April 2, 2023
Day 46: Ferry to Porto Torres
Hola & Gracias is now Grazie & Ciao
After leaving the hotel we ride to the terminal late Saturday evening. This is what it took to get on the ferry.
The ride is 5km to the ferry terminal and we ride all on bike lanes. There are many people out and about and with traffic lights it takes 45 minutes. Check in goes smoothly and then we wait. When the ferry arrives, there is chaos in the terminal. So many young people groups that have just arrived wait in the lobby for their rides. We are told the loading will begin at midnight. Another cycling couple arrives, and they are Spanish and this is their first day of cycling around the world. Close to 1130pm we all go out to and wait for the loading.
“I think this is the first time they’ve done this,” we say with sarcasm. It is after midnight and there are now 8 cyclists waiting to be loaded on the ferry. We are made to wait in cold wind. At least the rain had stopped.
“Porto Torres, Porto Torres,” one of the workers shouts. We are lined up with the motorcyclists and are concerned that we are being forgotten. Cars are being loaded onboard, and our usual experience with ferries has been bikes are on loaded first with the walk-on passengers.
This is not the case here; a woman with a whistle keeps driving back and forth from where the queue is for vehicles, then escorting a few vehicles at a time to the end of the road where vehicles are then driven onto the ferry. The boat is huge!
Our ticket is checked and we are given a big sticker to place on our bikes. And then we are moved from one side of the entrance to the road for the ferry to the other side and made to wait some more. The motorcyclists go, and we are still waiting.
It’s close to 130am Sunday before the woman with the whistle finally escorts all the cyclists to the boat. We are told to lean our bikes along a wall. Patrick bungies our bikes together and then one bungee to a handle above. This doesn’t look very secure, and we still don’t understand why we were delayed boarding.
Our ticket has our cabin number and is also the cabin key. We go directly to the cabin and turn in for sleep. We are vaguely aware of the boat leaving when we feel the vibration of the engines. This was probably 0230 as that was the schedules departure time. And then the tossing and turning begins. Not by us but the boat. Rachel checked once on the tablet, it was 0518.
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“Due to weather conditions and strong winds it is forbidden to go outside on the deck.” Announcements throughout the day are in Italian, Spanish, and a strong accented English. We stay mostly in our cabin, as there is not much to see at the sea.
Mid-morning the sea does calm a bit, but going outside is still restricted. The ferry is due to arrive in Porto Torres at 1645. An hour before, Patrick goes to the reception desk and is told there is a two and half hour delay, the ferry is set to dock at 715pm.
There is an announcement to vacate the cabin for cleaning. We stay in our cabin until about 630pm and then join the others waiting to disembark at the back of the boat. When we get down to our bikes we find the crew had secured the bikes with a strap at the handle that Patrick had bungeed. We are able to disembark much quicker than at the loading time.
“I think we are lucky the boat was late,” Rachel says. As we exit the ferry a drizzle of rain still threatens and there is evidence of an earlier downpour. We cycle along the waterfront to Hostal Balai. There is a place for the bikes and an elevator for the gear up to the first floor. It’s a nice room. We quickly go out to a pizzeria that we saw when cycling to the hotel.
Our first Italian pizzas are fantastic along with the draft beers.
Today's ride: 3 km (2 miles)
Total: 1,490 km (925 miles)
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