Daryl Goes Transcontinental Part 2
Here’s the next instalment of Daryl’s amazing adventurous journey. Having spent 8 days volunteering in Türkiye at the transcontinental race, he and Michiel now start the long journey home. It starts with getting from coast to coast in southern Italy.
It’s well worthwhile reading the full account of the story here: The long way home part 2, Southern Italy August 2024 – Tales from the Saddle (wordpress.com) but here are some edited highlights……..
The plan was to aim for Naples, then take the train to Milan, before starting our journey over the Alps. The planned route would take us from the Brindisi on the Adriatic Coast to Naples on the Mediterranean Coast, about 420km which would be three biggish days. So, initially we would leave Brindisi on the Wednesday, get to Naples by the Friday night. Then, get the train on Saturday and be in Milan ready for the Alps by Sunday Morning, the 18th of August.
What a brilliant idea it was to take a day off in Brindisi, to get refreshed and soak up some of the local culture. It is so easy to get your head down and miss out on the journey. It also helps you process what you have experienced so far. The choice of Brindisi as the place to do it was genius. The port town had so much history, it was beautiful and the perfect place to spend a day off. Michiel took time to get his recent cultivated beard trimmed and get a haircut. I had a wander around looking for odds and ends I needed, sun cream, etc.
We also realised the town had a railway station, so we took a walk there to book the train tickets from Naples to Milan. This is where we found out that there were no bicycle places available for that route until Monday 19th August. Time for plans to change, and an ideal opportunity to head for Salerno and ride the Amalfi Coast.
The next day we spotted a fuel station on the other side of the road. A quick dash and we were in buying cold drinks and a large bag of salty crisps. While we were sat there, I noticed a tree on fire in the field about 100m in the direction we were due to travel. I then noticed the field itself was a blaze. I suggested to Michiel that we should dump everything and hit the road before it got serious.
As we got back onto the road oncoming traffic was appearing from a cloud of smoke covering the carriageway. We were sure the fire was on the side of the oncoming traffic, so dived into the cloud on our shoulder of the highway, only to find that the fire had jump to our side of the road and was licking the shoulder we were riding. It was so close you could feel the heat on your arms as if they were on fire. Once clear we stopped and looked at each other in amazement and then back towards the fire. At this point no more traffic came through the smoke, we were among the last to make it. So close, and the route to avoid it would have been considerable.
We stayed that night in Matera and as we approached an older part of town, the street names became more confusing. So, I stayed with the bikes as Michiel searched for our hotel. I walked down some stone stairs and was hit by the most amazing view of old Matera, and then discovered the small apartment we were staying in was overlooking this old town. I went back to tell Michiel I had found our room, but to be prepared for the view to blow his socks off. 
The next morning, (15th Aug) were on the road by 08:30 and the first 15km of the day was on the edge of a major highway and reasonably easy. We took a turn off the main road and onto a much quieter road. It started off as a well surfaced road with very little in the way of traffic. Then suddenly, the surface started to turn to gravel, then broken asphalt, until eventually it was just an off-road trail working its way up to 400m elevation. At this point we did feel very isolated and had no real idea when we would be back on good roads and how much time this was going to add to the day. It was already 40oC and being this remote meant we had nowhere to buy water.
The off-road section turned out to be around 15km and included sections of hike-a-bike, due to steep inclines, the weight if the bike and the fact that a fall here could be disastrous for the whole trip. Along this section there was a high number of abandoned properties, ranging from farmsteads, that presumably had been abandoned as the land is no longer usable, to what looked like roadside café/restaurants, which were no longer used once the motorways were created. Amazing how a landscape can change due to small changes in infrastructure.
There was more hike-a-bike the next day but we eventually found a main road again. After lunch, the road started its descent towards the motorway and we followed the old main road. What looked like an easy route on the map turned into 14km with 10% ramps, followed by a steep drop, one after another. Not what we needed at this time of the day, at over 40oC. When we came into a town 30km from our destination of Salerno, we spotted a supermarket and I dashed in for two, one litre bottles of ice-cold Coke Cola, which went down a treat, refreshing and full of sugar.
We rolled into Salerno at just gone 4pm, and pedalled up the narrow, cobbled back streets, finally dragging our bikes up a set of steps to our room for the night. It was a cracking apartment with enough space for the bikes and beautifully appointed. Decorated with modern art and having a small record player and a selection of vinyl albums, I put a few albums on the turntable and chilled out.
Having seen and read about the beauty of the Amalfi Coast for so long, the chance to ride it was a real treat. There was going to be heavy traffic as it was Saturday morning, but it is such a tourist destination, I doubt it makes a difference which day you ride it.
As we approached Positano the road was tight and we climbed alongside the traffic, which is now getting quite heavy. As we make the turn at the top of this peak, we spotted a bakery/café on the right and rolled onto the pavement outside. We leaned the bikes against the shop front and browsed the goodies on the counter. I saw this spaghetti frittata, which looked like it would fill the gap perfectly. We ordered two and a couple of iced-teas and sat in the window watching the chaos outside as coaches try to stop and pick-up/drop-off passengers, with motorcyclists trying to get around them. You have to love Italy, it’s mayhem.
Day 14 (18th Aug) we had tickets for the ferry to Naples. It was on time, and the bikes were loaded into one of the aisles on the boat where we sat looking at the bikes. Halfway across to Naples Michiel noticed he had left his water bottles in the fridge at the apartment, and it was now too late to go back.
We had only been in our apartment in Naples for five minutes when Michiel’s phone rang, and the owner was telling us we could not leave the bikes in the reception. He had seen us via two web cameras in the reception area. We told him how much they were worth and asked him if he was willing to cover the cost if they were stolen! He eventually agreed that they could stay where they were, and we knew Sophia would keep her eye on them.
To be concluded…
Categories
