In Cremona

May 27, 2023

If you stand in an open field near Cremona and do a 360 degree pan of the countryside, it’s largely the same in all directions - flat. Other than the tower of Cremona’s cathedral jutting high above the trees there’s nothing of prominence as far as the eye can see. Maybe on a clear day you could see the mountains to the north or south if you got up above ground level, but they’re quite a ways off. The Po basin is almost fifty miles broad here, and Cremona’s near the center of it.

Which is a long lead-in to revealing that Rachael’s going on a ride with me today because other than touring the city itself there’s no particularly interesting hiking to tempt her; and the ride we’ll take together is flat.

I’ve mapped out what looks like a promising loop ride to the northeast, not because it looks any more tempting than the other directions but because it’s unexplored by us so far and easily accessible. We biked in to Cremona from the east and will leave to the west, and to the south is the Po and the constrained options for crossing it - and in any case that’s the direction we came in from five years ago when we biked in from Brescello. So north it is.

It’s yet another clear, sunny day that promises to be hot by the end of it, so we get an early start and are out the door about an hour after scrambled eggs are served. Cremona is quite bike friendly, and it’s easy and safe to escape town. Within about two miles we’re out and biking alongside a canal heading north.

Heading north, toward the Dolomites. The foothills are still over thirty miles away though, so they don’t make it above the foreground.

As with yesterday and the day before, there’s fairly limited drama to be had in flat biking alongside canals and cornfields, but we’ll show you the highlights. Rachael scoots ahead the first photo op I stop for, but about fifteen miles later I see her doubling back toward me to pack an extra few miles in.

A punk heron! I’d credit as a new species but I can’t find it in the catalog.

The parochial church at Castelnuovo del Zappa. Are Frank’s ancestors from around here?

In Aqualunga Badona, a place you’re likely not familiar with.

Yet another attraction in Aqualungs Badona. That’s enough though. We’ll move on now.

Another prominent feature breaks the horizon.

The church at Casalmorano. Its bells chime out the noon hour as I pass through the village.

We’re back together again at the midpoint of the trip and bend back toward Cremona. It’s a good thing that we are, because navigation is uncertain for a few miles. There’s a road out and construction vehicles strewn about as we approach the Vacchelli Canal, but fortunately it’s the weekend, no one is around, and we can trespass across it. Then, just the other side of the canal there’s a very sketchy path through the fields to be crossed, ignoring the private property signs and hoping we won’t be turned back.

After that though it’s a quite beautiful, very peaceful ride nearly all the way back to town on a paved cycle path beside the canal. I stop regularly for a closer look, enjoying the occasional sighting of ducklings, moorhens, and nutria. Rachael’s thoughts have turned to lunch though and she soon moves on ahead and disappears around the bend. I take a fair amount of time when I come to four nutria hiding by their burrows lining the canal, hoping for a good shot or two I can share when I get back. There are many things I love about Rachael, but one of them is that she gets excited bout seeing nutria.

Peaceful cycling long the Vacchelli Canal.

Video sound track: Bright Moments, by Grover Washington, Jr.

It’s warm enough when we’re back in the room that once gain were pretty content to loaf around the room until dinner time. As we do, I suddenly realize I’m hearing a saxophone playing a familiar song and look out the window. I enjoy the sight of the musician blowing away right below our window, with bikers gliding past on either side like he’s an obstacle in the stream, or maybe a traffic circle in a Tour de France course.

We wander past the cathedral to a different restaurant this time, and enjoy perhaps an even better meal than last night’s; and because we’ve had too few food photos in the journal we’ll show it to you. And then it’s back to the cathedral for another round of gelato and serendipitous gazing before calling it a night.

He’s still at it an hour later, smiling and nodding our way because he remembers me from when I came down earlier to drop a fiver in his case.

Chestnut gnocchi with shrimp, mushrooms and zucchini, large enough to split as the starter.

The first dolcetto since our ride to Rome two years back.

Looking up at the impressively tall belltower, the one we started seeing from three miles away when biking into town.

On our way back to the room we passed by a youth orchestra just warming up, the latest performers in the spring festival.

Heart

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Ride stats today: 42 miles, 500’; for the tour: 1,464 miles, 63,700’

Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 1,507 miles (2,425 km)

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Bob KoreisI think you two might be staying in the same building my ex and I stayed in four years ago. Nice area for walking.
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Bob KoreisCould easily be. They call themselves My House Apartments, in a residential complex in a shopping alley off Corso Campi, about four blocks from the cathedral.
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1 year ago

Bob KoreisThat's a bingo! Looking at the Booking site, ours was the place with the jetted tub. We also had a nice sized balcony looking over Corso Campi. Great location and good accommodation. Did you go into the cathedral? I tire easily of churches, but this one was fascinating.
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Bob KoreisI can’t believe it now, but with two nights in Cremona we didn’t make it inside the cathedral. And we failed to on our previous visit also. Third time’s a charm, maybe.
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1 year ago