We are staying in a very nice hotel, overlooking the sea and this morning we had a gorgeous view from a rooftop terrace.
Around 10am we left on a ride with our guide, Domenico, just 5 bikes in total but a perfect number for our ride through the mountains behind the coast. The roads were very twisty and often badly broken so it was a challenging ride but great fun as long as you avoided the bumps, fallen chestnuts and gravel. One of our number fell victim to the gravel but fortunately it was only his pride that was hurt - plus a few scratches on the bike of course.
The scenery was magnificent for the most part and I hope to show some when I sort out the video I took. The wifi here is just too slow to do much with it.
Saturday, 12 October 2013
Pompei to Maratea
Leaving Pompei, we passed through a couple of small towns on our way to the Amalfi coast road. These were bursting at the seams with crazy Italian drivers who seem to invent their own rules of the road as it suits them. Signs and white paint there are aplenty but treated at best as mere suggestions. They don't even mark the field of play for it turns out that the sidewalk is a fine place to drive/ride and park too. The wrong side of the road - what's a wrong side? Everything is fine as long as you don't blink, he who hesitates is lost in this state of automotive anarchy. Mad Max would do just fine.
The Amalfi coast is indeed utterly spectacular but of course the traffic, nose to tail in both directions makes it hard to enjoy it properly.
More later...
The Amalfi coast is indeed utterly spectacular but of course the traffic, nose to tail in both directions makes it hard to enjoy it properly.
More later...
Friday, 11 October 2013
Rome to Pompei
Leaving Rome on a motorcycle was an experience that one should suffer as few times as possible. The traffic was horrendous and it seemed that the only way to survive and make progress was to ride like a Roman, after all, ¨When in Rome...¨ and all that.
Riding the latest water cooled BMW GS 1200 makes that relatively easy. The engine is marvellous with great acceleration, easy to wheelie off the throttle in first as I discovered when I gave it the sort of handful that I would normally give my GSA for a brisk take off.
We stopped for a while in Castel Gandolfo, summer home of the Pope and where the recently retired pope is staying I think. However, neither came to shake our hands so after a coffee and a brief look at the pretty lake, we headed off once again. The weather was a mix of heavy showers and sunshine, mainly rain at first but brighter in the afternoon.
Another coffee stop at Roca Massima to shelter from the rain, then on to an excellent lunch at Sperlunga, where the rain cleared and we stayed mostly dry until we arrived in Pompei.
The roads we have ridden so far have been somewhat disappointing with quite a lot of traffic and rain often obscuring the scenic stuff in the hills. There was also a very slow rider in my group who held us up a lot. I shall try to avoid him today!
I only brought my ipad on this trip so video may be a problem and given the weather only a couple of photos were taken on this leg. I will post them when I figure out how to do it!
2 }
Riding the latest water cooled BMW GS 1200 makes that relatively easy. The engine is marvellous with great acceleration, easy to wheelie off the throttle in first as I discovered when I gave it the sort of handful that I would normally give my GSA for a brisk take off.
We stopped for a while in Castel Gandolfo, summer home of the Pope and where the recently retired pope is staying I think. However, neither came to shake our hands so after a coffee and a brief look at the pretty lake, we headed off once again. The weather was a mix of heavy showers and sunshine, mainly rain at first but brighter in the afternoon.
Another coffee stop at Roca Massima to shelter from the rain, then on to an excellent lunch at Sperlunga, where the rain cleared and we stayed mostly dry until we arrived in Pompei.
The roads we have ridden so far have been somewhat disappointing with quite a lot of traffic and rain often obscuring the scenic stuff in the hills. There was also a very slow rider in my group who held us up a lot. I shall try to avoid him today!
I only brought my ipad on this trip so video may be a problem and given the weather only a couple of photos were taken on this leg. I will post them when I figure out how to do it!
2 }
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
One night - three hotels
After a smooth flight to Rome, the fun started with a hair raising taxi ride to the centre. The Fiat taxi resembled a bread van but the driver who probably had a few years on me(!) plainly thought it was a Ferrari and proceeded to demonstrate that his best friends were all policemen. How else can you get away with doing 160 kph in a zone marked at 80kph?
He dropped me at the hotel where doormen took my bags to reception and then, upon presenting my pre-paid hotel voucher, I was informed that it was for a different hotel. Fortunately it was only a couple of hundred yards up the street, my bags were very heavy and even though they have wheels, I don't relish moving them very far. The correct hotel had no doormen but lots of stairs up from the street, so puffing and panting after hauling my bags up the stairs, I again presented my hotel voucher.
"Ah" says the receptionist, "we are putting you in another hotel". At this, I felt slighly faint but it was explained that some people had fallen ill and weren't able to leave their hotel room, so the hotel ws having to relocate people checking in. Another taxi ride and I finially checked into the hotel "Principessa Isabella" which had nothing going for it apart, fortunately, from my room which was very nice.
I found dinner at an excellent restaurant called "Cesarina" , just around the corner and then slept like a log until daylight woke me this morning. I took a walk from thge hotel to the Via Veneto where I planned to get a coffee but was thwarted by a thunderstorm that soaked me to the skin in about 30 seconds. I stopped to buy an umbrella from one of the itinerant africans selling them at the rain-inflated price of €5. PLainly he had been standing with them too long in the rain because in a very short time, the rusty stem broke and I was left with a heap of spokes.
Back at the hotel, I managed to dry out somewhat before grabbing a taxi and moving hotels to the one where the tour is due to start - the ESH hotel which the sign on the door translates as "Executive Style Hotel" - who knew?
He dropped me at the hotel where doormen took my bags to reception and then, upon presenting my pre-paid hotel voucher, I was informed that it was for a different hotel. Fortunately it was only a couple of hundred yards up the street, my bags were very heavy and even though they have wheels, I don't relish moving them very far. The correct hotel had no doormen but lots of stairs up from the street, so puffing and panting after hauling my bags up the stairs, I again presented my hotel voucher.
"Ah" says the receptionist, "we are putting you in another hotel". At this, I felt slighly faint but it was explained that some people had fallen ill and weren't able to leave their hotel room, so the hotel ws having to relocate people checking in. Another taxi ride and I finially checked into the hotel "Principessa Isabella" which had nothing going for it apart, fortunately, from my room which was very nice.
I found dinner at an excellent restaurant called "Cesarina" , just around the corner and then slept like a log until daylight woke me this morning. I took a walk from thge hotel to the Via Veneto where I planned to get a coffee but was thwarted by a thunderstorm that soaked me to the skin in about 30 seconds. I stopped to buy an umbrella from one of the itinerant africans selling them at the rain-inflated price of €5. PLainly he had been standing with them too long in the rain because in a very short time, the rusty stem broke and I was left with a heap of spokes.
Back at the hotel, I managed to dry out somewhat before grabbing a taxi and moving hotels to the one where the tour is due to start - the ESH hotel which the sign on the door translates as "Executive Style Hotel" - who knew?
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