Dave and his Bike

Day 9

Last night’s pizza was excellent, and good value. Not a bad sleep, followed by a plentiful breakfast and on the road in reasonable time. Luca at the hotel (ever present) was friendly and helpful, to the extent that Jane will probably stay there on her return leg.

I was somewhat concerned that the route through Turin may have been a mistake. On any day other than Sunday it probably would have been. So thankfully today is Sunday. Main roads but very little traffic meant that navigation was quite easy, and I still get a bit of a buzz riding through cities and traffic on occasion, so really enjoyed it.

Having crossed the city, Jane & I met up in a café. on the outskirts for a coffee and second breakfast (for me), and then continued on to what became quite a boring ride. Dead straight, flat roads – easy miles though. Lunch was had in a pull by-in at the side of the road somewhere near Chivasso.

Campsites have become hard to come by. We therefore scoured the internet and found a cheap apartment in Casale Montferrato, so headed there on similar roads.

After the uninspiring scenery, Casale Montferrato was a bit of a revelation. Having checked into a great little apartment, we had a wander into town to find that the market was on. Interesting architecture added to the pleasant experience of the evening. The cheap bottle of wine from the market was just that, and not great.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is not great. Hopefully it won’t rain too much and we’ll get to Milan easily.

Day 10

Probably the best night’s sleep so far on this trip. That was also possibly the best part of my day. It started to drizzle gently just as I set off, on roads as interesting as yesterday… 🙄

Then the rain started properly. Added to that was the traffic build up. I had clearly been spoiled by the Sunday traffic yesterday (or lack of it), so I suppose today was bound to be different. The nearer to Milan I got the heavier the rain became, and the more lorries the were on the road. Standing water at the sides of the road, completely flooded roundabouts, more spray, less visibility (for me and drivers) plus the crosswind and driving rain meant I didn’t feel particularly safe. There’s no point in risking everything this early on (or at all really), and since I still have the luxury of hitching a lift, I bailed out at just under 39km. Soaked and miserable.

I am well aware that in 10 days time this will not be an option, but I have always said that I’m not going to be governed by the bike – it’s not a record attempt or anything like that.

So, after much re-routing whilst working our way through the McDonalds menu in Abbietagrasso, and much scouring of weather forecasts, we decided to ditch the Milan plan, and possibly not bother with Venice either. We will possibly aim for Palmanova (hopefully 3 days ride – 350km) and have a day off there instead. In the meantime, we found another cheap apartment in Cremona and booked it for 2 nights.

A visit to Lidl en-route, and we arrived as the light was failing. First impressions not great…

The weather did not let up all afternoon and evening, which helped me psychologically accept the decision to stop early today.

No photos in the rain. Couldn’t be bothered.

Rest day tomorrow.

Day 11

Rest day.

Zero miles.

The apartment was cheap for a reason. It is not great. Doesn’t feel very clean, the area it is in is slightly questionable (takes me back to my work days), not well equipped, I could go on.

We slept on top of the bed and used our own pillows. That sort of sums it up.

That said, we walked into town and found it to be very pleasant. It is the centre of violin making in Italy (apparently), so there are lots of violin shops in addition to the spectacular brick-built cathedral. Coffee in the square (obviously), bike workshop (from the 1970’s – brilliant!), new tyre levers. Not a bad morning.

Light lunch. Now catching up with my blog, route planning, reading and relaxing. It is after all my rest day.

Update : If that all sounds a bit miserable then it shouldn’t. Despite the weather and accommodation woes, we are actually having a great time and enjoying finding new towns and villages across Italy which are hidden gems.

Having planned tomorrow’s route, I’m really looking forward to the ride 🚴‍♂️😁