| Monday
21 June Spropolo to Marina di Caulonia
73kms
After a good nights sleep we got on the road at 09:30. The
road was pretty good very fast, straight and we had a good tailwind.
It had rained last night with some strong winds but this morning was
clear and not too hot.
The coastline is very nice with some great looking beaches, not the
cleanest but not the nightmare of Sicily either.
It seems the further we cycle along the Calabrian coast the cleaner
it seems, maybe its just a Sicilian thing hehe.
Anyway a great day to cycle and at the end after 73kms it still
seemed a short day.
Camping here is very good and cheep at 12 euros but we only got two
coins for the shower and decided to use them after reception had
closed and when Monique went to use her coin it was only worth a
couple of minutes worth of shower and she got caught out full of
suds hehe, so she used both coins leaving me with only a couple of
wetties to wash with. Still a very good camping for the money.
Some pictures from the days ride.
Tuesday 22 June
Marina di Caulonia to Capo Rizzuto 128kms
Got up and were on the road by 09:30 and the SS106 or E90 was very
busy. Our goal this day was to do about 50/60kms and find a camping
but no such luck. The camping we looked for was not there and again
after about 90kms the second camping wasn't there either, so we
ended up going all the way to Isola di capo Rizzuto.
Today was the longest of this tour but in the end we did find the
camping we looked for from ANWB. We ended up getting there after
sunset and raining. After looking a bit closer at the camping sign
we noticed it was a naturist camp lol
Well anyway we went in and found the person in charge (dressed) and
asked if we could pitch our tent there for the night as it was all
ready dark and raining, and this was not really our scene and she
said ok as long as we left early. Anyway we had a very good laugh at
our fortune.
It was also funny when we went to take a shower and found there
weren't any doors lol it took a couple of minutes for the coin to
drop when we finally realized that it was a nudist colony and they
really didn't need doors.
Camping was ok if you're into that sort of thing.
Some pictures of the days ride. #3 lunch
stop on a very nice beach, #4,5,6 they were taken from atop a hill,
I love my zoom lens ;-) # 7 saw this English double decked bus at a
gas station and had to take a picture.
Wednesday 23 June
Capo Rizzuto to Porto di Sibari 62kms
We left camp at around 09:30 and headed for the camping at Capo
Colonna at about 20kms away, we thought a short day was in order
after yesterday. But again when we got there the camping was not
open yet, we could have stayed as there was running water and
electricity but decided to cycle on to Crotone catch the train
Rosano were we thought was a camping but no luck there was one but
not open yet so we cycled along the coast to Porto Sibari were we
found our first true villagio camping complete with karaoke night
until midnight oh what fun.
The camping was first class with fairly priced, everything spotless,
cheap beer and huge market a couple kms away. So we decided to stay
2 days.
Some pictures of the days ride.
Thursday 24 June
Porto di Sibari Rest day
We slept in until it got too warm to stay in the tent. We updated
the webpage, did some chores, watch football and drink beer.
We also made some new plans, we decided that riding along the SS106
or E90 was not much fun and it would be better to take the train to
Taranto and cycle around Apulia, or the heel of Italy and if we ran
out of time we could take the train to Bari.
Apulia was in our plans but we feel good about this decision, the
busy SS106 we were told will only get worst the closer we got to
Taranto.
Some pictures from the camping.
Friday 25 June Porto
di Sibari to Saturo 34kms
We got to the reception at 8 sharp but found out that it opened at 9
so we left. We felt bad doing so because this camping was clean and
cheap but we had a train to catch.
We waited at the station for about an hour than got on the train to
Taranto, as usual it was cheap and fast.
At Taranto we looked for the tourist office but found out it closed
at 12:30 and opened at 16:30, (go figure) so we continued cycling
south to the nearest camping. Its a small local camping but cheap
and clean so great for just one night. According to Microsoft Map
Point Europe we have about 350kms to cycle around Apulia to Brindizi
before we have to catch another train to Bari. And this train is
needed because there is no easy way to cycle between these two towns
is all restricted motorway (according to our map).
1- On the SS106 going to the train
station. The rest are from Taranto.
Saturday 26 June
Saturo to Gallipoli 89kms
We didn't get much sleep last night because the karaoke started with
some assholes singing all the songs from Red Hot Chili Peppers and
butchering all of them. We actually thought it would stop after that
but then the disco started until 04:00 with some real tacky disco
music over cheap loudspeakers. We feared our ears would bleed.
The ride today was very nice. We rode along a quiet coastal road
with minimal traffic, it was a real joy to once again not having to
deal with so many cars and trucks passing us with speed.
Camping here is very good but expensive. We're actually about 15m
from the waves on a very nice and clean beach. It was an all around
good day and we recommend taking this detour (by skipping the ride
into Taranto), to anyone visiting this area.
Some pictures of the days ride. Last one
is of our dream house ;-) Sunday 27 June
Gallipoli to Santa Maria di Leuca 59kms
Again very little sleep last night, there was an extremely loud
discothèque a hundred meters down the beach which didn't let up
until 04:00 (with fireworks) and to add insult to injury at 07:00
this tractor came by to clean and comb the beach.
Today's ride was pretty much the same as yesterday very nice, easy
going, along peaceful coastal villages with very little traffic.
Just before we reached the camping this storm blew in but likely we
found shelter in this farmers shed in a field next to the road. It
didn't last long and we were on our way again in about 45min.
We walked up to the camping reception with a wide grin and asked if
they had a discothèque near by and they said we regretfully no, it's
too early in the season and the discothèque doesn't open for another
2 weeks so we said great we'll stay lol we had just about enough of
all the noise at night and just want some sleep.
Needless to say we slept good that night.
1- Gallipoli.
2/3- Scenes from the road.
4/5- Santa Maria di Leuca and the storm coming.
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