Il Carpegna

At around 3:00 in the morning the tent started shaking under turbulent wind. I got up, tightened the ropes with pegs and most importantly collected my laundry before the wind could grab it and carry it down into the valley. The wind eventually subsided only to return stronger later during the day.

Due to overwhelming fatigue I left the campground later than I would have liked. I still managed to reach the summit of Il Carpegna at 1415 m before the rain started. Up there a road cyclist inquired about my travel plans and informed me that the forecast for the north looked grim. On the way down I met dozens of roadies struggling on the climb like a procession of pilgrims headed for a sanctuary. The mood was splendid, everyone was cheering everybody else. Today the Carpegna was good enough for all of us.

San Marino

Just around the corner a few hundred meters further down lies San Marino. After the Vatican this is the second dwarf state that I visited on this trip. Looks fairly Italian in every respect. The location on that isolated rock is very neat, albeit at that point I could have done without the climb. The rain set in so I went extra careful on the descent.

Emilia Romagna

Back to Italy I was almost at sealevel already. Ravenna was the main goal for the afternoon but I had some issues getting there with limited navigational help. The roads were confusing, not only to me but also to a couple of tourers from Leipzig who I encountered lost looking for a path through the suburban labyrinth.

With over ten kilometers of unplanned detours I finally made it to the city center. A bit underwhelming, which is rare for Italy. Especially the Theodoric Mausoleum was a let down: Fenced off with a ticket office that was closed. Visible from outside only from inconvenient angles and not quite accessible on a bicycle anyways. Nevertheless I took a short break to enjoy the sight from afar before I started the final chapter of the day.

The wind was already bad south of Ravenna, oscillating between headwind and crosswind with strong gusts that threatened to send me into the ditch more than once. Near the coast it was no different, just less hot. The unfavorable conditions and detours caused me to fall way behind schedule and when I reached Ravenna it was already past 16:00 with another 40 km to ride. After climbing a ton in the morning the legs started to feel like they were made of lead. The temptation to fold and default to the nearest campsite -- this being the beach there are lots of options -- was great. However the wind now stabilized into an almost orthogonal, steady crosswind which was quite an improvement. So I told the legs to shut up, flew past hundreds of beaches and holiday villages of the coast and finally, five minutes before the reception closed, arrived at the last campsite south of the Po delta as planned.

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