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Published: September 16th 2017
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The sun hasn't yet risen and we're already on our way I'm writing this as a very tired traveller, having gotten up before dawn prior to spending over 6 hours on trains going up one side of Italy and down the other. Concerned about the possibility of sleeping in and missing the train, I was up before the alarm (and sun) at 5:45 (actually I was up several times during the night before that) and at the hotel desk at 6:00 to collect our breakfast bag before setting off along rain-soaked streets for the 15 minute walk to the station and the first of our 4 trains today.
Leaving Riccione there was not much to see out the windows as a grey dawn emerged to reveal fog-shrouded fields, but I figured if it must rain (yet again!) let it do it while we're travelling rather than on a day when we'd prefer to bike. This train was a touch more modern than the one I came in on, with an electronic display showing all the stations along the line and our progress through them, and a much better sound system for the recorded announcements as we approached each one. And this time my ticket actually got checked, although the trend didn't
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Bob and Chiara in her car last: I went 2 for 4.
We rolled into Faenza 23 minutes late (at the previous station we had been 25 minutes behind schedule but gained a bit by boosting our cruising speed from the previous 132 kph up to 153) but that didn't affect us as even with the delay we still had to wait a further 20 minutes or so before our next train - one that distressingly displayed the incorrect number for almost its entire journey - pulled out headed for Firenze (Florence). There we had the longest walk possible to get to the train to Pisa: from the end of our train on the last track (16) all the way over to the end of the Pisa train on track 1. As more people climbed aboard it soon became Standing Room Only, and we felt fortunate to have been able to find seats when we did. It hadn't helped that our progress across the station had been impeded by flummoxed tourists who stopped at the most inopportune places e.g. the tops and bottoms of stairs.
In contrast, our final train to Campiglia Marittima was far from full and a quiet, refreshing break. In fact
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Our home for the next week Bob even nodded off several times, and while I was very much envious that he had done so, I resisted the urge to follow suit inasmuch as it would be bad form indeed to have made it this far and then missed our stop. As we continued south, despite the appearance of palm trees and ocean views the weather still wasn't looking very good, and as we passed through Rosignano it even started raining a bit. At that point I just wanted to stop travelling and get some sleep, and the thought of not renting a bike for the full week even crossed my mind. Meanwhile I noted that my cold symptoms, although mild, still persisted.
Exactly as we had arranged, we were met at the train station by Chiara, who was carrying a hand-lettered Salvapiano (the name of the "holiday ranch" where we are staying) sign. As a further indication of how informal/relaxed things are here, she had come to pick us up in her personal car (complete with son's toys, etc) rather than the hotel van we had anticipated. We were pleased to confirm that the hotel/ranch is indeed out in the country, and not only does
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Bob sitting outside our door... it produce (and sell) its own olive oil and wine, but it derives all its energy needs from a solar field in its vineyard. We were also pleasantly surprised to learn that our room had been upgraded to another mini-apartment (we were just told not to use the kitchen to avoid any extra charge), and this one even has a proper pull-out sofa bed to sleep in, not just a couch. Yes, there was some confusion at lunch about what is/isn't included in our package, but the good news is that the air is clean and fresh, the surroundings are peaceful, and we can use the washing machine that's in our apartment (there is no dryer, however). True, the bikes suck (we'll find out just how much tomorrow, when we head off on our first - and as suspected, self-directed - ride tomorrow), but it's gonna be an enjoyable week, I think.
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