Day eight: grumpy
Sapri to Agropoli (kind of)
I have been in a foul and miserable mood since I arrived in Agropoli. I wasn’t going to write – I’m fed up, embarrassed and tired, but figure I’ll wake up fine (hopefully) and probably just want to forget today.
The route I’m following, the eurovelo 7 (ciclopista del sole = sun route), as I mentioned before, goes from Austria to Sicily, but south of Rome, it’s not a route as such – it’s a planned route. An idea of a route. A hope of a route. But not a cycling route.
The route I have is from Biroto.eu – a user generated site and each night, I download the map I need for the next day, with the ‘cycling route’ clearly marked for me to follow. Once already this has sent me on a motorway, that was when I met Mr. Giovanni. With that lesson in mind, I’ve tried to be super cautious to avoid any more ‘forbidden’ roads.
I woke today feeling great. I had a leisurely start, a pot of tea even and left at 11am thinking I had an easy day ahead of me. Following the map, as I have done every day, I started heading away from the coast, up a road which I presumed was a normal SS road. It was a hefty climb and after about 20km, I realised it was not a road I should be on. I had committed by then though, and not truly appreciating the danger of the road I was on, thought I should carry on. In reality, that’s all I could really do as the road was mainly bridges over gorges which ran below – not many opportunities to get off. It wasn’t the busiest road I have been on, but it was fast, high and steep. Oh and there were a few tunnels.
Of course there wasn’t anywhere to stop for lunch, so being stuck on a motorway was coupled with being hungry.
Eventually, there was a fuel station where I pulled in. My worries were quickly confirmed as the people there told me I must not be on the road. It was a ‘super strada’ and ‘very dangerous’.
I had done it again.
Luckily the lady who worked in the shop spoke great English and helped me. When we looked at my options – I could only see that I carried on, for the 10km until I could pull off to a near by town and get the train. That did seem the only option. But she insisted I wait until someone could give me a lift. And then an angel arrived!! A lovely Italian woman who quickly offered to take me and my bike to Vallo Lucania Castel.
Day eight and this is the third car that has had come to my rescue. I’m not doing very well, am I.
I really hope this is the last time I fuck up. I just want to enjoy the cycling, enjoy the views, have an easier day. Tomorrow I’m going up the Amalfi coast to Salerno. It’s 40 or so kilometres, so my shortest day so far (a rest, hurrah) and along the coast. It seems idiot proof, but given my track record who knows!
