Day 16 Diamante - Somewhere 35 km then train and ferry to Messina Sicily and another 5km.

R.
Mar 18, 2022
5 min read

Updated: Mar 20, 2022

Got up had breakfast looked out the window and actually been glad that the sun is not shining. Had to get my skin a day out of the sun, despite factor 50 slight redness. My sensitivities briefly checked off: mouth, on the road to recovery. Knee, hardly any more pain. But now reflux, is because of the diet, so let the cola a few days away and more importantly my muscles (especially the thighs) begin to cramp a bit, so stretch more, take out a bit. At that time to the Black Sea, there was after the 12th day "halligalli-drecksau-pain". The cramps were really painful, especially the calf cramps (who knows my calves knows how much muscle that is and they can really hurt, could not walk properly for weeks after). So now a little crampy, we get that. Nuts, water, stretch & step more softly. Okay I pay attention today. When I was then in the saddle and went off, I thought oh quite fresh. A few minutes later I thought to myself, the wind is tight today. Violent crosswind mostly diagonally from the left front, gusty. The worst kind of wind there is, for me, with my sail area. Handlebars firmly held, highway along and always the hard shoulder in the visor. Only the trucks that race past you. Abruptly, the crosswind is gone to then only the more violent to strike when the truck is over. So actually you have problems twice. In addition, the highway was not continuously passable for me. "In galleria" cycling is prohibited. On the way I had no Internet, I concluded wrongly that this meant the bridges. On those hit the crosswind really hard, right it goes down 100 m, except guardrail and maybe a handrail, no demarcation, the shoulder barely exists and littered with potholes or reflectors or broken glass. Even without the gusts, driving on the bridges is associated with crosswinds, only today uncontrollable, with traffic. Getting off the interstate was also only an option in the towns. It came to the point, I pushed on the bridges, although the road dropped. Too dangerous, the height did not bother me, but it pushed me twice against the guardrail. On the way I also thought "in galleria" means on the bridge (and pushing is not driving), but it is not so, the tunnel is meant. Since no one has honked. After 35 kilometers it was then too much for me, grabbed the next station and booked the next train (90 minutes) and drank a few coffees. A check of the weather and also other connections I decided to drive through immediately to Messina in Sicily today. On the first train to Paola I met a conductor who asked me if I was from Germany. I answered in the affirmative and she told me that she had lived in Potsdam for half a year and that it was the best time in her life and that she sometimes cries when she thinks back! At least we did something right for once. I told her that I sometimes feel that way when I think of Italy and we thought about whether we could swap. That was a nice encounter, especially because people in Calabria tend to avoid me, I have the impression. I also noticed this in two bars (coffee refueling). Corona or usual? I wear mask more consistently than you, but thanks for keeping your distance. What else? After changing in Paola, I then drove to Villa Sant Giovanni, the conductor was a cool guy, no english, but joked all the time with me ,when he came by, which was probably bored. I also tried to book a ferry ticket to Malta, which probably did not work, because on one hand the ferry service is suspended due to a storm warning, on the other hand the Internet was probably gone from time to time. Now I have 2 debits on the credit card, but no reservation for a ferry (the story with the Internet here). Let's just go in person and look for the right. Maybe one or both confirmations will come in the meantime, who knows. Or I drive around in Sicily until the ferry traffic works regularly again. In Paola I also immediately bought a ferry ticket to Messina, the lady at the counter told me that the ship was about to leave inside the station. Carefree package for 2 euros? Rather not, arrived and pushed to the ferry, they told me, yes the ticket is valid for me, but this company does not transport bicycles. Should I tie it on my belly? But another company does it, the back there, where the ship is just coming in and if I would hurry, I would maybe still get the ferry. So up off the bike and full throttle, boom crosswind! When I parked my bike to buy a ticket passers-by held my bike, it wanted to sail away by itself. Thanks. Up on the ferry and crossed in the hold. The sea was not shallow. That was rather on the border to the nausea, after 20 minutes I was then also glad to be again on land and to look for an overnight stay possibility. Let's put it this way, I'm in Sicily, here you have to be on your guard, even on the Internet. The bargains that were displayed turned out again and again as a nasty surprise, only with VPN client and correctly selected location I was able to book a reasonable and stable price for tonight. A flophouse with WLAN (I work via the data point in the cell phone), warm showers are not here either, it can not, from the shower comes only one temperature and from the toilet it smells of chlorine, whereupon I decided not to drink tap water, the tube(!) TV also does not work and as a precaution I have the device on which I can do without most likely (Garmin) connected to the mains, but hey, unbeatable 15 euros. And there were free Italian lessons in addition. I would have done without breakfast, too, had it been included at 15 euros. In this sense, I think the adventure is slowly picking up speed, good night and please Mr. Putin, end this war.

P.S.: So the buildings and streets all look dilapidated from the outside, but the stores? The best. I even saw a bike store for the first time in a long time where I could have found spare parts. Mhhhh I continue to watch.

P.S.S.: the weather remains shit, tomorrow rain gear.