Catanzaro here we come

October 7, 2024

Villaggio Mancuso to Catanzaro

I was very much looking forward to the fairytale wonderland of Eugenio’s creation. That was this mornings mission before setting off but I couldn’t seem to find the pleasant timber structures my guide book was raving about. I think our 4 star spa resort had more timber in it than any other building I saw. We abandoned our search and opted for a coffee instead.

It was a genuine bluebird morning as we rolled straight into a sweeping ten kilometre descent through more pine and birch forests. The sunlight filtering through the logs was a sight to behold. I had 3 layers on as it was quite crisp. The gradual decline meant little time on the brakes and no need for pedalling, that perfect sweet spot where you can sit back and just roll on down the hill. ‘A pleasant downhill ride’ is how my guidebook described it, but I think every positive descriptor adjective in Italian has been translated to pleasant. It appears everywhere.

Speaking of sweet spots my navigational prowess has been without fault over the last two days. After a long hard look in the mirror I have worked out a new strategy. Rather than following the route of some random guy that I copied onto my device I have instead blown up the map in my rather pleasant guidebook and copied the route onto my mapping app ‘map my ride’. Suddenly my map correlates with the guidebook. What could possibly go wrong now?

The second half of the downhill ramped down to 17% at times meaning plenty of braking until we finally reached Albi, having descended almost 900 metres. Suddenly it’s quite warm, so I’ve stripped off 2 layers before our obligatory coffee and marmalada croissant.

Looking over the hamlet of Savuci which was flooded in the 1970’s and abandoned

Of course what goes down must go up and over the next 8 kilometres we recover almost half of that altitude on a consistent, gradual climb that weaves around the mountain. That seemingly doesn’t stop the landholders from using every available space for plantings. There are grapevines and fruit trees on 45 degree slopes, all well tended and productive.

We found the perfect lunch spot in the garden of an abandoned building overlooking the valley where we could see all of the route we’ve ridden so far today. I also launched the drone that I have been carrying to take some aerial shots so if they appear below it means I have remembered Pete’s detailed instructions on how to use it. If there’s nothing then it’s either my lack of technological know how or I’ve launched it off a cliff face never to be seen again!

Stop fretting Pete. Your half share in the drone still has monetary value

Albi slowly disappeared into the valley below us and after rounding the last bluff we joined a slightly busier road that lead us to Forsato Serralta, the high point of today’s ride.

At Forsato Seralta we thankfully left the Ciclovia Parchia route (intentionally this time) to divert downhill to Catanzaro thus cutting out another big climb on the official route. Luckily Rob, like me is not a completionist so we both happily launched our bikes downhill for a 20 kilometre run into town.

We’ve booked a small apartment in the old town where the host introduces himself to Rob as I was fiddling with my bike some distance away. The host, who is also called Robert, turns to me and waves and says to Rob “that must be your son”. What a great guy! Obviously severely myopic and without his glasses but I’ll take any compliment.

Our BnB has bullet proof glass. A pretty dangerous Calabrian town I was thinking until Robert told us it was formerly a jewellery store.

Catanzaro old town has narrow, cobblestoned, windy and narrow roads branching off at random angles. Tough for me even on a good day. After showering our first job was finding a laundromat that luckily was just down the road and conveniently located next to a bar. With every piece of clothing desperately needing a proper wash I was wearing just three items of clothing being shoes pants and raincoat. Luckily my orange raincoat picked up the orange stripes on my shoes so I didn’t look out of place with the well dressed gents wandering out for their afternoon Aperol Spritz.

We wandered the streets for a while, before retiring to a pizzeria (pixxeria as the locals like to call it) and had a traditional Napolitano pizza. It had a very thin base, quite thick and airy rim with almost a liquid topping on it which looked like mozzarella and made it very difficult to eat with your hands. With immaculately clean evening dress on I was not risking any spillage.

We wandered home and collapsed into our respective beds. I fell fast asleep whilst Rob settled in to watch a spaghetti western, ‘A fist full of dollars’ dubbed in Italian with Clint Eastwood in imperial form. There was no alarm set for the morning.

Today's ride: 44 km (27 miles)
Total: 425 km (264 miles)

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