cycling | ch3 - blog

112km of 3393km so far…

Today was a very good cycling day indeed. It started by a 5km pleasant downhill from the hostel to Ganova’s center. I bought a couple of focaccias and a few fruits and started making my way to the north.

I bet the residents can park their cars on the roof.

The first part of today’s ride was over mountains and I am really happy that my knee didn’t hurt at all. It’s not perfect yet and I am still looking after it, but it doesn’t bother as it did a few days ago. That really made my day and I was in a very good mood all day. I was also in good mood, because once again I was ridding within nice country side and small villages. I had really missed that after spending 10 days cycling by the coast which is full of towns almost connected to one each other. The slope of the mountain was not very steep, with a col at 472 meters and the road running parallel to the river Scrivia

Back to the small villages

On the mountain tops again

The river along the road

In the afternoon I stopped at Novi Ligure to look for the tourist information, as I didn’t know at the time where I will sleep at the night. The office was closed until 3:30pm, so I had to take a nap on a bench and eat an Italian ice cream to kill some time.

For just â‚¬2 I am definitely a winner

Small roads, small cars

The streets of Novi Ligure

I love my pillow

It seems that there are not many camp sites in the area. The lady at the office was very helpful and called the tourist office of the next city to ask for more information. The only option was a hostel at Allesandria, which I didn’t mind at all, as the weather forecast was predicting rain.
I cycled another 25km and got to Allesandria, where I had to wait until 8pm for the hostel reception to open. I wondered around its nice center and I wanted to approach the big citadel that I could see on the map. It was a little strange, because the bridge over the river that leads to it, was knocked down and I couldn’t see anything from the other side of the river. The hostel it self is in a nice old building in a church’s courtyard and for â‚¬17 he put me in a two beds room and nobody else turned up, which is a very good deal. If only the guy shared his wifi password with me…

A bridge is missing here

This is the Great Wall of Cheese

80km of 3281 so far…

miam miam miamm....

I still have trouble finding a bakery with croissants or something similar, so today’s breakfast was two big pieces of creamy pie with stuff full of calories in it. I think I’ve said it before, but food in big quantities is one of the pleasures of cycle touring and probable the main expense.
Once again I followed the costal road to the north east to go to Genova. Until midday I was going up and down the rocky hills by the sea side, but the effort was paid off by the outstanding scenery. The road at times was curved on the side of massive rocks and for most of the time I was cycling next to high cliffs.

Last day cycling by the west coast of Italy

Many bridges mean flat roads, which I am happy for.

My lunch stop was at Savona, which is an industrial city and it also has a big port for transporting goods. It also has an old fortress where I spend some time to wonder around and admire the view from the top.

The fortress of Savona, in between factories and the port

In the fortress

Houses with massive fireplaces

Many things that make other things.

Big, big port

This time I managed to get to my destination before 5pm, to ensure the tourist office would still be open. I wanted to stay in a hostel, as a camp site would probable have been outside the big city. When I asked where it is and how can I get there, they said I have to catch a bus, because it’s too hard on a bike. After my surprise of how hard can it be after cycling across the continent, I think I asked her way too many questions. She wrote the name of the street and the bus number, in which of course I couldn’t put my bike and she shut her window. Great! I forgot to mention Genova is by the sea, but the majority of the city is build on the hills around the port. Both times that I had to ask for directions, they told me to keep going up all the way and wished me good luck. It was indeed a very steep climb that lasted at least half an hour. I am surprised and happy that my knee didn’t complain about it. Genova is very densely build, even on the slopes of the hills, with small roads packed with cars and buses that can barely fit to turn. I decided to stay for two nights and get some rest before going above the mountains towards Milano, so I locked my bike in the hostel and bought a 24 hours bus ticket, so I don’t have to climb this road again.
I had a shower and did my massive laundry, before I went to the town center again for food hunting. I was very lucky to come across that bar that had a super offer for a drink and unlimited buffet which succesfully filled my stomach. 6 euros very well spend!