Bella Italia Stage 20

San Marco dei Cavoti to Cerignola

Strava: 113.8 km, 1,339m, 5:37, 376 shifts

Last night the birthday party we were warned about in our B&B went on until after midnight but given my massive nap earlier I was up reading anyway. Then super solid sleep.

Breakfast was from the B&B augmented by Wytze with yogurt, bread and cheese. Not bad! We headed out about 9. It was warmer with no threat of rain. The stage had some climbing but it was nearly all in the first 40 km. Up and down, steep! We spent the whole day on back roads, with a fair amount of gravel, but all easy.

A little before 11 we stopped for morning coffee and for the first time I had a choice for my cioccolata calda: liquido o denso. Naturally I asked for denso per favore. So thick and good!

That powered us up the last hills. We had finally come to the end of the mountains and it looked like just downhill ahead. It was still some work, especially keeping up with Wytze. We got to a town at 88 km, pretty hungry. Daniel had really been looking forward to the Taste of Sicily restaurant but alas it was booked for a big private party and not even he was able to smooth talk our way in. So we ate our emergency bars and proceeded to the next town at 100 km.

We had better luck at the Togo Café: paninis, fries, 2.5 L of water and 2 L of sodas. That did the trick. The last 13 km was an easy cruise. Our B&B had been cancelled due to over booking and replaced with an alternate so we went there. We called the owner and he redirected us to the original place, a huge upgrade. It took a long time to actually get the gate open, then the room keys etc but we lucked out. It’s luxurious and Andrew was heard to say “It sets a new standard” on emerging from the shower. On a Sunday afternoon, this town (and all the others we passed through) were really dead, except for the Taste of Sicily party. Over booking doesn’t look like it could possibly be a thing here today.

After some laundry and relaxing it was finally 8 pm when restaurants open. We walked over to a pizza place and had a good dinner, beers, appetizers, wine, then more pizza than we could quite finish. I passed on dessert and we all passed on Amaro. The town was much livlier in the evening. Lots of people everywhere.

We’ve finally arrived in our last Italian region: Puglia. We have a medium and a short day to Matera, then three medium stages to the end of the line at Santa Maria di Lueca.