Altopascio 11 miles

My companions were reasonably quiet when they got in. Can’t really complain. In the morning the solo guy left early, not without waking me by persistent coughing. When I deigned to take the eye mask off and greet the day I noticed that only one of the Italian couple was still there. Very odd. Had they fallen out? Had one nipped out to get the croissants in? With a chocolate one for me? I pottered about, as I do, including putting in my contact lenses, when I noticed that they were in fact both there, just sharing one bunk bed. Silly old fart that I am because that never occurred to me. At least they had the decency not to try that nonsense on the camp bed, or worse still, on the upper bunk. Which makes the question of why bring the camp bed even more intriguing but, even for a social inept like myself, going over and asking them about it was maybe a step too far.

I left before I had second thoughts. Really looked forward to seeing them overtake me later in the day with one of them lugging the camp bed but it didn’t happen.

I have noticed 2 distinct types of tourist cyclist in this area. Firstly there are the groups of 20 or so Lycra-clad folk on road bikes, no luggage, staying altogether in Best Western type hotels, on some sort of Exodus or similar organised and led “Tuscany by bike” trips. Secondly there are the rather older couples on big heavy e-bikes, lots of panniers, and rucksacks, who don’t look like they cycle much at home. They don’t really know where to go, keep stopping to fidget, didn’t realise beforehand that light is good on a bike, especially when it comes to avoiding anything on your back. The signs showing the way on the Via for cyclists are now much more frequent than for the poor foot soldiers. Come to think of it I haven’t seen any pilgrims on the route for a few days now. My relatively late departures help with that, of course.

Got caught by my heaviest rain by far at lunchtime, full-on thunderstorm, but luckily I was able to dive into a large supermarket just in time. Stayed under cover for nearly a hour as it passed. No rush to get wet. Noticed a couple of these groups of cyclists looking pretty miserable going past. Didn’t fancy that much. My only disappointment was that in the UK that size of supermarket would have had a cafe where I could have got a comfy seat, a coffee and a trip to the loo. Not in Italy unfortunately. None of the above.

Despite the delay it was such a short day I was checked in before 2pm, leaving me all afternoon to get more accommodation sorted. Now fully booked all the way to Rome. Even worked out how to get to the airport in Rome. Brings that quite close now. Will be home in 2 weeks and you can stop having to read this damn thing every day. Relief for all.Read more