I had the minimal breakfast on offer and went down the road for a healthy donut and coffee. The waitress had a chuckle when I ordered in Italian and she gave a nod of approval. The chuckle was probably more about my pronunciation. It’s a pity that’s about all I can say.
So I headed out of town and was quickly into the urban fringe with small paddocks filled with goats and sheep, and of course, dogs – none of whom were pleased to see me. There was one small chase but the dog started too late. I was on guard for a while after that, as the small farms continued for a few kilometres. Luckily the fencing was in good order because there was plenty of disapproval from the local canine population as I went past.
I took a secondary road then rode through Rosarno which could have been in SE Asia – dusty wide roads, cars parked at all angles, car repair and hardware places everywhere with unadorned, crumbling buildings all around, and the requisite amount of litter. I really hadn’t expected this in Italy.
It had been flat so far and not far out of town I was to start today’s 500 metre hill. I still hadn’t decided on a destination. One idea was to go to Tropea and the other option was the Vibo-Pizzo area, so when I got to the Tropea turnoff, I stopped and worked things out.
I was due a rest day – feeling tired again – but I didn’t want to spend a spare day in any of the places I’d recently been through. There was also a 1100 metre mountain to get over tomorrow or the next day, and I didn’t want to attempt while not feeling great. I found the train details and it looked pretty good. I could get a train tomorrow from Vibo Marina to Cosenza and kill two birds – rest day, and no major hill. Well done John (and no, that wasn’t my Michael Clarke impersonation).
With that sorted, there was a small matter of that hill. The scenery got better the higher I went (though it wasn’t anything as spectacular as yesterday) and the traffic was light so it was pretty pleasant.
I made my lunch at a petrol station halfway up, that had some seats and tables in the shade. There were a few villages after that and the traffic increased after each one. The final part involved switchbacks with plenty of traffic and crazy driving, and at the top, I stopped and booked a BnB for the night.
Next came a descent that I was really looking forward to. Again Komoot made complicated work out of something that should have been pretty simple. Finally the descent started.
… and it was quite disappointing. It was way too steep and winding to enjoy. It was consistently between 14 and 24% with tight curves and a terrible road surface. The brakes got a great workout too.
The benefit of the gradient was that the dog chases were over very quickly. There were two groups of dogs that gave chase but they were no match for gravity.
Nerd alert – My front brake has been squeaking since Sardinia and it’s been pretty ineffective as well. I assume that the pads have been contaminated somehow. So most of my braking has involved the rear brakes and that’s not ideal. It’s especially bad on such a steep hill. However, as I continued to brake on this big downhill, the front stopped squeaking and became way more effective. I assume that the harsh braking had scraped off the contamination and they were great again. Problem solved. My next step would have been to take to the pads with sandpaper but this was much easier.
It’s always fun booking accommodation in a place you know nothing about. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s not. Today’s BnB is in a pretty dilapidated area with a once nice, but now abandoned beach close by. It’s seen better days, but the manager Francesco makes up for that.
As I walked in with my gear, he poured me a big glass of Grappa to celebrate his buying new car. It wasn’t the greatest post ride recovery drink, but you’ve got to be sociable. That night they were serving dinner at the hotel. Great, there’s nothing else around.
When I asked what the food was, all he could say was “local food” which suits me fine. As it turned out it was delicious, but there was no menu or choice – a big bowl of pasta as an entree, then veal and potatoes for main course, followed by a delicious orange. It couldn’t have been better.
Apart from the supremely uncomfortable bed, the Barbiere BnB Hotel has been great.
