I arrived in Ferrara too late and too tired to explore the charms of city – another town on my growing revisit list. I did not do much better this morning but did swing through old town before heading out for what looked to be a fairly easy ride into Bologna – not too many miles along mostly flat terrain.
The days have been warming as I head south but it remained good riding conditions again today, starting out cool and a bit cloudy as I left Ferrara. Similar to the last two days, the route was a mix of small roads and cycle paths through an agrarian countryside – both fields and orchards. There was a light breeze and I had brief stretches of a tailwind as the route zig-zagged its way around small rivers and a network of canals, notably the historic Nevile Canal that once provided an important connection between Venice and Bologna.
There was a lot more gravel riding today than I expected, with each successive unpaved adventure becoming more challenging as the day wore on. The first section started just past Malalbergo, a two mile stretch on a well-packed bike path where I found a bench for my mid-morning snack. After five miles on nice small roads, I came to the second gravel stretch, again two miles. This one had more single and double-track and took me through some sort of agricultural park with ponds and canals. Then followed another fine stretch on small roads, passing through the town of Bentivoglio.
Lunch spot on a nice gravel bike path with a bench
With about ten miles to go, my route put me on the Walther Vignoli cycle and pedestrian path, which follows the historic Navile Canal into the city. Today, the path had a bit of everything – wide, well-surfaced sections, skinny single track, mud, cobblestone bridges and stairs. Over the six-mile journey on the Walther Vignoli, I saw about twenty pedestrians/joggers, but the only evidence of cyclists were tire tracks.
The Walther Vignoli Cycle and Pedestrian sometimes got a little dicey, such as this muddy descent under a bridge
The last four miles were through the streets of Bologna on well-marked bicycle lanes – there were so many bike lanes it was sometimes confusing to figure out which one was the correct one! It was about two-thirty when arrived at my southern destination - the house of my friends Christiane and Gianni. Christiane greeted my with open arms, a nice pasta, and then we were off to see Bologna.
