November 26, 2023
Ostuni to Taranto
Last day biking in Puglia
Today’s write up is mostly a weather blog. It was still unusually cold this morning at 6 C in Ostuni. It’s a continent wide cold snap, with Rome at 1 C this morning, and even normally balmy Seville was only 3 C. When I woke up, some showers were visible on the radar, but nothing like yesterday.
Should I bike or take the train? Given that it’s possibly my last day on the bike for this trip, and knowing I can check-in as soon as I get to Taranto, I think I’ll chance it. Plus, the train connection from here to Taranto is do-able, but slower than biking.
This cold weather might require a change in accessories. Hmm. Where are my Buff and full-fingered gloves? Not in my frame bag where they should be. I know I had them out for packing at home. Did I leave them somewhere along the way, maybe during a tire repair session? They might be sitting on the road with Sue’s multi-tool. Or maybe they’re at home with other things I thought I had packed, but didn’t. No great loss either way.
I walked around town in the wind before departing. There were no signs of people at the Ostuni cathedral at 10 am on a Sunday. That seemed a bit odd to me. Shouldn’t that be a prime service time?
I heard my first Christmas song today as I walked past a cafe. But most restaurants and shops are still playing pop music.
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As I returned back to my apartment, I noticed strange little piles of what appeared to be shaved ice on my street. On closer inspection, it seems that it hailed here overnight. After living for decades in Calgary and experiencing regular destruction of my flower beds and veggie patch, I’m pretty good at recognizing the remains of a hailstorm. In this case it was pea-sized, and I didn’t see any damage to cars. It is amazing that I didn’t hear it. But I’m on the ground floor, and my cool apartment is cave-like, with no windows.
There were more signs of hail as I left town under grey skies. A peak at the radar showed that I was likely get wet at some point. And I did, starting about the 10 km mark, which was almost my highest point of the day.
Happily the rain coincided with me entering a town, Ceglie Massapica, where I stopped at a nice looking cafe that served me what I think was the worst cappuccino of the trip. It was an excellent cornetto though. And unlike yesterday, it was warm inside because the door was closed. So they get a thumbs up despite the odd tasting coffee. It was a really busy bakery, with people having to take numbers to be served.
A routing tidbit: This town is my crossover point from last Monday’s ride from Locorotondo to Porto Cesareo.
I left the cafe after about 45 minutes. It was raining lightly, but I was looking up at blue sky and I caught a glimpse of a rainbow. Then, like a miracle, the sun came out and stayed out. Because of the iffy forecast and heavy rain in the past day, I chose the most straightforward route to Taranto. There would be no off-road exploring today. So the ride itself wasn’t the least bit interesting today, but seeing the sun and riding with no wind felt like a win. There was way too much broken glass on the road though, and garbage too. Also, Italian drivers and I have a different idea about how much space is required to pass. But the navigation was easy, and I’ll take the sun over rain.
My room in Taranto is in a really nice part of town near a long pedestrian boulevard. Amazingly enough, there was a seasonal skating rink set up in a piazza. It is very small by Canadian standards, and was desperately in need of a Zamboni. But the skaters were having fun, and they were better at it than I expected.
When I emerged for dinner, I wasn’t sure if the streets would be deserted like Ostuni. Nope! There was lots of people out walking on a cold Sunday evening. Stores were open too. There were still not many signs of open restaurants though. It’s interesting to contrast here with southern Spain, where so many locals eat at restaurants. I had an arancino (deep fried rice ball with ham and cheese) and salad for dinner. The arancino was a winner. Salad-wise, I’m looking forward to not eating iceberg lettuce at home.
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This may have been the last ride of the trip. Tomorrow I’ll be on the train all day. Even on a direct train to Rome with no changes and no delays, it’ll be a 7 hour trip just to get to Termini. Then if it’s raining on Tuesday as forecast, I’ll do some touristy things then take the train back to Fiumicino.
Fun fact - anyone else noticed that Puglian fizzy water isn’t very fizzy? I did, and I’ve never noticed that before in Italy, so I Googled it. Apparently southern Italians like to drink naturally bubbly water, which seems completely flat to me. Northern Italians are reported to prefer more bubbly water, so it gets carbonated for that market. I’m with the northerners on this one.
Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 1,157 km (718 miles)
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