Day 34 Capranica to Rome (Saturday 29th September)

(54kms)

From Canterbury - 2074 to Rome 0
Garmin Record: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233177007

When planning the day's ride, the first stage of about 32kms was fine, mostly on smallroads and farm tracks, so we ticked that. Ms Vee had her own ideas about the 2 subsequent stages though. "Difficult terrain with many obstacles and a dangerous river crossing" We decided that this was not the day for such niceties and agreed we would stay on the tar for those sections.

After a great breakfast we said farewell and turned the bikes for Rome. The first stop was at Sutri,  small village a few kilometres outside Capranica where thousands of years ago the people quarried the volcanic rock, dug out living space and even created a whole amphitheatre from a volcanic promonotory. Interesting to see.

We left Sutri and looked to rejoin the track. While we were stopped a little further on trying to decide which way to go, I saw a sign that simply stated "Roma 50"
At that point I knew that my intimate relationship with Ms V had run its natural course and in fact the amazing treatment and meal on the last night was a fitting end We are now just good friends.

I turned to Keith and said "let's just get to Rome". And so we rode the SS2 all the way to Rome. A very busy road but safe enough At 13:00 exactly we arrived at St Peter's Basilica and the ride from Canterbury was done. It ended, neither with a bang nor a  whimper, but a husky throat and a glisten of tears in the eyes.

Thank you all for the encouragement, kind words and enormous support on the adventure. It helped in tough times to know you were there and in good,happy,laughing times - which was most of the time - I knew you would be smiling along with me.

A massive thanks to Keith for joining me this week. It has been wonderful for us to share time together. I've loved having him along to experience the joys and trials Ms VF hands out. Also, considering the very tough day to Radicofani and the variety of bike problems, Keith's presence and patience and quiet assistance when I needed it most helped me make light of what would have been a very tough last week on my own.

Grateful thanks from FTH:K for the donations

Thank you very much to everyone who has donated funds for FTH:K through support for my ride.

We have managed to raise R18 350.00 so far through various donors and pledges.
I would like to acknowledge the following donors with thanks for their very generous contributions.

The Ackerman Foundation R5000.00
Ivan Jenkins R5000.00 (M2NORTH)
Dennis Cope R1500.00
Kerry McElwee R1000.00
Elred Lawrence R1000.00
Craig Woods R1000.00
Derek Rushmere R500.00
Colleen Sutherland R500.00
Karen Fletcher R500.00
Bez Bezuidenhout R500.00
Nick Schild R500.00
The Bergvliet Lions Club R500.00
 Joy Jack R300.00
Adrian Naude R250.00
K Naidoo R250.00
Manager at the Hotel on the Grand Col Eu5.00

 Monthly Pledges Colin Scholtz R50.00 per month for 2 years

And a special thanks to all of you who entered the Pick nPay Fresh FM competition
The results will be published next week.
Please make sure that Ana of FTH:K knows of your pledge or donation so that I can add my thanks here on this blog.
Keep those donations coming and do encourage your friends to do the same.
 Follow me on: Facebook - Elred Lawrence Twitter - @ElredL This blog - www.cyclingtorome.blogspot.com

Day 33 Bolsena to Capranica (Friday 28th September)

(63 kms)

From Canterbury 2002 kms to Rome 72 kms

Garmin Record: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233176854

Such a lovely start to the day. A cup of coffee in the piazza, then a few slices and a sticky bun from the Patiserrie and we were ready to face what looked like a gentle day. A fair bit of uphill through a forest brought us to Montefiasconi, thirsty but strong. Similar off road tracks and trails had us in Viterbo by lunchtime, quite relaxed.

Then Ms V played her trump card. "Wouldn't the boys like to take an alternate route, it's shorter and you can ride around the ridge of a volcano?" The boys thought was a great idea and set of eagerly. 2kms down the road we enter a forest on a steep single track, muddy, rocky, gullies everywhere,covered in wet,slimy,slippery leaves. For me, impossible to ride, for Keith, a challenge! I don't think he pushed his bike much but I did, most of the way. Over 6kms straight up the side of the volcano in impossible conditions. As always, you think relief must be just around the corner but it goes on and on and on.  Buckets of sweat later we emerge at the top onto a tar road and it starts to rain! Thank goodness that was short lived. We did stop to look at the beautiful lake and verdant green farmlands inside the crater.



Our reward, though, was a superb downhill ride at great speed on the tar road all the way into Capranica. Our B&B is about a kilometre outside the town up a steep hill - as we have come to expect and we were concerned about getting back into town for supper. I also wanted to do some laundry.  Our host made us warmly welcome. He let us use their washing machine and agreed instantly when I enquired whether it would be possible for them to provide us with supper as well.

So we have just finished supper,
Aperitivos: Three types of ham, 5 types of cheese and a basket of fresh bread along with cold water and a litre of red wine. Perfect supper for us we thought.
Primi Piatti: Wide tagliatelli, fresh pasta, cooked with a fresh mushroom sauce and parmesan cheese. Perfect supper for us we thought.
Secondi Piatti: An expertly cooked, plate sized, steak with a fresh garden salad of rosa tomatoes and lettuce. Perfect supper for us we thought.
Just in case you're still peckish: A large, plate sized, thin slice from a huge mushroom, crumbed and deep fried.
Dessert: Home made grape tart and several bunches of fresh grapes
Coffee

What a wonderful meal to celebrate the final supper on the road, I could not have scripted it better if I tried. Then when Keith went to hang out the washing he found it already done.

Awesome B&B Monticelli in Capranica. Pilgrims take note

Day 32 Continued.......

I was working on the blog about midnight last night and I wanted to tell you about the very good meal we had, when the cursor moved to the picture and refused to come back to where I was writing. Irritating! 

Anyway, we decided to follow Sylvia's experience and eat at a restaurant on the lake. The one on stilts in the pic on facebook was closed so we went to another in a hotel nearby. The waiter highly recommended the Ceviche of Coregone (which is the lake fish). That was really excellent. Then, in keeping with the theme, I ordered grilled Coregone with a mixed salad, that too was just perfect, and Keith had Papardelle with pork that he pronounced delicious. Desert was a cinnamon semi-freddo with green apple sorbet. I want to make that at home, it is fantastic

Day 32 Radicofani to Acquapendente and Bolsena (Thursday 27 September)

(60kms)

1934kms from Canterbury - 140kms to Rome
Garmin Record: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233176616
                          http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233176734

There are good days and tough days and experience days. Today is one of the latter. After a quick morning coffee we set off for Acquapendente. A 32km cycle that the guide book said would be easy going for cyclists. The first 10kms flew past as they were all downhill. Having said that, it was all on gravel road with very loose stone covering a rocky bumpy surface so care was needed in the descent. A short stint followed on a tarred section, then we took the turn back onto the gravel road. Barely a kilometre down the road, "twang twang" two of my spokes broke and wound themselves around the hub. Repair time.

 m


I still have two spare spokes but having removed the broken ones I saw it is not possible for me to replace these because, like in Lausanne, the gear mechanism must be removed first. When I put the wheel back on, sans 2 spokes, I found that the rim had buckled and the wheel would not turn very easily. The solution was to disconnect the back brakes and then ride with the tyre scraping on the frame at a point every revolution. Not good and certainly not sustainable. We turned back to the tar road and, thanks to Keith and Google maps, navigated our way gently to Acquapendente. So much for our lunch by the lake in Bolsena! As luck would have it we found a cycle shop but we arrived just on 13:00 and the shop is closed for Siesta until 15:30. So we had lunch and rested in a park waiting for the shop to open. The cycle shop owner was happy to help in an emergency and within an hour he had replaced the spokes and sorted out the buckled rim.
Fortunately Bolsena is only 20kms away and we made good time getting here. It is a lovely town on the edge of a beautiful lake. All in all a very good day despite the mechanical failures. I am blessed that I did not have the problem yesterday, that would have been very difficult to resolve. So onward to Caprianica tomorrow, our last stop before Rome.


Supper!
From Sylvia's blog I learned that the fish from the lake is excellent to eat so I was determined to try the Lake fish at a restaurant on the Lake. Be it for lunch or supper

Day 31 Ponte d ' Arbia to Radicofani (Wednesday 26th September) (

(74kms)

1880kms from Canterbury - 194kms to Rome

Garmin Record: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233176370

I've had uphill days and downhill days. This one, undoubtedly, is classified as a yo-yo day. We rode the first 40kms along gravel roads across the rolling hills. The views were unforgettable but the going was slow. These roads demand respect so concentration is needed all the way. We stopped in Torrenieri for breakfast. Not a km too soon as we were starving and very thirsty. Some 12kms later we arrived in San-Quirico-d'Orica after a long uphill cycle. A very interesting town, as we have seen before, a fortress town with narrow streets, high on a hilltop surrounded by a wall. A quick lemon soda and a cuppa coffee and we were on our way with rain threatening. Now we begin the "strenuous and difficult uphill stage" The guide was accurate it was a yo-yo of up and down but not rolling hills, up a serious hill and then down to the valley only to be repeated time and again. To say we went from 200 metres to 800 metres is misleading because we did it several times. At one point Keith pointed out an ancient castle lookout tower on a mountain way in the distance across several hills and valleys and said "that's our destination" It was so far away I could not envisage it. Here is a picture when we were a lot closer.

And some other fun pics. See below how well signposted the Via is in Italy.

Some friendly horses we met on the way. The third picture is for Simisha to show it is possible to get a good nap on the trail thanks to kind people who leave comfortable car seats in the middle of the bush. The rest are scenery.  The last is of a Sheepdog very protective of his flock of sheep as we rode by. After 10 hours on the road and 7.5 hours cycling time we were very grateful to see Radicofani in sight and we were warmly welcomed at the hostel. Have had supper and now it's bedtime for two fairly exhausted pilgrims

Day 30 Abadia-a-Isola to Ponte d ' Arbia (Tuesday 25th September)

(48kms)

1765 kms from Canterbury - 309kms to Rome
Garmin Record: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233176616

Up early for breakfast of toast and jam and tea. I told you about Mario's farewell ceremony, then on our way the the castle town of Montereggioni. Uphill of course!
Quite an incredible complete town within an ancient massive castle dominating the horizon and over looking the valleys on all sides. Then on to Siena, a beautiful picturesque city, very ancient with an incredible Cathedral and Piazza. As alwaya we stopped for a drink then onward to Ponte d'Arbia In terms of time and distance it was a short day. The cycling was magnificent. The rolling hills have become more gentle, the tracks (mostly) were solid and fairly easy to ride. We had some testing uphills and some exhiliarating downhills but mostly just good fun riding up and down the hills. The scenery is beautiful and so picturesque. We met several pilgrims en route and we are all staying together in the same pilgrim hostel tonight.
Dinner in the restaurant over the road from the hostel was excellent. We had Bresaola Carpaccio, Peci (which is a thicker spaghetti with mushrooms and sausage), gnochetti with pesto and gorgonzola, I had rabbit and baked vegetables and Keith had a great pizza. A bottle of Montepulciano Red, coffee and Grappa just made it perfect. Now it's bedtime, tomorrow promises to be a punishing day. Arrivederci