Bella Italia Stage 24

San Giorgio Ionico to Galatone

Strava: 83.2 km, 345m, 3:45, 195 shifts

It was nice starting the morning with a video call from Katie, finally back home in Santa Cruz after some plane problems. She was just going to sleep as I was waking up. We packed and rolled out at 8:30. First up was breakfast downtown, with delicious savory olive bread and focaccia.

The ride today was similar to yesterday but with more gravel and less climbing. We spent most of the time on little farm roads, paved or gravel. One point in the morning was funny: the track went off in an impossible direction so we followed some faint bike tracks through a field. I kept having to shift to an easier gear because my wheels were sinking into the dirt. It wasn’t quite mud but it was funny being barely able to ride in 38×42 on flat ground. The field ended and we had to go through a hole in a rock wall, then bushwack – luckily it turned out not to be far. I led with the bike, pushing it into the thorny bushes, to save my skin. Then across another field, then 300m on a gravel road, then we emerged onto a super freshly paved smooth road that gently descended. Suddenly it was effortless!

We stopped almost halfway in Avetrana for snacks, that is drinks and a massive number of pastries.

We continued on, lots more gravel, with almost no riding on roads with traffic which was great. We went through a tunnel which was a single giant puddle. Since there was virtually no climbing and navigation was easy it went quickly. Soon we were in Nardo, the town right before our destination. The old downtown looked nice and had a couple of cafés. For some reason there are tourists around besides us. We had a round of big salads with a bottle of rosé Prosecco which was grand.

It was just a few km to Galatone and we quickly found our B&B. We had said we’d arrive at 3 and we were on the dot and so was our host. We have the whole place and he showed us the rooms, two suites with two bedrooms each, bathrooms, laundry, and a nice upstairs terrace for drying clothes. After putting out my laundry I had a nap then wrote this post.

Just after sunset, Andrew, Wytze and I had beers and snacks on the terrace, then met Daniel at our selected restaurant. We had mostly seafood, with Prosecco and white wine. I was proud of myself for passing on dessert – very soon we have to drastically change our eating habits! We did stop for a round of Amaro on the way home. The temperature here at night just could not be better.

Today was a fun second-to-last day of riding. We’re looking forward to running out of Italy tomorrow at Santa Maria de Leuca, the bottom of the “heel.” We’ll stay there two nights to decompress from the trip, then start the return journey to Holland, by bike, train, plane and bike again.