Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Day 23 - Piacenza to Fornovo-di-Taro (Tuesday 18th September)

(67 kms)
1471 kms from Canterbury
603 kms to Rome

Garmin Record: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233175153

 Having said fond farewells to Jochen and Anke, I sit down to plan the day's ride. The first section is described as difficult to navigate with several river crossings to negotiate.

 Hmmm not with my bike, so I rode the tar to Fidenza. A few kilometres out of Fidenza the vegetation and geography changes quite rapidly. The rice paddies and corn fields are a thing of the past. Now I'm cycling into the foothills of the Appenines. Back to forests and vineyards. Gone is the brown and in comes the lovely green. Also here comes steep uphills on gravelly farm tracks and thick grass where bikes have to be pushed. So that pretty much filled my time until I arrived in Fornovo and started the usual hunt for a place to stay. The Tourist office was closed, nobody answered my call at the local religios hostel so I went in search of a hotel.

On my way I saw a small hand painted sign saying B&B just up the road. I headed that way and now I'm being hosted in a lovely farmhouse by a couple who have signed up for what is being promoted as AgriTourism, farmers who let rooms and provide meals for tourists. I have a great room, the farmer and his wife are busy in the kitchen making me supper. This is going to be a memorable experience. What a great ending to a fairly strenuous day.

Here are pictures of Il Giardino del Gusto - the phone number is on the sign - call them if you're looking for a very special place to stay near Fornavo-di-Taro





Here's the Garmin record for the road from the centre of Fornovo-di-Taro to the B&B:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233175300


A big, big thank you to @Freshfmct - they are offering the chance to win a R1 000 Pick n Pay gift voucher AND 50,000 Smart Shopper Points worth R500! Awesome! Support Elred's trip for FTH:K by donating R20 or more. Enter via SMS or deposit directly into FTH:K's account (for direct deposits reference Elred and your name and contact number) and stand the chance to win! See sms and bank details here: http://cyclingtorome.blogspot.com/

1 comment:

  1. Wow Tex, almost 3/4 of the way there! Fascinating reading your blog and looking forward to hearing more stories in Cotignac.
    Hope the remainder of the trip goes well and enjoy the ride with Keith. Maeve

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