We woke to heavy rain which by mid morning had eased. By that time, we’d walked into town for breakfast and were confident that the worst of the rain had gone.
It was more flat riding today, but interesting the whole time. It was Sunday though, and most places were closed as we made our way through quiet villages. The threat of rain was ever present but we were lucky all day.
We crossed a river near the famous River Po by an old low wooden bridge, and ate the last of our food in a shelter nearby. I call it food, but it was a large biscuit each from Mantova.
Apart from that, we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and by two thirty, I was getting hungry, so I found the village of Dosolo, just off the trail with some open restaurants.
Most of the time in Italy, I’ve been dreaming of a big bowl of pasta and that’s what we got at a large Ristorante that was emptying out as it was 3pm. The nice people made us three plates of Tagliatelle ai funghi porcini which was beautiful and hit the spot.
That kept me going for the rest of the ride to Parma which was still 40 flat kilometres away. There were forests villages, and as we neared Parma some industrial areas. We even went past a pig farm. Parma ham has to come from somewhere.
We finally crossed the Po, which is the longest river in Italy (thanks Dennis) on a bridge that went for about 2 kilometres.
We went to our Airbnb and later walked into town past the Parma football stadium, to another nice bistro / restaurant. As usual, the food was brilliant and very reasonable. (A large share plate of local meats and cheeses followed by Parmigiana Aubergine – yum).
Tomorrow is going to be sunny. We want to get going towards the Med, but the bad weather will catch up with us if we do, so more planning is required – and Dennis’s broken spoke needs fixing.
