September 13, 2009
Vercelli
There were loud noises from the dance bar along the road but we generally slept OK. Good to have no dew in the morning so the pack up was easy so we were off but first we had to push up the steep hill to the road We got bread then set off. The traffic was quiet - it was uphill at first with lots of kiwi fruit and grapes at first the maize and a few cows. Once we were on the real flat Po valley there were thousands of acres of rice which we thought were close to harvest.
We were whizzing along at around 24km/h. Stopped at a roundabout for our 1st coffee as we had been running on orange juice up until then and later came to the dear little town of St Germano. Found the church with people going in and a bar with about 10 old bikes and their bikes having coffee, fags and a yarn.
Then back on the bikes we took a small road through irrigated rice country. Some of the time we were beside a huge irrigation canal which was like a river really. People were fishing in it. there were small irrigation channels all over the place, rice must need a lot of water at some stage - they may be able to flood the fields.
Then fairly abruptly into Vercelli. We soon reached the main street which was blocked to traffic. A big fair was going on the "Party Inglesi", it was hard to imagine anything less English although there was a double decker bus and a large cut out of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Apart from that it was an Italian Festival with music, belly dancers and a massive fair in the centre of town. The energy and vitality were amazing.
Had considerable trouble finding accommodation but eventually with the help of some policemen and other locals found a good place with a spacious room.
After a lunch of bread and cheese and the rest of the Rose we set off. It is a charming city, totally flat and full of bikes most of which have no gears. Many of them are Dutch I think with lever brakes and skirt guards. There was lots of walking and sitting around, a band was playing very well in the closed street. We found the church of St Andres which was beautiful with a brich outside . A hundred yards on was the Duomo which was not so beautiful it had lots of marble with mosaics in the floor. A service started while we were ther so we stayed and joined the other 100 or so people.
Then back to the main street where we bought a few things, being Sunday there were no proper shops open so we had to settle for a meal in our room.
Today's ride: 41 km (25 miles)
Total: 1,411 km (876 miles)
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