The boat ride to Italy was, um, interesting. We went through a very large storm that was rocking that boat like crazy. We would go over the crest of each wave and then a few seconds later the front of the boat would smash into the water to the trough of the wave. I was attempting to sleep in the lounge area and the chairs were sliding back forth across the floor. I had to grab onto the table next to me to make sure I didn't roll off the bench I was lying on. Exciting stuff.
I arrived in Italy mid morning and without much of a plan. And hungry. I cycle into the centre of Brindisi and discovered that Italians don't believe in breakfast. A small pastry will have to hold me over until I find a supermarket.
I come up with a very vague plan of heading to Lecce and then exploring the 'heel' of Italy before heading north to umm, somewhere. It's a cold and grey day but the cycling is pleasant. I stumble accross a small road, winding through vineyards and olive orchards, in the general direction I want to travel. The main traffic I have to cotend with are these cute little three wheeled utes that the farmers drive. I can almost keep up with them.
The afternoon brings colder weather and drizzle. I find a concrete building amongst some olive trees and hide from the weather for the night in there.
The morning brings sunshine and I meander into a village for a coffee and pastry. The day continues in a similar vein to yesterday, quiet roads, pretty countryside. A drizzly afternoon. I find a abandoned house in the countryside with an unlocked door. It's quite clean inside. I even have a rooftop balcony. Yep, this will do for the night.
I wake up in the morning to rain. I roll over and snooze the morning away, I have a roof over my head and no real motivation to cycle through cold rain. I decide to stay put in my house for the day.
I while away the time drinking tea, eating noodles I found at the bottom of my food pannier (from Kyrgyzstan!), reading a book and I even found time to replace my bike chain.
In the morning I have sunshine. I cycle the last few kilometres to Lecce. Once there I check my email and find that I have a couchsurfing host for the night. I spend the rest of the morning wandering around the old city. It's full of lovely buildings and fancy marble.
Whilst whiling away the day I meet a local, Tobia, who tells me about a bike kitchen nearby and also offers his couch. I arrange to meet up with him in a few days.
Once at Sandro's house I am shown my room. Suite more like it. I have a lovely room with kitchen and bathroom. It usually gets rented out in summer as a BnB. Fancy. Dinner that night is hand made pasta with chick peas.
That following day I cycle back into town, wander around a little, eat more pastries and drink more coffee. This is quickly becoming a habit. I like it. In the afternoon I manage to wash all the mud from Greece off my bike and panniers.
The next day I bid farewell to Sandro and his family and head into town to meet up with Tobia, drink coffee and eat pastries. I the plan is to head south east towards Otranto after this. As it turns out best laid plans sometimes go awry.
After coffee Tobia and I head to one of his friends houses out of town for lunch. By this time the wind has picked up and is crazy. I agree to another couple of days in Lecce. I visit and old castle in a nearby village before headig back to town. That evening the three if us head to the old town for pizza and beer. Delicious.
The next day I find an outdoor shop and buy some seam sealer for my tent. Hopefully rainy nights will be a little less wet from now on. The afternoon is spent at the bike kitchen. I am treated like a celebrity and it's a little overwhelming. When you do something everyday it becomes quite ordinary (not to say that I am not enjoying this) and to have a whole heap of attention laid on me for essentially riding my bike for a few hours each day, eating lots of food and not showering nearly often enough is a little overwhelming. But I happily answer a bunch of questions and for the millionth time, I am not going to write a book about this trip. However, the bike kitchen is awesome. Lots of artwork, many tools, old bikes and a thriving community.
In the evening there is a band playing. It's awesome Balkan music mixed wth electronic music. Great stuff. After some gelato it time to head back indoors and warmth. Although I am in the south of Italy it's still cold. A good day is a light wind, sunshine and and max of10 degrees. Bad days of rain and wind are well, bad. Evenings are very chilly.
31/1 Brindisi - past Brindisi: rode 21km
1/2 past Brindisi - somewhere near Lecce: rode 38km
3/1 somewhere near Lecce - Lecce: rode 19km
4/1 Lecce: rode 19km
5/1 Lecce: rode 41km
6/1 Lecce: rode 21km
Total 6342km
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