Blog 6 27 May 15
Hi again - for the last time from Italy. Having exchanged a few 'traveller's tales' with fellow cyclists and motorcyclists I made a "strategic" decision to skip the busy coastal roads of the southern tip of Italy and take a ferry from Catania in Sicily to Naples. This had the added attraction of allowing me to cycle the fabulous Sorrento peninsula and the Amalfi coast which looks as good as the pictures suggest. Probably just as well because Naples was a cyclist's hell - if you can imagine cycling over 10 miles of cobbles in a thunderstorm and very heavy Italian traffic, whilst trying to navigate by a compass (because all the signs direct you to motorways) and coping with regular attacks by packs of Neapolitan stray dogs (who are as attracted to cyclists as cats are to catnip). Just to add a unique fragrance to the journey - Naples was in the middle of a refuse strike that has been ongoing for many months - I'll let you imagine the consequences.
Anyway I'm now in Melfi in the Apennine hills and within a day or two will be in Bari and ready to board my sixth ferry this time to Dubrovnik. If all goes according to plan there will be lots more ferry journeys between the islands of Croatia.
3000K completed so far..........and still no sign of a puncture!
Duncan.