Day 5&6: Ahead of schedule?

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Most days, we would wake up at the break of dawn to start our cycling, not only because we have distance to cover, but also because we usually camp illegally. Not today. We were at a proper caravan park beside the beautiful lake, and we slept in. Did the laundry at the laundry point, and had nice refreshing cold showers. Our plan for the day was to rest and relax by the 'beach', and start cycling at about 4pm when the sun was down.

We took a stroll around the campsite, and realized that it was huge. At least 15 football fields worth of camping ground. There were many German and Dutch tourists who drove from their homeland to enjoy the Italian summer. Most were families who came in their all-equiped caravans, campervans and trailers. It was basically a mini-hotel (for us at least). Nevertheless, we still enjoyed ourselves and layed down by the beach and had a swim in the rather warm ocean. Because of the strong wind in the region, there were many avid windsurfers out in the lake.. doing their thing. What a nice day..

Alas, siesta was over. We packed our dried washed clothes into our panniers, topped up our 5litres worth of water, and off we were again. Similarly, the terrains, if any, were very gentle, and we easily did 30km or so before the sun was setting. Luckily, we found a off-the-beaten-track plot of land, and there was no property on it. That will be our home for the night. The tent was set up at a strategic location: not too hard, uneven, and of course, no ants nest. We had warm creamy risotto for dinner, and was ready to go to bed.

Day 5

In the mornings, two things stopped me from starting the day. Firstly, it was the thought of my aching bum on the bicycle's saddle. Secondly, it was the coldness that would hit me when I opened the zip of the tent. As we go south, the weather gets warmer, which means I have one less problem in the morning. After a warm cup of tea and some biscuits, off we were again.

The rest of the cycling was relatively uneventful. Roads were smooth, we were mentally and physically strong, nothing could get in our way. The day's highlight was probably passing an ancient tomb. Apparently backdating all the way back to the BC period, it was dugged into a mountain, and resembled a huge cave. Different sized holes were made in the walls to store the remains of the deceased. Normal tribesman would have a tiny pigeon hole for his cremated remains. The tribe leader would have a larger one to store his entire body. However, during the Middle Ages, all possessions were being looted of. In the 19th Century, the tombs were used as shophouses!

We stopped in a town for lunch. Rather eerily, it resembled a ghost town. The town was decent and did not look old at all. But there was not a single soul roaming the streets, except some dodgy characters idling around the town's park. Ahh, it was a Sunday. Family day, and church day thats why. True enough, after 3pm, the town was slowly coming back to life and people starting streaming the streets.

Over lunch, we opened our maps and were curious to know how far we have to Rome. After much examination, we realized that we were not far from Rome. In fact, it was possible to reach Rome on the day itself! We were elated! Good, now we can just relax. So our plan was to cycle until we hit the fringe of Rome and camp there. The next day we will go all the way into Rome, and meet Angela and Marco. The greed of covering more distance within the day and finding an ideal camping ground were conflicting interests. That is because the more we get closer to Rome, the more urbanized it gets, making it harder to find plains and grass patches.

We ended up finding a opening into a plain that was beside a highway. There were tall bushes, so we were easily camouflaged. Not the best place to camp, but our final day of camping! Yay.
Rome we come, tomorrow!

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