out on for 30 minutes or so. Deliciously comfortable wrapped in the only hammoc available, I tell myself that there isn’t much else I could be doing at this hour anyways…it’s 35 degrees out, 40 if you account for the hot air whipped up from the asphalt roads we ride on…

At around 16:00 we say our goodbyes with yet another kind soul willing and open enough to share his meal, home and time with us. A display also of trust in other human beings since we were briefly left alone with his son and daughter, roughly 10 and 12 years of age, when he went to pick up his youngest. A wave of gratitude sweeps over me as I realize not everyone in this fear-ridden world thinks the other a liar, thief, kidnapper or worse!

Back on the road, even at 18:00 the temperatures are over 30. We continue riding in this oven, on one of the treeless main roads, direction Vicenza, until Sossano. There, entering a bar in order to buy some bread (the bakery was closed by that time) we hear in the news on TV “northern Italia suffering from African heat for following 10 days…”

Bread in hand, we find a sweet camping spot in the village near park and tennis courts, fully equipped with fountain and apricot tree !

A good night’s sleep as I pass out still a little bit hungry…I’m looking forward to breakfast tomorrow

Kasia – your cycling-addict cyclist

Day 30 – “it’s hot as Hades” – Villafranca to Verona – 50km

We head to the famous, beautiful, renown for it’s glory…Verona! It seems to be the Italian opposite of Milano, a city that everyone encourages you to skip, Verona is a “can’t miss” on the Italian itinerary.

So off we go, riding like hot slugs in a steam bath in the +35 degree weather. It’s like cycling through fire, with hot air swept up by faint breezes from the scalding asphalt. The Spaniards are dealing with it more or less well; due to my more nordic upbringing I find riding in this heat torturous and am considering adapting my sleep, eating and biking schedules to accommodate it. Once I’m riding alone again (probably starting tomorrow) I’m going to experiment with sleeping less at night to begin riding around 6:00 or 7:00, and take afternoon naps, of 1 or 2 hours, to catch up on sleep in the most infernally hot hours of the day (at some point between 12:00 and 17:00). Either way, I need to come up with some kind of a solution since, most likely in the weeks to come, Slovenia, south Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are going to be even hotter.

Not to mention the final days coming up to Istanbul. I’m envisioning it as one, big, hot oven. Roast turkey anyone?

Kasia – your riding-through-uncomfortably-hot-Europe cyclist

Photos

1 – with host Sergio in Villafranca
2 – last nights dinner at Sergios
3 – the amazing bicycle ! Here an Italian mom cycling with her due bambini

Day 29 – Mantova to Villafranca -45km

A good day for people, a poor day for cycling.

We enjoyed a morning coffee with Pani Ela, and headed out quite late, rejoining and then losing the EuroVelo trail leading to Lago di Garda.

In general, riding just a short section of the EuroVelo wide network of trans-European bike paths confirmed the rumours that it’s good…but not quite finished. There are sections of beautiful and well maintained bike paths which melt into less frequented roads. The way is not always well marked…

In short, a great idea and a wonderful project, but evidently a work in progress.

So, after a short while riding we encountered rain and hunger, we waited out the storm by having an early lunch and playing Parcheesi under the protection of someone’s porch and the watchful gaze of their two, huge Newfoundland dogs…

We continued along the bike paths to stop at a beautiful little town 10km from Villafranca. There, between one and second doses of cheap and delicious gelato, talking with passers by intrigued by bicycle travel, a road cyclist stopped next to us to take in the view over the canal. We started chatting, his impecible English revealed that he had lived for a year in New York while volunteering for Craigie Hall. A perfect years leave for a middle-school violin and music teacher. He didn’t have to tell us twice when inviting us for dinner at his home in Villafranca, not to mention the presence of a piano in his home and a rare opportunity to play!

We spent a very Italian evening with Sergio and his friend Fabbio. We had pasta and wine, balls of cherry tomatoes and mozarella decorating the table; the talk was noisy and boisturous and cheerful. Between inspiring in people the desire to flee the daily grind and take to the road themselves, as bicycle travellers are likely to do, and cries of “basta il labore!” whether in Spanish, Italian or English… we all understood eachother perfectly.

Drifting off to blessed sleep, once again much too late than we should have…

Kasia – your loving-Italia cyclist

Day 28 – Sospiro to Mantova -75km

Riding with the guys is simply put: enjoyable. We cycle with the similar efficiency, objectives and mentality which makes spending time together and organizing our life together on the road easy. How can I not get along with cyclists that pre-make lunch for themselves every day, and do so for me as well (in Pepe’s words “when you cook for 3 you can cook for 4 no problem!”) and are happy with a bit of coffee, chocolate and an evening massage in return!

Today was an enjoyable day of riding, with several breaks inbetween for coffee and bike reperations (Hannah, Sergio’s bike, has been acting up a bit). We cycled slowly through beautiful Mantova, enjoying the gorgeous lake and bike paths right in the heart of town.

We continued a bit more north on what is a part of the EuroVelo network – we had caught a 40km section from Mantova to Lago di Garda. Overjoyed at the momentary respite from cars, trucks and roadkill, we cycled along ignoring the falling sun. It was quite late when we started looking for a spot to camp, and a few refusals and false leads later and it was 9pm and we were cycling in the dusk. Finally, coming upon a big country home across from a cow field, we found a willing owner who let us set up our tents next to the house.

Unpacking my stuff and setting up my tent, I had no other thoughts in my head except to eat a little and go to sleep when…

I received an SMS. I read it realizing that it was a message from a friend of a friend of my parents (long live the international Polish network!) whom I had attempted to contact since she lived with her husband also near Mantova. I didn’t know where though, were they in a different village further away? No – in fact the contact in question, excited and flustered Ms. Ela, was only a few houses away and coming quick to sweap me away to a warm bath, dinner and a real bed! Feeling a little bit guilty at abandoning the guys for what would be a rainy night, I eagerly hopped in the car. I’m sure there is some type of camping or bicycle travelling law that states washing is always to be taken advantage of, not only for personal benefit but for the well-being of the group and society at large… Besides, I was curious to meet this lady and hear what she had to say!

And speak we did. “Pani Ela” as I addressed her, was firstly flustered with the rapidity in which everything was happening. So much so that we stopped for a 10pm espresso at her favourite bar, a moment to attempt to understand what this young girl, daughter of an acquaintance of her best friend from childhood, was doing. Biking through Europe? Alone? Why and did it hurt? Was I afraid? And more importantly – did I have a stable job, an apartment and a somewhat coherant life?

Nope! I don’t have those things right now, but quickly I saw the flame of interest and curiosity light up in Pani Ela’s eyes…she admited that she had encouraged her only daughter to travel abroad, she had dreamt of visiting her in exotic locations, and instead her prodigy had chosen a full-time job at Bosch, a house not 30km away, a husband and a baby girl were also in the picture. If only her daughter had been more adventurous and curious of the world like me! …then, Pani Ela sighed, she would have been more than a constantly baby-sitting grandmother, a little bored and more than annoyed with the provincial, hot and stuffy part of Italy she inhabited.

It made me smile to no end- I had just met the polar opposite of my own mom!

We headed off to bed, for some reason very tired at 1am…

Kasia – your finding-life-ironic cyclist

Day 27 – Pacienza to Sospiro (85km)

An unpredictable day, yet again.

The morning ride to Pacienza went quick, a flat 20km, a stop by the grocery store, and I headed to the heart of the historic center for a not very coordinated meet up with the Catalan guys. We had figured out the previous night that we were all near Piacenza, meaning that we could take advantage of a few more days of shared road before the inevitable Slovenia/Croatia split up takes place and I take to riding solo again.

On the way, already entering the gothic quarter, I cycled past a curious object closely observed by a priest, photographer and an excited elderly gentleman. I did a double-take and turned to take a photo, I had just gone past a rain-bike, a squat-scooter like looking red contraption that was in fact a type of covered partially-electric bicycle. I couldn’t let such an innovative biking opportunity pass me up!

Evidently, the photographer and excited gentleman (who I would learn was the engineer of the rain bike) weren’t about to let their opportunity pass them up either! The photographer, who was in fact a doctor with an intense passion for photography, started feverishly snapping shots of me, the bicycle, the engineer and anything else bello in sight! Those two charmers, their friend and I spent quite a bit of time together discussing the Ride to Read, the design and making of the rain bike and my supposed resemblance to Italian celebrity Manuela Arcuri…and on to another photo session!

The Italians were very sweet about it and the rain bike such a neat project; I did have to make a dash for it at some point though if I had any hope of meeting the Catalan guys! I headed to the main piaza where I imagined they might be…

A capuccino later and I got back on the road. There was no point to hang around waiting all day, obviously the guys were elsewhere! The next town, some 30 flat kilometers later, I meandered in, in all the way to the city center and BAM there was a cyclist speeding right towards me! I only had a milisecond to read the “pangeats” on his front pannier and there was Edgar greeting me with gusto. Sergio and Pepe were right behind him, and me wondering at the irony of trying to coordinate a meeting via SMS when a chance encounter was all it needed!

We continued on our way, heading east and a bit south. Tonight we sleep in an empty garage lent to us by the owner. With passing grey clouds a frequent occuramce in this part of Italy, a passing traveller need only point to the sky and imitate rain drops to get a bit of sympathy from the locals

Kasia – your back-to-team-riding cyclist

Day 22 – “wild pig on a bike” – From the coast inland to Ferrania (80km)

In summary, one of the most beautiful and grueling days up to date!

Slept like a log at my first ever “wild camping” site! Last night, the guys spotted our personal campground from the mainroad, a sign with “proprieta privata” and an obviously abandoned flat space of rocks and grasses. We pounced on the opportunity, and the site proved one of the most beautiful and well equipped spots ever. While Kasia K. , Edgar and I went for a quick dip in the Med (in lieu of shower that evening), our chefs and campsite guard, Pepe and Sergio, prepared dinner. We returned to some delicious soup and “pan con tomate”, a Spanish classic, served on a table while sitting on chairs. I tell yea – that improvised campsite (photo 1) had it all!

We headed out in the morning continuing along the up and down coast – direction: Genoa. Around 13:00, in scorching 32 degree weather we stopped for lunch and another swim in the refreshing sea. We said our goodbyes with the Catalan guys, a little sad to part ways but with hopes to meet up later on the road and/or later in general, and headed inland to Ferrania – home to our WarmShowers host for the evening. The guys had plans to continue along the coast to Genoa and then to cut across north to Croatia. For more info on their adventure you can check out http://www.pangeats.com

As we rolled inland I looked at Filippo’s, our host’s, directions for getting to his place. As we passed one village and then another I wondered when we would meet the 400m climb that he had warned us about in his email, since up to then the road had been fairly easy. Upon turning into a narrow, and beautiful, road tucked into a valley between mountains, I understood the challenge at hand. It wasn’t the continuous steady climbs I had been used to in France, with steadily burning legs that you can learn to ignore as you mentally set-in for a 5 kilometer long hill…no, this was a climb of a whole other caliber – the very steep, at times downhill and then mad steep once again, type of hill. Mentally, it’s exhausting since you have no idea when it’s going to end and physically, you learn to change gears with lightening-speed efficiency.

We did the best we could. A few times we pedalled, legs flying, chain straining and wheels advancing inch by painful inch. Sometimes we pushed our bikes up. Always we double-checked we were going the right direction by asking a passerby.

…Because the only thing worse than struggling up hills is struggling up them when you are going the wrong way.

Actually we successfully navigated the whole way, right up to Filippo’s village where his instructions ended and we were advised to ask a local for the location of his cascina. This is where our troubles began. It wasn’t the Italian that got us (I’m reserving language barriers for when they get really big, like in Hungary, for ex), but the locals mistaking Filippo for his father and directing us to the wrong house (same last name, you see). 2 hours later we had gone up many unnecessary hills, my chrono was showing 80km and my legs were crying for mercy – all sure signs that it was time to stop riding for the day – and we were still lost and calling back and forth with our host who was was driving around the village frantically trying to find us.

We, thank goodness, did finally find each other, and were soon home safe and sound and tucked into a delicious dinner of home made bread, goat cheese and zucchini-mushroom-pasta dish. But not before Filippo informed us that we were his first pair of girl travelers (he had had solo female cyclists and couples but never two girls) and that we were also the first ones incapable of finding his house on our own!
My navigator’s ego a little bruised, I comforted myself with the fact that it did, after all, take me 22 days to lose my way! …which, for a first time bicycle traveller, is not too shabby

We spent a really enjoyable evening with Filippo and Tommy, of the kind of comfort and easy-going nature generally reserved to good friends who have known eachother for many moons. We learned of his passion, and obvious talent for photography (already a few shots sold to National Geographic!), his young wife, now pregnant with their first bambino, and of course his passion for cycling. He works with an organization that promotes mountain biking in the area, logo of which is the funny wild pig on a bicycle (photo 2)

…and the wine and carbs kicked in and we were arrivaderci for the day…

Kasia – your very-sleepy-cyclist

Day 21 – “gli pazzi ciclisti!”, aka biking along the Italian coast (direction Genoa) -65km today

Well you’ve already met Kasia K., my friend who has joined me for 2 weeks of the Ride to Read… Now meet Pepe, Sergio and Edgar! Because today we are a 5-strong bicycle travelling circus heading along the Italian coast, direction Genoa.

We met these three chicos (photo 1 and 2) from Cataluña (Spain) at last night’s campground, turns out they are going to China by bicycle and via Istanbul as well! Our routes may differ in how we mean to get to Turkey, but for today and tomorrow we are sharing the road and eachothers company as we wind our way along this last bit of northern coast of Italia. Then, for those eastern-bound, you’ve got to choose passing above or below the approximate Palermo area, and within a 100m radius, as already 3 earthquakes have affected this area within the last few weeks. Hence, we (the Ride to Read) are heading inland up from Savona and continuing north of this earthquake zone.

How refreshing to have some company on the road, and reassuring to know that my temporary bouts of solitude are just that: temporary. The guys are fun, there are lots of jokes and laughter and a comfortable vibe all around. Today we had a summer thunder and rain storm that started around 14:00. We found a dry spot under a bridge to wait it out (where we were joined by other cyclists and motorcyclists), and everyone made use of this unexpected downtime accordingly: Kasia K. studied some Italian, I got to learning some of the cirilic alphabet and phrases in Bulgarian, the guys filled out journals, read and made tea for everyone (see photo 3). At around 15:30 it was all rained out, and we packed up and continued on our way! That was our day: riding, conversation and enjoyment, taking advantage of every moment as it comes regardless of any previous plans.

Am thouroughly enjoying hearing Italian again (it has been too long!) even if my attempts at Italian end up, more often than not, coming out in Spanish. But that’s OK, the point is communication which is being accomplished regardless of the task at hand. For example, while buying more gas for camping cooking today we clearly understood, in Italian, that we need to keep our receipt with us in case the police wants to see it. Now why the police will be disrupting my pasta-cooking in a campground, or elsewhere, and demanding proofs of payment for my cooking supplies , I have no idea! All you can really do is shrug your shoulders and agree with the sales guy: “Benvenuti in Italia!”

Grazie mille!

… e buenanotte – take care !!

Kasia – your