cycling | ch3 - blog

119km of 4317km so far…

I knew I had a long way to cycle so I woke up earlier than normal. I had a rich breakfast at the hostel and departed for my last ride of this trip. 3 kilometers down the road, I realized I had forgotten to return the key and take my deposit back, so there goes my early start. Not long after, it started raining, I put my raincoats and continued. And then as I was going up and down the cycle lane on the pavement, I bumped onto a big concrete pot and made a whole on my left pannier. It’s not a big one or a big deal, but just a bit annoying this happened just on the last day.

A big camera, for big photos

This is the guy who makes the beach

I was following the coastal road and always trying to avoid the bigger road that was running in parallel. Even if I had checked a couple of times at google maps where to turn and join the big road, due to the useless 1/400.000 map I am using the last few days that lists half of the towns I am going through, I missed my turn and without knowing, I started climbing a mountain. I wasn’t expecting this at all and with the rain on top, I started getting a bit annoyed. After about 10 kilometers on the slopes, I saw a sign to the next city but through the big road, which is of course flatter, so I just turned right and went down the steepest downhill I’ve ever been on this trip.

The panoramic view of Cattolica

Hills, up and downs

Then the rain stoped and I was kind of expecting the strong head wind to start as the forecast was predicting the day before. Luckily the whole day was almost windless, so made the ride a little more pleasant that I had expected. Just after noon, I had my lucnh break and a short wonder around at Fano and then I continued for the last 50 kilometers.

A globe

The castle at Fano

And one of the streets

The factories by Ancona

I got to Ancona at around 6pm and went straight to the hostel to check it. I then cycled to the post to buy tickets, but unfortunately they were closed. So tomorrow morning I am getting there early to buy the ticket and finish this trip. At night, I looked for a restaurant and I finally had a rizoto, which I didn’t manage to have during these four weeks in Italy.

The monkey by the finish line

81km of 4198km so far…

I was very happy to found out the hostel’s breakfast was a ‘help your self buffet’ and rather rich, which means I ate loads.

From Ravenna to Ancona is about 160 kilometers, so I’d have to cover the distance in two days. The only hostel I could find though is in Rimini, 60km away and not exactly in the middle. So I knew I had plenty of time to go there on an easy pace. Saying this, I didn’t have much choice, as half way through the day, the head wind became stronger making me go slow anyway.

Dead carousel

For the first hour, I was riding on the main road which goes parallel with the coast. That was very busy though and I really needed to abandone it. The coast at this part of Italy is full of resort cities, so I just looked for the smaller roads which are closer to the beach. As in most of the cases, resort towns are deserted during the winter months, so it was a little strange cycling within them. Most of the beaches were private, which I find wrong and it took me a long time until I found a small passage to access the sea and have my lunch.

By the empty beach

I bet this was packed two months ago

Nice little boat at Cervia

Knocking down a house is fun, but someone will have to sweep

I got to Rimini at around 4pm, located the hostel, left my bags and went back to the city and have a look. Rimini has many Roman relics, most of them under the city. So in many areas there are glass windows on the ground, from where you can see the excavated remaining of the old city. It also have a nice castle, where an exhibition was taking place, but didn’t go in as it has an entrance fee and it was too late.