September 20, 1993
To Sestri Levante
A totally awesome day. We began by planning about a 70k ride to Borgo Val di Toro, followed by another 70 to Sestri Levante tomorrow - but aided by a restful day yesterday and a mild tailwind, and a seductively easy first 40k, we decided to bike the whole distance and gain a day for use later in the tour. We arrived in Sestri Levante about 6:30, exhilarated and ready for a big feed.
We got up early and biked to Noveto, 12k to the east, to scrounge for breakfast. The ride was fast paced as we were kept on task by an unbroken stream of morning traffic speeding to Parma. In Noveto we stocked up on cheese, pears, bread, pastry and chocolate, and then unsuccessfully tried once more to order larger cups of coffee. Coffee is probably the single largest disappointment in Italy so far.
From Noveto we turned southward again toward the Levant, and found very quiet roads for most of the rest of the day. We began by following the Toro river upstream through a series of smallish towns and villages. Today, as it has been for the last two days, the air is heavy with smog, limiting our visibility to about a mile or so and casting a grey pall over the landscape. By about midday, as we began entering the foothills of Liguria, the sun began to break through and the hills gradually came into sharper focus.
we had our main meal break at Borgo, before starting on the climb to Cento Croci Pass. The land became more lovely as we gained elevation, becoming green and lush with the hilly pastures broken by patches of locust and chestnut trees. The climb steepened significantly toward the end, tiring and dehydrating us rapidly in the hot afternoon sun. We stopped partway to the summit for a beer and lemon drink, and again near the top to refill our water bottles.
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From the top, we were rewarded by a 12k descent to Varese. It was a completely enjoyable ride, meandering through beautiful woods and farmlands, highlighted by scattered colorful communities on neighboring slopes. The almost traffic-free road left us free to enjoy the glory of the ride.
In Varese we pulled in at a supermarket - I with a quart of milk and half of a frozen tiramisu sandwich, and Rachael with one and a half. This was a larger feast than it sounds - each dessert was really large enough for two.
Replenished, we continued our coast for several more miles and then began what we expected would be another hot five mile climb. Halfway to the top though we were pleasantly surprised to disover a 2,200 meter tunnel through the hilltop. From the entrance to the tunnel we coasted all of the way to Sestri, 20k away on the Mediterranean coast. This ride was an awesome experience, yielding a continuous stream of astonishing sights - lovely villages silhouetted on hillsides, beautiful terraced slopes, colorful vinyards, village steets lined picturesquely with citizens relaxing on benches in the shade. Really a glorious ride. (Ed: 25 years later, we still look back on this ride as being as great as I described it here. It's one of our favorite touring memories).
In Sestri Levante we were successful with our two major goas - we found an albergo which was willing to store our bikes for the three days we will be off in Florence, and we stuffed ourselves happily on the best yet pizza and calzone.
Today's ride: 137 km (85 miles)
Total: 1,304 km (810 miles)
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