Day 46: Stage 36: Berceto, 32 km, Sun, 25°

I Like Sunday, But Here Monday Rules!

Look who showed up! If you’ve been following my blog for sometime you might recognize this lady. We met Costanza (on the left) crossed Sicily in the spring of 2018. On the right is the owner of the restaurant where I had lunch the previous day and again dinner last night. She was very kind and the food was excellent!

The big news late yesterday was that the Italian train service was going on strike all day today. Brilliant. We had tickets to get ourselves from Parma to Fornovo at 6:27 this morning. So we worked out a plan to get up at 5:45 AM, have breakfast, check the train and if it didn’t go then take the 6:40 AM bus. It would’ve been a mad scramble to get from the train station to the bus station, but we could’ve done it. Fortunately, we didn’t have to because the train did leave, though 15 minutes late. Quite relieved we made it to Fornovo and walked out of the train station at 7 o’clock on the nose. It was surprising cold and windy that early in the morning and I was glad that I had on my cycling vest and sleeves. We started to climb almost immediately.

Looking back towards Parma as we climbed. 



If you look closely you can see our two small shadows in the middle between the larger shadows of the trees. 

I’m not sure what this was about, but it vaguely seemed to fit. 



The Way to Roma! Still 600 kms away by foot. 

The nearest did seem friendly, so this one carried a rifle. We were extremely polite as we passed! It’s Sunday, they kill things on Sunday. It’s the same all over Europe and we’ve seen it many times over the years.



Climbing with occasional descents would go on all day, but mostly it was climbing. 



I love this picture. Check the sign about the dangerous dog and then look at the actual puppy dog. Yes, a very serious dog on duty.

Speaking of the local wildlife. 







We had a true pilgrim type experience today. For large parts of the day we had to walk along the highway where lots of motorcycles were racing past us at extremely high speeds. Some of these folks must be close to insane to be driving like that, but I know the same happens at home. And besides, it’s Sunday! Anyway, we had stopped by the side of the road to get our bearings when a cyclist going downhill stopped and cycled back up to us and asked us if we were OK. We explained that we were fine, but he made sure and actually gave us a package of cookies to share. He didn’t need to do this, but he took the time to talk with us, and that’s what mattered. He actually cared that we were OK. He even asked for my blog address when I asked him if it was OK to take his picture for the blog. If you’re reading this, thanks so much for stopping! 





We pasted through some beautiful villages today! I believe this was Castellonchio about 7 kms from the end of the stage. Clearly there was considerable pride in the town. 









We climbed to 989 m today at the highest point. You can see for Berceto down below us, our stop for tonight, and up above it in the distance is the Passo della Cisa that we will climb up and through at over 1000 m tomorrow morning. It’s about a three hour climb and hopefully the weather is as good tomorrow as it was today. I heard from a friend that it poured through here yesterday, and with such a difference in a day. We had nothing but sun and clear blue skies the entire stage!

We started talking about finding a stamp for my credential, having an excellent shower and then locating an ice cold beer when we got to town, not necessarily in that order.

After our showers and finding me a stamp went for a walk around town. Of course there’s always a visit to the local church if it’s open.

The ceiling was solid oak beams built in the old style. 



We lucked out in the church. 

We never got to that beer. What’s that about, right?  We did, however, have a late lunch!

We are out to a pizza place for dinner and I’m pretty sure there will be a beverage then!

Today we had at least 100 bikes come racing down the steep trails that we were climbing forcing us to jump out of the way. There were large groups just flying past us. We also had to deal with motor cross motorcycles on the trail as well. With all the crazy motorcycles on the highway we know that Monday will be much quieter for us than Sunday. That’s why Mondays Rule!

I’ve been meaning to post a photo of my boots. When I left home they had about 120 km on them and I cleaned them up and waterproof them. When I got on the airplane they looked brand new. Now, not so much! But so far they’ve got me where I’ve needed to go, and except for beating up my two big toes they’ve been great! The treads on the bottom are somewhat worn down, but I’ve walked somewhere north of 900 km so not a surprise.