A nothing sort of day

October 3, 2024

Sant’ Agata Di Esaro to Bisignano

We were off by 8.30 after a coffee and pastry and a quick trip to the supermarket for lunch provisions sans anchovies. Retracing our steps for 6 kilometres confirmed the presence of the Ciclovia Parca signs pointing the way we had just come. I had overnight mapped a route to get us back on track but it has put us a day behind where I thought we’d be.

After a short climb we flew downhill on a quiet road to the valley floor before the first of 2 nasty climbs to the hilltop village of Malvito and then on to Santa Caterina Albanese.

Malvito in the background. Rob cursing that under Albanese everything’s too high.

See. It wasn’t me. The sign is there and it bloody well shouldn’t be pointing in this direction

There was plenty of pushing and cursing not helped by the warm temperatures and high humidity. The consolation was riding through some classic Italian country side with little traffic and smooth roads and perfectly spaced espresso bars to keep up the caffeine levels.

But that all changed midway through today’s stage. We were transitioning between national parks today. Whilst the first half was picturesque the second half was decidedly not. We were on a service road adjacent to a freeway with factories the entire way. It also doubled as the local rubbish dump. Sounds so appealing! By now it was 30 degrees and I was dripping in sweat. Eventually we turned off onto a side road and found a shady spot in a field for our now traditional lunch of bread rolls with cured meat, cheese and a surprise ingredient. The meat was something obscure as what I pointed at was not what I got, the provelone had melted somewhat and Rob’s surprise addition was tomato which was not a surprise at all. We were starving by this stage so it all tasted pretty good.

It was not a productive year for making hay. There were only 2 bales to be seen

Waiting 15 minutes for the train to go through

With only 10 kilometres left to the hilltop town of Bisignano we ploughed on. Stupidly we didn’t look at accommodation options until we had climbed up into the old town. Over gelato we found the only rooms available were in the lowlands making that last arduous 200 metre climb completely unnecessary, especially as the main square was almost deserted and the likely impressive view was filtered by the heat haze.

Our room was in a weird complex on the main road that looked like across between a truck stop, the Rooty Hill RSL club and a rubbish tip. There were two gambling dens and an Italian version of a TAB with a smiling poster of the Italian version of Peter (showbags) V’Landys. Definitely not the place to bring the family for a holiday.

The owner let us store our bikes in the room, gently scolding Rob for letting his front tyre rub on the wall. In his haste to move it the bike tipped over leaving a permanent reminder of our stay as the handlebar scraped down the wall. Giovanni shook his head and left.

We both felt much better after a shower. After washing some clothes we wandered out for a beer. The dining options looked pretty sad so we sauntered up the road and found a great little place recommended by a pharmacist who sold me some sunscreen. The Arte Pizza and Kebab looked dodgy but was run by a lovely family. The kebabs looked fantastic but the pharmacist had already rung the place and got them to make their specialty pasta of tomato, local sausage and mushrooms. It was so good! We washed that down with the house red and stopped at a gelato joint on the way home.

An unsatisfying descent after an unnecessary climb up to the old town of Bisignano

20 euros for the lot! The owner called out all the staff for a photo with the Australian.

It was an uninspiring day, not helped by the heat and humidity, but tomorrow we enter the second of the four national parks we go through; the Sila Park. That should be a different kettle of fish.

Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 225 km (140 miles)

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