October 5, 2024
Pondering Porcini
Lake Cecita to Lorica
It rained heavily overnight and continued in the morning, so we were in no rush to get away. The forecast was for it to clear by 11am so I caught up on the blog whilst Rob counted how many hankies he had left. I’ve picked them up at various intervals along the way as they dislodged from his shorts. I think he only has 2 left.
As the drizzle cleared we headed to Camigliatello Silano which was a little off course but we needed provisions and we weren’t passing through any villages on today’s route. It started raining again but we managed to find a coffee stop just as it bucketed down. It didn’t last long. We rode back down the main Street, witnessed 2 elderly gents in a shop about to belt the bejesus out of each other, stopped at a specialty cheese and pastry shop where we bought our lunch and in no time we were back on the road. We took a small but steep path that wound its way through a larch forest and got us back on route.
It’s beautiful country we’re riding through but it is definitely up and down. After stopping again to pick up Rob’s favourite red hanky (I’ve taken to wearing surgical gloves solely for this purpose) we passed a famous narrow gauge railway that now operates as a tourist ride. It’s the Treno della Sila, considered the railway roof of Italy.
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Having not got lost for two days it was only a matter of time, and this was my time right now. I had renewed faith in the Ciclovia Parchia signs so I faithfully followed them for about 5ks. Problem was that I was following a different bike route sign that actually looked nothing like the Ciclovia one but had me convinced that it was.
. We eventually got back on track and did some more climbing, getting almost to 1600 metres before a sweeping downhill run to Lake Arvo where our destination of Lorico sat. Lake Arvo is a man made lake originally set up for power generation but is now a tourist destination.
Below is an excerpt from the guide book we’re following.
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The season has virtually ended in Lorico with most places shutting down for the winter.
Our strategy of popping into a bar and using google translate to get help finding a bed for the night initially worked a treat. The helpful owner rang and organised a room and a booking for dinner which was very kind, but somehow couldn’t give us an address for either and just kept yelling and pointing up the road and speaking in a louder and louder voice. We found the restaurant which also doubled as a hotel so decided to pull up stumps there and then.
It is peak mushrooming season and there’s been many people out in the forest getting their supply for the winter. On the porch of our hotel we ran into Marco who was cleaning up his days bounty. He comes down with his family from Rome for a week every year to look for Porcini mushrooms and has passed that tradition on to his 14 year old son. There are no poisonous mushrooms here so that reduces the stress factor considerably. Two hours work yielded a milk crate full.
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It was another great days cycling which concluded with a simple pasta meal and two comfy beds for two tired but happy blokes.
Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 320 km (199 miles)
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