ThirdReport

MAY 7, 2001 MONDAY

This morning we packed up and cleaned up and got ready to leave Rome. Gabriele came by about 10am and we handed over the keys and said our good-byes.

We set off in the rain by train from Roma Termini to Ancona, passing through rolling hills filled with quaint small towns. It rained all the way, so it was a good day to travel. When we arrived in Ancona we made our connection for the short trip to Porto Recanati, our home for the next two weeks.

At the station in Porto Recanati Tony and Luciana Lillo were waiting to pick us up. They showed us around town and then drove us to their condo at this beach resort. Our new home is a two bedroom unit with wonderful large decks for outdoor dining.

After the Lillos left we put our bikes together and went to the supermarket for supplies. It felt good to be back on our bikes after two weeks of tourism.

MAY 10, 2001 THURSDAY

The weather has been great every day, except for that one day of rain when we traveled.

Each day we have taken a bike ride to get ready for our tour across the country. The first day we went out the bicycle path, through the town, and out along the river. The path degenerated to the point that we got back on the roads. We ended up in Loreto, high on a hill, overlooking Porto Recanati and the countryside and coastline.

The next day we went farther, to Loreto and Recanati. There is a huge church in Loreto which is reputed to have rocks which came from the house where Mary lived in Nazareth. Lots of tourists, pilgrims and clergy come here, and while we were there a whole, huge busload of nuns arrived for a retreat. We rode a 34k loop and got some good climbing in. The terrain here is interesting. There really are no valleys. Hills pop up everywhere—not big ones, just little rolly hills, right where you expect it to be flat valley. Every town is on top of a hill, and I am not sure that anyone here has heard of a switchback. The roads go straight up and down. Recanati was the home of Giacomo Leopardi, Italy best loved poet and writer.

I believe that this area must be the spinach capitol of Italy. All of the fields around are planted in spinach, with a few fields of peas for good measure. Perfect for Peter Rabbit. Actually, sometimes, coming down the hills toward Porto Recanati, it almost looks like Watsonville countryside.

Today we rode up the coast to Sirolo past the beautiful beach and climbed up Monte Conero, a 1000ft climb. My face was as red as a beet when we got to the top of the hill. This peak is on a point that juts out into the Adriatic Sea, with views north to Ancona and south to Porto Recanati. The skies are hazy, and I am not sure if it is low, coastal clouds or smog, but the views were very nice nonetheless.

Yesterday Don tried to hook up his computer to a pay phone so we could check our email, but no luck. Tomorrow we will try some other possibilities.

We are all settled in, quite comfortable. It is nice to have a king bed for a change. We have our little routine—coffee and croissants and fruit in the morning, bike ride, home for shower and lunch, town in the afternoon, dinner, evening activity, bed. Well, we are enjoying it. I got tired of museums and churches, and this is a nice hiatus before the next leg of our journey.

Friday we rode through two beautiful small hill towns, Villa Potenza and Montelupone. Built in the 14th century. Montelupone was so well adapted to artillery defense that it remained intact through the centuries. The road down from Montelupone was so steep at times you couldn’t see more than a few 100 yards before the hill dropped out of sight. In all my travels this is one of the steepest paved roads I’ve ever ridden down. Thank goodness we didn’t try to ride up it. I’m sure from the looks of things there are many more just as steep here in Italy. We will try to plan our routes very carefully.

Just a short note from Don: Traveling here in Marche the Italian people we have met are very friendly and helpful. Whenever we stop at a small village, the men gather around to talk about our bicycles. Bicycling is a very popular sport here in Italy, and more than once an older man says, “oh yes! He used to ride.”, and you can see the sparkle in his eyes of past rides he must have done. I had a similar experience once, when I was touring by motorcycle. Men would come up to me and want to talk about past trips they had taken. When I asked if they still rode, the answer was always the same. “no, not anymore< now that I'm older.” I think it brought back memories of their youth, just for a second. I know I can always see a twinkle in their eyes and a smile of days gone by.

The response to our web page has been very gratifying. Thanks for taking the time to let it download. I know it's slow and tedious, but with all pictures and fact that geocities is free, it’s just a little slower.