July 18,
Day of climbs…
After the splendors of Riccione we try our hand at the Pantani roads above Gabicce.
Picturesque, even underrated places (Vallugola for example). They deserve more attention but untrained slopes and boiling heat saw the legs.
We are out of breath and enthusiasm dies down.
We drink hectoliters of hot water from water bottles and plastic bottles, then decide on a stop at a farmhouse on the hill.
It looks like a nice arrangement, the only drawback being that the loft that houses our bed has a very steep barn ladder, borderline impractical for a Trisable.
We are looking for food and fresh water .
We descend back to the coast to an unlikely tavern on the highway.
After draining another couple of liters of water, we devour a trucker’s plate of homemade pasta.
the place is actually called Pasta a L’Ove, egg pasta in the Romagnolo dialect, but on Facebook they sign themselves as like
“pasta love” more international , for foreign tourists.
We befriend the manager, a genuine Romagnolo who bounces between us and a couple of hungry and sleepy workers .
Great place, real, cozy, simple.
To return to our farmhouse it is all steep uphill.
I get off the bike and shamelessly push.
Fujie in a burst of pride takes off pedaling.
But he will pay for it: he arrives at the room wrecked and crashes on the bed, missing an afternoon of relaxation in the b and b’s small pool.
Dinner in the room with breaded chicken, cooked and seared without oil, and a peach. But we are fine, laughing and jumping into the pool for a night swim, under the stars.
