Sid and Doris Bonkers and their Epic Journeys
"Everybody is normal until you get to know them"
The SS16 runs along the whole of the top/east/back-of-calf coast of Italy, and we’ve actually cycled up about half of it, now I look at the map. We started at Bari and left just before Pescara. And here are some things that flitted through my Doris-ian mind as I pedalled along it. We started in the “deep south” of Italy. …
Read moreAs we progressed south through Serbia and Bulgaria, we started to see a fashion for pre-booking grave spaces. The his ‘n’ her graves have been a bit thought-provoking, but in Apricena we find a huge newly-built mausoleum where you can reserve as many slots, for as many generations, as you want. Having seen a couple with their fronts off, I…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris whoosh away from the hotel, elect for country roads, visit a necropolis and see the quarry where the marble comes from. Today’s mission was 102km and only 427m of climb. For the first ten minutes we climbed to the top of the village, then turned left and dropped all the height we had gained to…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris plan to make a new plan later, passing the day with animatronic dinosaurs and quite a lot of eatingToday is a day of planning. After admiring the monumental (and pointless, because we are just going straight back down tomorrow) view, our first attempt was to work up a route over the Appenines to the Mediterranean…
Read moreOK, we seem to have whizzed across Turkey and Greece rather faster than we had originally planned. We’d looked at finding a nice Neilson beach resort to chill out in for a week, but the dates were hard to coordinate and in the end, at Patras, we simply bought a Bari ticket and carried on. So here we are in…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris ride with flamingoes, lunch in a holiday camp, ride across a mighty hot plain then up a mighty hillclimb to reach a resort hotel with no swimming pool.This felt like hard day at 87 kilometres and 781 metres of climb, approx 80 k of flat and all the climb packed into the last 7k. From…
Read moreI thought you would like this notice, which was posted at intervals alongside a very nice cycle lane somewhere south of Giovinazzo. Showing various famous Italian cyclists, it contains suggestions such as cyclists: I will run red lights with caution; pedestrians: I will jaywalk with caution; and generally: don’t be a jerk. Splendid stuff. Says all you need to know…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris maintain their long held dislike of Bari, cross Dog Turd Traverse but later cheer up with spaghetti in a pretty town square. We look out of our (expensively-windowed) cabin to see rain falling and lightning flashing. We cannot hear the thunder. It is still raining as we get off the ferry. Bari in general has…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris find the next port and ferry, leaving Greece for Italy.Our last day in Greece starts fabulously well with cyclists’ breakfast of egg, local cream yoghurt, host’s mother’s marmalade, a croque Monsieur, toasts, orange juice, coffee by the pool. Seems a shame to leave. But we do find our way back to the old coast road….
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris have a fab day with a generous baker, visit a Christening and see the railway that bankrupted Greece.Maybe we should have looked harder for the small delights in Corinth but Via Michelin probably has it right. There is a good view up the road to the mountains as we leave to find the coast road…
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