We are still in Italy, on the western shores of Lago Maggiore. It’s hot, sunny and we have biked our normal average distance of 46km today. We’re tenting at a campground and have cooked some fresh pasta and salami. We just also got a bottle of wine from our neighbours! We are all doing well right now, but we have had a bit of bad luck with the health lately. A week ago I (Irene) suddenly got strep throat while camping in Terme di Monte Valenza.. We had to stay there for almost a week. We had some amazing help from Andrea who worked in the bar, he drove us to a doctor and pharmacy, plus acted as our translator. Forever grateful! Kids were fine during this, there was a large park and playground on the grounds and even a free zoo – the kids were happy. But poor Andreas was alone with chores while I was out. Unexpected things like getting sick makes it really hard to follow plans. We skipped Corsica partly because of the inital sickness delay and partly because it was complicated to figure out the ferry routes and they were also expensive. Instead we just headed west thinking of going to Croatia that way. However, we liked northern Italy so much and moved real slow and when we started to count the time left we realised it would be hard to do Croatia, at least if we wanted to bike to Sweden. At the campground at lake Iseo we met an English gentleman, Mike, who reminded us to take it easy and that that place was not a bad on to linger a few days. He’s right, we’re not on a race. Both I and Andreas have had to adapt our approach to touring biking; I needed to get over my urge to stop at every historical site, beautiful church, charming coffee shop, cute bakery etc. Because as we move relatively slow, at about 15km/h, we need to get the hours in if we want to reach a campground in reasonable time. Andreas needed to accept that we cant get as far every day as was possible for him when he toured Europe 20 years ago. It took some time until we reached some middle ground and sort of routine. On transportation days, we focus on getting up in time and to bike to reach a place to stay in time. Thus, on travel days, we get up at 7 am and about three hours later we are ready to go. If the weather is wet, add an hour. Then, we bike a couple of hours, usually I interrupted by several nature calls. We get groceries once a day, usually in the afternoon, for dinner, breakfast and lunch the next day. We prepare simple lunches at playgrounds, so the kids can have some fun. Sometimes we linger for a few hours. Then the afternoon push to a place to stay. After camp is up, dinner cooked and eaten, shower, it is bed time. For all of us. Thus, traveling is now routine. Yes, with new views passing by and a new place to stay most nights but still with daily choreshy and structure to the day. A few times, we’ve found ourselves far from any accommodation when it’s getting late and everyone is tired and hungry. Wild camping is illegal in Italy and has never been an option when we’ve “run out of fuel”. We are ok staying the occasional night in hotels or b&bs, but sometimes, nothing is within reach. One such evening, when we had stopped by the side of the road, sighing over the 23km of busy road to the nearest campground, an older man drove up with his moped. With no language in common, a series of misunderstandings about pilgrims and water (we think) ended up in him waving to us to follow him. After a few hundred meters, he stopped at a farm with a large lawn and we understood we could pitch out tent there for the night. His granddaughter spoke english, and showed us the water tap, and then one after another family member came to greet us. Some spoke English and we started to understand that they were children, grandchildren or married into the family of the man. His wife gave us fresh eggs and we got to see their ponies and goats. Aa great and unexpected “farm stay”! The next day we were headed to Pavia, and could not believe that we were offered to stay the night in the apartment of one of the families from the farm. It was a beautiful place and we accepted the offer with gratefulness. An other surprising generous act came from a man from the U.S we met in a b&b. It makes me blush, but he paid our bill for stay and breakfast, without our knowledge. This one we will “pay forward”! Now after our little loop of 700km in Italy we are preparing for the Alps. Alma is thrilled we will reach an other country today! Switzerland..She is also very happy she got to take a morning dip today so I could finish this post that I started yesterday. But now we need to hit the road! A hot day to sweat through awaits..
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Remember the cyclist how helped us find a room our first day on the road? The next morning, after our hosts prepared breakfast, told us about their lives, and gave us a few wonderful blooms of Cuba’s national flower Mariposa, we met the boy again. He biked with us for several kilometers, showed us the way out of town and onto the autopista. Unfortunately our poor Spanish made conversation difficult. That evening we arrived in Las Terazzas, a community up in the hills, surrounded by old coffee plantations and forested areas. We stayed there two nights, exploring the surroundings by bike. The casa family had a few pigs and one had new piglets in the morning. The kids were so excited. The piglets were cute, but I preferred the sunrise and the fruit filled breakfast served on the veranda. Beautiful jungle and serious climbs on the day we left the village. The weather was considered "cool" at 25 C or so. It was also dry as the rainier season had not started. However, we were not used to our new bikes yet. Andreas bike, loaded with all bags and with the trailer (Chariot) attached weighed about 85 kg. On top of that a 15 or 20kg child in the Chariot. Irene’s equipage, with the trailer bike attached, weighed 50 kg. Andreas had to walk his bike for the first time in his life, on one particularly steep section. In San Cristobal we let us be led by a local to a small hotel outside of town. Arthur turned 4 the next day, so after we spent several hours to find a bank and get more cash (we saw very few places that accepted credit card) we bought cake very similar to the Swedish “Rulltårta”. In the end of an afternoon of biking though the country side we reached the old “spa” town of San Diego de los Baños and found accommodation in what appeared to be the only casa in town. Various body parts needed a rest, so we stayed two nights despite the mediocre food; the elderly couple running the place might have done their best, but really, mouldy preserves?! How did those new top quality saddles treat us? Female version, not so well. Male, a bit better. But we had not reached the 400 km break-in distance so a bit soreness was expected. Almas main complaint was not physical, but the home sickness and longing for her dear friend Hazel. Many times per day she cried "I want Hazel!" or "I want to go home" or "why are we on this stupid trip". It appeared as if she was really suffering, and this was not easy to handle. Anyways, in this once probably pretty town, now run down, we met a man who was a geography and English teacher. He showed us his office/school library. We made a 20 CUC donation to the school, aware it might end up in his own pocket, boosting his monthly salary of 30 CUC (approximately what we paid per night for a room). At least he spent many hours sharing his points of view and showing us around. The following day, when we biked to Viñales, was a good example of what an average day was like: after breakfast, sun lotion and loading the bikes, Arthur jumped on the trailer bike and Alma in the Chariot. After about 15km, or 1 hour, we had a break, adjusted the saddle on the trailer bike and switched kids. The beauty of this order was that Arthur often fell asleep in the Chariot. We would start looking for a place to have lunch around mid-day. Then a switch of kids again. Quite often we stopped short after lunch for a siesta, sometimes in the shade of mango trees, which also gave us a free snack. When no shade to be found we used a light weight tarp to create some. The kids got some play time, their imagination turned coconuts, large legume pods, or whatever they found, into whatever suited the play. Then we had one or two biking sessions left before we looked for accommodation. In Viñales there were over 1000 casas!! We had heard about the tranquility of this place, but the town itself was very busy. And the weather turned hot. More about our adventures in beautiful Viñales Valley in the next post.
A week ago we unexpectedly biked right into the ongoing Giro d’Italia. We came up to a crowded traffic circle, thought there was an accident. Ten minutes later, the cyclists rushed by! Afterwards we followed their route for a day. Epic!! We spent a few days in San Pellegrino Terme, where the famous water comes from, biked a fantastic bike route up the Brembana Valley. We met Sara, a Swedish woman who moved from Göteborg last year to open a biking/hiking tourist business, Saras Italy. With all those trails in the surrounding mountains, paired with the splendor of the town itself, it seems to be the perfect location for that kind of business. Swedes, take note! A few nights ago we spent an afternoon looking for a place to spend the night. We were hoping to reach a campground 20 km away, but Alma had a cold and Irene wanted a rest. Close to Bergamo's Citta Alta, we pushed the bikes up a trail, met a young couple with an exotic (for Italy) fruit farm, but nowhere to stay. When we needed it most, a woman offered us to pitch our tent by her house, as her b&b was full. She had a beautiful place, 3 dogs, 2 horses and a room full of prices won at Western competitions. We had a great meal together that evening and were very grateful for her hospitality. We are now at a campground by Lake d’Iseo. A few days just enjoying the quiet (and the sandbox!) here, the lake right in front us. The hillsides are dotted with wine yards and olive trees. The local wine, cheese and salami are excellent. Life is good.
We are biking again after 3 days of sickness in a motel close to Malpensa airport. After 4 days and 137 km of biking in northern Italy, here's a completely biased Italy-Cuba duello: Food: Italian airport = true foodie heaven. Missing an Italian hotel breakfast = cry all day. Italian grocery stores are...full of food. Cuba, fried egg sandwich kept us alive and breakfasts gave us all the vitamin C we needed but we can't help but yoddle over goat cheese and quail eggs. Accommodation: Italy, the beds feel like beds! No springs poking. They have duvets. Old villas and farmhouses are fantastic places to stay. Cuba, demerit points for your interior decore. And for dark and quiet (well, except for the nocturnal roosters and dogs) nights. Cost: Cuba, you win this one. Italy is not cheap. Those 20 peso pizzas are long gone. So are the cheap drinks and free mangos. Luckily there are grocery stores in Italy, and the shelves are stocked (gasp!). But pitching a tent in the jungle is not an option. And camping in Italy costs more per night than a sea side apartment in Cuba. (Luckily, we have met some unparalleled generosity here that help us stay floating). Traffic: Cuba, you are possibly the very best country in this aspect. Few cars, lots of horses. Cars in Cuba: you make a little noice, we get warned. If only 1950's engines had cleaner combustion…Cars in Italy: you are so quiet, you sneak up on us, you go fast on narrow roads-not nice! But it is nice to be able to breathe behind you. Friendliness: both Cubans and Italians win this one! Perhaps it's the bikes, pehaps the kids; people come up, we chat. OK, not really chat, because we don’t speak Italian or Spanish well, but we exchange some words and smiles and high fives. Meeting friendly people is one of the best things with this trip (and this comes from the more introverted of us).
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AuthorWelcome to our family's 2017 bike touring blog! Who's going? Archives
October 2017
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