Playing stenographer to the three riders proved too much for me yesterday, so we have decided to have a different kind of fun with the blog. They are going to keep taking photos, eating fab Italian food and drinking local wines. I am going to keep writing the blog but will be doing it without the excruciating benefit(!) of their verbal input…that is to say, I will look at the photos, write what I think may have happened during that day and then will publish material corrections, if required, the next day.
For yesterday’s events, I was there for part so I hope there won’t be too many amendments to be published! I am currently on a flight from Rome to JFK after a 3.30am start, so perhaps there will be material amendments required after all! FYI, Italian Covid test was negative (one down two to go!). I still marvel that we can be driving along the Amalfi coast with my phone acting as a hotspot, my laptop tethered to it to download, unzip, decrypt and then forward to my US Orthopod my Covid test certificate. How did we cope before….?!
To finish up on Napoli first…after our lovely dinner, John and Richard W decided to Uber to the apartment and the rest of us walked. They kept our sole set of keys as they would clearly get back before us…WRONG! First problem occurred when the Uber dropped them at the wrong address. Richard W had already run out of cell battery and John was on 1% when Paul called to find where they were as we were already back. That call drained the final juice but, luckily, not before a final Mayday transmission of the address of our apartment. The hotel they popped into had no maps due to Covid transmission risk so they flagged a taxi who then took 3 attempts to find our street! Richard W kept repeating the saying “See Naples and Die!” believing that the last person he ever saw might be John Lay! Meanwhile we had got bored with waiting and found a little general store that sold beer and had Foosball, allowing us to challenge the locals while waiting!
John and I left Naples the next morning at the same time as the cyclists to head first to Sorrento (passing Vesuvius on the way) and then to meet my eldest niece (Louisa) and her boyfriend (Josh) in Positano. The coastline was truly stunning and we knew the guys would have a ball cycling along the Amalfi Coast…provided nothing untoward happened to Richard S, of course (see below…)! Lunch was at Bruno’s with the most incredible view across Positano. My white fish starter was lightly sauteed in breadcrumbs and lemon and both John and I said it was the best fish we have ever eaten! Veal Milanese as a main and we found LEMON TIRAMISU and strawberry millefeuille with creme patissiere…really delicious. A few bottles of the local rose, a 2019 Vetere from Campania (Naples region), and we were all set for the stop-start drive to Salerno. The guys forgot to cycle down into the village, instead skirting above, so we didn’t see them to cheer them on - but the thought was there! In the end, they beat us to Salerno, thanks to some judicious cycling on the other side of the road to beat the traffic.
We had a lovely couple of girls staying in one of the rooms in our apartment and they made an excellent recommendation for a local pizza restaurant about 600yds away in a great little square! I took their recommendation entirely eating the Agosto pizza (mozzarella, blue cheese, walnuts, honey) and it was an excellent recommendation! Paul went authentic Napoletana with no cheese, the two Richards with white pizzas (no tomato sauce) and John with spicy meat and both cheese and tomato sauce. All excellent with a local vino rosso (Alfonso Rotolo Le Ghiandaie). Quite delicious and very inexpensive…I know because the whole meal with starters, beers, pizza and wine was only 143 Euros!
Early to bed as early to rise….for once!
And the cycling bit…6 miles of nasty cobbled streets coming out of Naples and apparently with tram lines that were the perfect size to catch Richard S’s wheel…..whilst on the ground (another “brutal coincidence” with hard stone!), concerned onlookers were kind enough to suggest that he might get a bike with wider tires! So helpful! And how right was my fellow “Board Member” about watching over Richard S!! They did indeed have a lovely climb to Sorrento and then the pretty ride along the Amalfi coast. Pleasant lunch, though not with Limoncello this time, and a well-deserved gelato stop rounded out the day for them.
I realized last night I had forgotten to include John’s encounter with a very emotive 70-year old Italian ranter in Rome! John parked by the apartment, fully pulled over, leaving tons of space for cars to pass. Mr. Angry pulled up behind and, seeing French tags, started screaming in French at John for stopping illegally where he was also now stopped, illegally. John tried to calm him to no avail and we continued loading. John commented to me as I arrived on the noisy scene that we had an angry man behind us. Very proud of his command of foreign languages, Mr. Angry then went off at us in English! I think there may have been a mention of football somewhere in the tirade and his delightful parting shot as we pulled away was, ”And I hope you have a serious accident very soon!”. Obviously not happy about Brexit or something!
Boys headed further down the coast today and are now only four days out from the Toe (Reggio Calabria).
Data: Day 11 was 87 miles (140km), elevation 2,385 feet (795m). Day 12 was 70 miles (112km), elevation 4,494 feet (1,498m). Cumulative: 825 miles (1,320km), elevation 49,145 feet (15,248m).