Italy

Last night I could hear music from a little ways away, the saxophone definitely sounded live and so did the woman's voice singing. But a lot of the music definitely sounded original. I just couldn't put my finger on whether this was a live band. Like a moth attracted to light I had to find out. I went and found it. I sat listening at a little pizzeria run by Pepe and his wife, who were running pizzas out of that little joint like mad, while on the other side of the street above a tall stone wall the villa was lit up pink, festive lights, the music loud and a drone overhead, it looked like a very ritzy wedding party. I deduced the music must have been a mix of live and recorded. It was extremely well done.

In the morning I set off through Sorrento, one of the touristy but beautiful villages of the Amalfi Coast. At the top of the climb I see another cyclist and I pull over to talk to him. Fabian a young French cyclist had just come from Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and the western Italian coast. Great guy and had a lot of useful information for me.

Fantastic coastline, it's a true joy to lean into the curvy turns with the blue sea and the sunny warm weather.

Positano is a very happy tourist mess. Absolutely zero parking even for a bicycle and people walking everywhere. But restaurants line the road with tables on the edge of the cliff balcony. I sit down and splurge, luxuriating in the ecstatic tourist energy and the Italian restaurant hospitality. They know how to live!

That spot was hard to leave, but I have no accommodations yet and the nearest campground is still another 15K of hilly riding and it's 5pm.

I roll into the piazza in Amalfi as the bells of the Cathedral of Andrea sing their ethereal song to the heavens. I was here 28 years ago and I remember it well.

The blue dot on the map says I arrived at Bella Baia camping, but I don't see a camp ground, just a cliff and steep terraces with lemon trees, a locked gate and a concrete shell of a former home that says Bella Baia. Is this place gone?

The owner sees me through his video cam and the gate clicks open. Sesame! I'm in. Steep stairs, about 30 of them, lead down to his reception area. He explains camping is available on the cliff below some 280 steps further down. This is obviously not your average campground. This very enterprising man has created a hospitality setting in what was formerly a lemon grove with a variety of accommodations set in the shade of the lemon tree canopies with direct access via rocky steps to swimming in the rocky bay below. What a setting!Read more