| Day # | 20 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 60 miles | km | 427 feet | metres | 0 |
| Trip Totals | 961 miles | km | 36918 feet | metres | 0 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
I had a relatively late start today! I stayed last night in a Bed and Breakfast and it did actually include breakfast. I hadn't the heart to ask for breakfast at 5 a.m. and I'm pretty sure that if I had, the request would have been refused! So breakfast was at 7:30 and I was on the road by about 8:10.
Leaving Mortara was easy. It's a small place and traffic is light. There's a railway station in the town and I crossed the tracks on the way out into the countryside.
Before long though, I was struggling through sand on another of the infamous sandy trails in these parts. And it was getting hot. Europe is currently in the grips of an unusual heatwave and extreme weather warnings are being issued everywhere. In some parts of Europe, wild fires have taken hold.
I vowed to avoid more trails like this. But the problem is, sometimes they start out OK and it's only after you're a couple of miles in that it becomes sandy and hard to cycle. The dilemma you face is whether to push on and hope the surface improves or backtrack and find a way around.
Soon enough I was back on the road and passing through villages and towns.
The ancient pilgrims way, the Via Francigena passes through here so I saw several walkers around here and in fact chatted with a Swiss/Belgian couple at the water fountain in Nicorvo.
I was getting concerned my phone might overheat again so on passing a bar somewhere further on, I stopped and bought some cold cans of drink, one for under the phone in the frame bag and the others for me. I was at risk of over-heating too!
The road passed through more villages and over a river. The irrigation channels in the fields attracted numerous birds and there was more woodland here than there had been yesterday.
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| I just liked the name of this place. Try saying it out loud! |
Vercelli is a fairly large town. Cycling into it was straightforward but it turned out it was market day and following my route (actually, it's the official Eurovelo EV8 route!) through the town proved a bit harder, with a never ending one-way system adding to my woes :-)
And getting out was harder still! Lots of traffic and quite a few large trucks.
I was passed by another bikepacker on the way out of Vercelli but we soon met again at the water fountain in Casalrosso.
He was French and we chatted a while as we took on fresh water. He noticed the horrendous mosquito bites all over my legs and asked where I'd got them. Presumably he was impressed and wanted a collection for himself.
The roads continued over irrigated farmland. I photographed and positively identified a Little Egret. I've seen loads of them but this was the first time a photo was good enough for the Merlin bird identification app.
I also passed an impressive abbey called the Principality of Lucedio.
The road was reached with effort and a little cursing (note to self - learn to curse in Italian!) and I continued.
My destination was an AirBnb apartment in the town of Chivasso. I got a message from the host and gave an update on my expected time of arrival. She sent me a Google maps link with the location and since I was now only about 12 miles away and the battery level in my phone looked pretty good, I decided to fire up Google Maps and let it guide me turn by turn to the address by what I assumed would be an efficient and cycling-appropriate route.
It started out well enough! But things took a turn for the worse when I was guided off the road onto a gravel trail that followed a large canal. It seemed OK to start with and I could see that it was a very direct route, running for about 5 or 6 miles alongside the canal. OK, Google. Let's do this then.
Now, there's a long and complete version of this story and a shorter one which will gloss over some facts I suspect I shouldn't be sharing online! But suffice is to say, Google was a bit out of date regarding the status of this path. Now, I don't read Italian so I can't say whether there were or were not barriers and No Entry signs barring my way a couple of miles in. And I couldn't possibly comment on any suggestions that I might have lugged my bike up an insanely steep bank, right up to the edge of the canal when the path below it I'd been following just ended at an impassable building and very wide river. Or that I could have wheeled it across a narrow path on a long viaduct that carried the canal over the big river, despite suspicions people weren't supposed to use it. And I absolutely refuse to comment on what might or might not have happened at the far side of the viaduct when it's conceivable there was a steel mesh fence, about a half a metre shorter than I am tall, blocking my way. After all the effort I may or may not have expended getting there. And finally, whilst I can confirm that with the bags removed, I am strong enough to lift my bike right over big fences, drop my bags over and then climb over myself, none of that actually happened of course. Because I'm certain that would have been most naughty, not to mention dumb. Anyone with half a brain would accept the path was closed, turn around, ride back a few miles to the road and go around. Right?
Eventually, happily, I rode into Chivasso, just as my phone over-heated and my apps all abandoned ship!
I got to the road my accommodation was on just before my phone melted but couldn't remember the number. Luckily the host, who had been expecting me, stepped out into the street to look for me and spotted me so all was well.
I'm now in a small studio apartment and preparing to do nothing until tomorrow morning when the fun shall start again!
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