We go for a bike ride every couple of days – the most recent was over 31 km and we leave nice and early before it starts getting too hot. We’ve stopped a couple of times now for cappuccino at a nice little cafe/bar in Spina partway through the ride.
The back road between Mercatello and Compagnano is one of my current favourites – the surface isn’t great but there’s hardly any traffic, and it’s far less developed than some of the other areas.
The view from the terrace is beautiful as always, and I spend a lot of time sitting under the umbrella with a cup of tea watching village life go on.
The fellow that had been doing stonework for ages last year has finally finished – we see him occasionally on his front terrace on a swing-chair. The small house on the right has been sold and new folks are now in – they got a furniture delivery a few days ago. The ducks are back, although there’s only three of them this year, rather than the twelve there were last year.
We both got haircuts a few days ago – it’s the shortest I’ve had mine since a cut I got in Spain four years ago. So easy to take care of now, especially as we’re going to be on the road again very soon.
On Thursday we went to Trevi for lunch and our favourite place, La Vecchia Posta, was open – outdoor tables only, which was great.
For antipasto we shared a selection of mixed bruschetta, and I had wild boar stew for my main dish. It was just delicious, and with a little help from Mo I actually managed to finish it.
They’ve been working diligently on both the Bell Tower and the condo building just below us. I can’t believe how much stuff they’ve hauled out of the condo building – I think when the earthquake happened the folks were given 15 minutes to grab what they could and maybe haven’t been allowed back since.
I’ve been really trying to soak in the atmosphere here prior to our departure – having spent so much time here last year I feel like two weeks isn’t nearly enough time.
The rain started right on time at 8:00, and many more campervans and cars had arrived during the night and over the morning. We had tea and breakfast and stayed inside most of the morning but just after noon the clouds parted and the sun came out.
The team buses and cars went past in a convoy up to the finish at the top 1.5 km from us. We went for a walk down to the bar that’s at the bend below us, following a walking track part of the way.
We had a cappuccino and shared a prosciutto and cheese panini while keeping an eye on the very black clouds that were moving in.
We quickly left but still had a ways to go when the rain hit. I tucked my camera inside my coat – I had the merino wool long-sleeve on as well as the winter coat and was glad of it – and carried Mo part of the way up back to the campervan. We got back ok, just very wet and a bit chilled.
The first two racers arrived at 4:13 in pouring rain – an Ineos rider and an EF rider who was wearing their special jersey designed just for the Giro – I find them a bit hard to look at without going cross-eyed. The EF fellow ended up winning the stage so good for him.
I had a large umbrella with the handle tucked into the pocket of my coat to keep my camera dry while the riders straggled past in small and large groups. The last few – including Alex Dowsett and Tony Martin – came by at 4:52 looking quite bedraggled and a bit miserable. PS – huge kudos to Dowsett for winning a stage a couple of days earlier – congrats!
We’d already decided to stay another night rather than fight traffic down the mountain in the dark so settled in and watched as most of the other folks made their way down.
It was a much quieter night than the previous one with hardly any traffic going by. The next morning we left nice and early – it was a longer drive than we expected to reach the coast near Anzio. We found a lovely campground that turned out to not be open but they were kind enough to ‘make a deal’ with Colin – we had our pick of spots and got nice hot showers to boot.
Feeling very refreshed we had an early night then headed out again after breakfast the next morning.
Right near the campground we passed a couple of ‘ladies on chairs’ – we’d seen some before and Colin had noticed a group of them on the way here.
One of them was dressed up with a short skirt and high red boots, but the other looked bored and didn’t seem to have put much effort into attracting ‘clients’.
Since we were so near Anzio I wanted to see something from the war – we weren’t that interested in going to the museum so I chose the Beach Head War Cemetery.
It’s a beautiful and immaculately kept place, and is for Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen that fell during and after the Allied landing in Anzio to free Italy from the nazis.
Most of the headstones show dates of early 1944 and I only noticed one Canadian marked with the maple leaf, although there were many showing only ‘a fallen soldier’.
Colin waited just outside the entrance with the little ones – it looked to me as if he was sitting in Henry – haha!
We left the cemetery and drove north along the coast to Lido di Ostia where we planned to spend the night as it’s so close to Fiumicino. Along the way we passed many beach access places but most of them were closed. Across the road from one were a couple of young ladies and Colin said ‘oh look – they’re in their bathing costumes – they must have been swimming’ but as we got closer to them I noticed their fishnet stockings and heavy makeup and replied ‘they weren’t swimming – they’re fishing’! We laughed so hard!
Arriving at Ostia we parked across from a restaurant on the sea and went in for lunch. We shared an antipasto of mussels, which were excellent, then for my main course I ordered the calamari, although that’s not what I got.
Instead I was given a large platter of assorted seafood, and was it ever good – there were four or five different things that were all very tasty and I needed help from not only Mo but Colin as well to finish it.
After lunch we walked around a bit, stopping at a farmacia so I could get some wet-wipes to wipe down everything on the airplanes the next day.
I think Mo must have sensed that I was about to leave as she cuddled close to me in my bed all night. Up at 5:00 we had a nice cup of tea and a quick bite to eat then it was off to the airport. We got there in plenty of time and said a quick but heartfelt goodbye until next year – fingers crossed.
I was not looking forward to wearing a mask for over twenty hours but it wasn’t quite as bad as I’d feared. Air Canada had changed my flights several times and I was now flying Lufthansa to Frankfurt, then again with them to Vancouver. The security check in Frankfurt was easy – he just looked at my passport for a minute, stamped it on the last page and waved me thru.
The flight to Vancouver was long – over 10 hours, but I had a window seat and no one had anyone sitting next to them. We went north over England and Scotland, then across Greenland and northern Canada. I watched three movies and a series of documentaries about villages in the Alps but didn’t really get any sleep.
Most of the time it was cloudy, but a couple of times it cleared and the views below were awesome.
I had to go thru security again in Vancouver- the fellow was very nice and we chatted about how long I’d been in Italy and why. He reminded me that I need to quarantine for two weeks once I get home and I was passed thru.
I had to collect my checked luggage as my final flight was Air Canada and Lufthansa doesn’t pass along the bags so after ‘checking in’ again I was finally on my way home. A very long day of travel by the end, but so good to see my dear sweetheart D waiting for me.
It was a truly awesome trip, and being ‘forced’ to spend so much time in Italy turned out to be a bit of a gift. Arrivaderci – until next year!
Quite a few more people walked up the hill past us, and a group of folks set up a canopy complete with an air-horn (which I can’t stand). The weather was very unsettled – fairly windy with threatening looking clouds.
The racers first appeared just after 10:30 and there was already action – a group of seven had gotten away almost immediately and already had a four minute lead by the time they got to us.
They made the circuit every 50 minutes or so, and I moved across the road a few times for a different view.
I got a decent shot of Nibali…
…as well as Michael Woods…
Before the last pass I hiked down to the agritourismo to see if they could sell a bottle or two of wine – no problem! Although it did take a bit to track down the right person. First – it looked like just a large private house – no signs or anything.
I walked all the way around and looked in one open door – it was the ‘restaurant’ with one person in it – he didn’t speak english but he did call for the cook to come out. She directed me across to the ‘bar’ that had several people at tables drinking and watching the race on tv, but no one that looked like they worked there.
Just then a fellow came in that I’d seen up on the road – I think he’s the one with the air-horn – he spoke pretty good english and understood what I wanted. He located the right person who opened up the wine room and got me what I asked for – success! And I must admit that the air-horn wasn’t nearly as annoying as I’d expected – I think they were surprised by how loud it was and ended up hardly using it.
The breakaway slowly began to fall apart, and was eventually swallowed up by the peloton. There was, of course, more than just Woods riding for Canada – I especially like the maple leaf on their socks.
Then big news – Alaphilippe attacked on the second climb of the final circuit! After most of the riders had passed I went to the campervan next to us – the fellows were watching the finish in Imola on tv.
I was very happy that Alaphilippe managed to hang on and is now world champion! Shortly after the finish the parade of spectators coming down the hill started, and all of the cars and campervans around us left.
We decided to stay the night where we were as the journey home was way too far.
The morning of the women’s road race was bright and beautiful. We happen to be parked right across from a sign indicating that we’re on the ‘Strada del Sangiovese e dei Sapori’ – basically the road of excellent red wine and good food!
The women today and the men tomorrow follow the same route, although the men do four more circuits.
The Volvo that was parked next to the road last night was now encircled by red and white tape, and partway thru the morning a race organization car pulled up. The two men asked everyone if they knew who owned it – there were by now a couple more campervans and cars – but no one knew.
They then phoned the licence plate number in and tracked down the owner, who I think was at the agriturismo upon whose land we’re all parked. Eventually someone arrived and moved the car further off the road, which was lucky for them as not long after a couple of large tow trucks passed with vehicles on them that had presumably also been parked too close.
Throughout the morning the usual parade of amateurs rode by, but since it’s a fairly short circuit we got to see most of the men doing recon rides as well for their race the next day.
The women did five circuits of the course, first arriving at 1:34 as a basically intact group with only a few stragglers .
By the third pass there was a breakaway of several riders, including a Canadian.
The peloton was by now quite broken up with many small groups and single riders strung out over several minutes.
On the fourth round there was a sole leader – dutch rider Anna van der Breggen, who won the ITT two days previously.
She managed to stay in front thru the last circuit and was victorious in Imola once again – brava!
The morning of the men’s ITT was quite blustery but at least the thunder, lightning and rain we experienced during the night had passed.
As we were having our morning cappuccino in the cafe I said ‘I just felt a raindrop’ but there were absolutely no clouds anywhere near us. It was a very misty kind of rain, and the waitress came out and cranked up all of the large umbrellas – it was very strange, and must have been due to the sometimes fierce wind.
We returned to the campervan and decided to go just out of the town to a roadside spot we’d seen the night we arrived. We said goodbye to our Belgian neighbours and relocated a couple of km north.
The weather conditions changed every fifteen minutes, blue skies one moment, threatening rain the next.
It never did actually rain, although the wind was pretty constant.
I got decent photos of Brit rider Geraint Thomas…
…Belgian Wout Van Aert…
…Dutch Tom Dumoulin (winner of the ITT in 2017)…
…as well as defending champion for the last two years Aussie Rohan Dennis.
Dennis was unable to repeat again as Italian Filippo Ganna came thru the fastest to the delight of the local fans.
We took down the flags – one of the poles had partially collapsed in the wind – and drove east a bit to pick up the route for the next two days’ road races. We thought we’d found an ideal spot at the top of one of the two climbs, although it was extremely windy.
We’d just had a lovely dinner and I was finishing the dishes when there was a knock on the window – we were being told to move as we were in a restricted area. The fellow was nice enough but we had no choice.
We drove a bit further and stopped at a fairly large pullout – there were already a few campervans there, as well as some police having a somewhat heated conversation with a german lady. We wanted to know what they were discussing when a car pulled up and the man inside told us he had a place we could park.
We turned around and followed him but he turned off the race route and was leading us too far. We thanked him for the offer and returned back past the other campervans to another likely looking spot that had one campervan well off the road, a Volvo near the road, and a couple of policemen.
We pulled in and asked if we could park there – they said they didn’t know whose land it was but as long as we were at least four meters from the road they wouldn’t make us leave. The place is on a very fast part of the course – downhill from the summit of the second climb and just past a tricky s-curve so they’re concerned about crashes and don’t want any vehicles too close to the road.
Yet another beautiful morning for the second last stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. We re-confirmed that the race will pass our spot three times before the finish in Loreto.
This stage is called the ‘Muri’ because of the many small but brutal climbs. We’re between Loreto and Recanati just near the top of one of the climbs.
There’s a cemetery just below us and Mo and I walked down to look around – it wasn’t exactly what I expected.
There was part of one wall that had the usual small internments with plaques with flowers, etc, but the majority of the place was large individual ‘houses’, some of which were quite ornate and beautiful.
I got my bidon collection together and I’m not missing too many – maybe I’ll complete it today or tomorrow.
At one point in the morning, before we’d opened all the shades, Colin noticed someone outside about to put a piece of paper on our windshield. I opened the side door to investigate – it was a policewoman who was going to leave a notice that we were going to get ‘locked in’ around noon when the road would be closed. I assured her we wouldn’t be moving as we took photos of the race and she thought that was great.
For the first pass of the riders I went a bit down from where we were parked in the churchyard – I could see a ways down the road as they came up the hill.
Froome and Nibali were both near the front of the peloton.
For the second pass I stayed closer to where we were parked – I could see Loreto in the distance where they will finish the stage.
After the breakaway had passed all of the team cars pulled to the right-hand side of the road – the peloton was within two minutes of the break so the cars all got the order to pull over and get out of the way.
Yates was once again staying safe near the front of the peloton.
On the final pass a young Bora rider was alone in front, followed by several others including Mathieu van der Poel.
At the end of the day Van der Poel won the stage, and Yates held on to the overall lead. Our Belgian friends with the large motorhome had been in the churchyard parking area with us and came to say goodbye – they’re leaving right away to drive up to France and catch part of the Tour.
They gave us two gifts – a small box of Belgian chocolates, and maybe even better, a card with their home address, etc on it. They live near Zwalm, which was our ‘base’ last year for all of the Spring Classics – nice to have some fellow fans to get together with!
We stayed another night in the church parking area, then headed south to San Benedetto del Tronto for the final stage – the individual time trial.
We abandoned our plan once we arrived in the city – even more streets than usual were already closed and we realized we wouldn’t be able to take the dogs. It was starting to get pretty hot and we felt we couldn’t leave them alone in the campervan for hours and hours. After driving fruitlessly around the narrow, very busy streets I suggested zipping home to watch the stage on tv – this was a good decision.
It was only a few hours before we were in the comfort of the house with the air-con on cheering as Yates managed to hold onto the overall lead – even Geraint Thomas couldn’t pick up enough time to beat him.
Another great Tirreno-Adriatico – getting to see seven out of the eight stages was pretty satisfying. Next – on to the World’s in Imola!
We had a nice quiet night – the bells on the church didn’t ring once, let alone all night long.
We went into Senigallia for groceries then followed the day’s route along the seashore – they go up and down several times but we decided to go back inland a bit to one of the small climbs that they only do once.
We meandered a bit on and off the route, and finally chose a spot just outside Sappanico, which was good as they were already closing the roads. After a quick bite to eat we picked our spots, and didn’t have to wait too long.
Yates was staying safely near the front in his overall leader’s blue jersey.
After the race passed we headed to a town we’d been at last year, although the route is different – as is the churchyard we stopped at.
Mo and I took a nice walk – the church is on a hill and there are some great views of the wide valley below and the towns on every hill.
After a nice sleep-in we arose after 7:00 – the doggies usually stir well before that so it was nice to get a little more shut-eye.
When I took Mo for her morning walk I was amazed at the lovely golden tones in the light – just a beautiful area, and so peaceful.
We followed the route for about 50 km before turning onto a faster road to the town of Sarnano where we stopped for a delicious cappuccino.
I took a short walk around while Colin finished his coffee – it seems like a lovely place, although as so many towns in the area had been heavily damaged by the quake in 2016.
It’s a town that caters to many things – hiking, biking, skiing and also has thermal baths.
Continuing on our way out of the town, the last 13 km of the day’s stage is all uphill to the finish at Sassotetto – not an easy climb.
We drove all the way to the top, then backtracked a few km to a nice pullout where we stopped, only to find that the satellite dish wasn’t working – oh well. As I was cooking our lunch of pork sausages and mashed potatoes a car pulled up and the fellows started talking to Colin. He called me out to interpret and I realized that it was two of the men we’d met at Strade Bianche! We got to meet their wives and then they were on their way further up towards the summit to watch the race from.
As usual the arrival of the first racer was immediately preceeded by no less than seven motos and two official cars – and the sole rider was Simon Yates.
Michael Woods was about a minute behind, and ended up losing the overall lead, but still placed well at the end.
We ended up with another five bidons at the end of the day, and we even traded a Trek one (we had another) for an Ineos Grenadiers that another fan had gotten.
Trek was what he’d really wanted because Italian hero Nibali rides for them now, so we happily traded, even tho Ineos is our least favourite team. Their bidons are quite spiffy looking, however, so we’re not disappointed.
Many of the racers zipped back down the mountain on their bikes, even tho we’d seen all of the team buses go up the hill hours earlier. The sprinters and stragglers were still coming up for almost half an hour, so the down-coming rides had to take care as they were descending extremely fast.
After bringing down the flags we headed down the hill and north to the motorway that took us east to the Adriatic, where we continued north just past Ancona. Our stop for the night was a large church parking lot in the town of Ostra, which is very near the next day’s route.
Up nice and early we headed for Castelluccio to find a spot to watch the next stage from. The drive was thru very beautiful countryside and we even saw the trees that form the map of Italy on the hillside.
On the flat plain there were folks parked that were landing after para-gliding. There weren’t any planes taking them up that we could see, so we assume they take off from one on the nearby mountains and catch the updrafts.
We were parked in a fairly large flat area and several team cars joined us to hand out bidons.
Michael Woods, wearing the overall leader’s blue jersey and his team’s distinctive pink helmut was safely near the front of the peloton, along with Nibali.
Since it was a large area near the end of a climb many riders were ditching their bidons – I ended up with my largest haul yet – nine! I actually don’t know what I’m going to do with them all, but I really enjoy collecting them.
After the race had passed we backtracked to the town of Visso where we turned north and picked up the route for the next day’s stage. Visso is one of many towns and villages in the area that were severely damaged in the earthquake of 2016.
We followed the route markers until a bit past the town of Tolentino where we pulled into a nice little flat space on the side of the quiet road – good place to spend the night.
After waking up before 3:00 I really didn’t get much more sleep, but I always knew what time it was – the local chuch bells in this village don’t considerately turn off at night like many do.
After a bite to eat we proceeded to follow the route for a ways, then found a campground where we could drop our water, etc. Once that was done we got back onto the route and came across some folks we’d met before.
They are a couple from Belgium that travel in a very large motorhome, complete with a motorbike in a compartment at the back. They sometimes help a couple of the teams hand out waterbottles, and are especially close with Quickstep. They offered me some bidons that I hadn’t gotten yet – FDJ and Sunweb – my collection is growing!
We returned to a spot we’d passed earlier – just past a bridge, then two sharp corners at the beginning of a climb. We were alone in our choice spot until another car joined us, then a couple of team cars pulled in up the road a bit to hand out bidons.
The race passes our spot twice, and as I was testing my shots on the motocops I ran into a problem – the camera’s memory card was full! I ran back up to the campervan to retrieve my extra card but the damn packaging must be child-proof or something. I couldn’t rip it open quickly enough so I grabbed my other camera and took the card out of it.
I rushed back down to my spot in time to see the first racers arrive just before 2:15.
I was happily shooting away as the peloton began to pass, then again the camera stopped working – another full card! I couldn’t believe it.
Of course right then the most unexpected/spectacular thing I’ve yet seen at a race happened – right below me I could see the bridge before the first sharp turn, and what was on the bridge racing along beside the riders but two horses!
They were obviously terrified of the cars, motos and helis but had nowhere to go so they just kept galloping up the road straight towards me. I have no idea what the riders thought but I was freaked – I ran up to the other man that had parked near us and was grateful when he seemed to know what to do.
He waved his arms to get the horses’ attention just in time to avoid getting stampeded by them. We have no idea what happened to the poor things but they made it by us with no one getting injured.
By the time the race had passed on the first circuit I’d settled down a bit and managed to cut open my new memory card – so much packaging for such a small thing!
On the second pass it was Cdn Michael Woods in front! And he managed to hang on and win the stage but not only that he took the overall lead!
We hadn’t put the flags up so it took us little time to get on the road. Because of where we were, and where we were going next we decided to pop back to Papiano for the night. Laundry and a shower were both much appreciated.
Sally McKenzie's European Adventures 