May 31, 2023
Sermide - Mantua
It looks like it's going to be just another day on the dike. We will be glad when we have a change in scenery! It's sunny and almost too warm, but a pleasant breeze is blowing and as long you keep moving it's fine. There isn't much to see from the dike and we keep moving at a good pace. The dike isn't a straight line but follows the bends of the Po. We decide to shorten the day and break up the monotony by taking a "shortcut" on the roads below. The "shortcut" turns out to add ten kilometers to the ride. Neither of us read the map correctly and we don't connect up to our route as expected. Once we are back on our course, the remaining kilometers on the dike are rough ones, the surface is no longer that smooth asphalt we should have appreciated more while we had it.
We didn't plan to visit San Benedetto, we have been here on a previous trip, but our detour takes us there.
We now have a mixture of busy roads, rough dike surface and trails. A fast road with no shoulder takes us on a long bridge over the Po, it is unavoidable. I'm off the fast road at the first opportunity, but have to work my way around muddy puddles on my way back to the last kilometers on the now very rough dike path. Janos sticks to the road but says he is glad I didn't. It was harowing.
Now we are finished with the Po and have small paths next to canals for a while. Suddenly our route takes us on a dirt path that keeps getting narrower and more overgrown. Then come roots and I am walking. When I catch up with Janos, he is covered in burrs. He took a spill in the bushes but fortunately didn't get hurt.
We eventually make it to Mantua, work our way through the city streets and find our B&B. We have instructions from our host, whom we never see, on how to get in and where to park our bikes. We have a code for the door and first dump all our bags in the hall and get the key to the bicycle parking. The bicycles get parked in the building next door. So far so good. But when we want to get back in to the B&B building, we make a mistake when entering the code and are locked out. We wait, repeat, nothing works. Janos has his phone with him, mine is locked indoors. He tries to contact our host who doesn't answer and his phone battery is down to 2%. Now what? It's really hot now standing in the street, no breeze.
A helpful young man coming to visit his parents in the building next door asks his father to help. He knows the owner of the B&B and calls him. We try to explain our bags are inside, we are outside, a lot ofexcited talk and I'm not sure they really understand why we are outside and our bags are inside. On the phone our host says he'll be there in ten minutes - and then miraculously the code works again. We are reunited with our bags and can take the lift to the fourth floor where our room is.
Tomorrow is a rest day in Mantua. We need it.
Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 1,029 km (639 miles)
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