I got back on the bike again 3 days after my little mishap – nothing hurts but I still have road rash below my right knee. I’ve started to venture further and further from Papiano, usually going generally west-ish.
On Sunday I took a little trip to Spina and back – we’ve driven through it before but never stopped. It was a nice place, and the cafe/bar on the main road was full of motorcyclists.
Yesterday I rode to Compignano, which is a lovely village we drove to a week or two ago. Just a km or so before the village I saw a dog on the side of the road – I had a hunch that I better boot it so I pumped the assistance up to the max and started pedaling as fast as I could. Sure enough the dog came at me, snarling and snapping at my left foot. I was going pretty fast but he kept up for quite a ways – I was screaming at the top of my lungs, but didn’t dare try to kick at it in case I wiped out. He finally gave up the chase and I continued on to the village.
Since I didn’t want to risk encountering the dog again on the way back I took an alternate route – a small gravel track that led to another village we’d driven through before. Almost right away I came upon a carabinieri (police) car, but they just nodded and passed me by.
The road ended up being quite perilous – very steep up, where even with the highest assistance I had to work very hard, then so steep down there were warning signs about the gradient. After my wipe-out last week I decided to be extra cautious and got off and hoofed it down.
I was going to say that I pushed the bike down, but it was more like I tried to hold it back – it seemed to take a long time to reach the bottom, and felt like I was walking on marbles the entire way.
This morning’s ride was a bit longer than planned – I haven’t bothered to hook my Garmin GPS device up yet – although I had looked at a map – and thus ended up missing a turn and found myself somewhere totally unexpected and confusing just after passing through Villanova.
Rather than compound my problem I just turned around and backtracked home. I did pass through some lovely countryside on the way, however, and just put on a few more miles than planned.
The weather has been very changeable – lots of sun, but also fierce winds as well as pounding downpours. We’ve watched a couple more Clint Eastwood movies, saving the best for last – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – a classic for sure.
We went up to Deruta one day and got some more clay pots for a nice new succulent and the geraniums – the patio is looking very colourful!
And – I finally have to say…USA – WTF!!!
You can’t solve injustice with hate or violence, and the USA desperately needs a leader that isn’t such an incompetent dickhead!
Sally McKenzie's European Adventure - Take 5 