June 25 Falling Down

A quick shout out to Rome.  We had a great time there and I was impressed with how clean the city center was..Last time Sue and I were there I was taken aback by the amount of trash all over the place.  But this time things looked much better.  Also trains, buses, and trams are now much easier to use since they started using a Tap and Go system with your credit card.  The machine will automatically charge you the minimum fare so you don't need to figure out which ticket to buy.  And lastly, there is free water all over Rome, dispensed by Nasoni.  The water tastes great and is usually fairly cold.  We even found dispensers around the Colosseum which dispensed refrigerated flat water and naturally carbonated water for free.  That was really great on a hot day.

This turned out to be a rough day.  We left our hotel and had to go about 11 miles to get back on our route close to the Vatican.  On the way there we were crossing a very busy intersection in Rome when the car in front of me stopped.  Then I stopped but I couldn't get my feet out of the clip in pedals fast enough and over I went.  My pedal scraped up the back of my right leg and my back hit the cobblestones pretty hard.  Yikes.  What a way to start.  

After we stopped for breakfast we found a bike shop where we purchased a "Pilgrim's Passport".  This is something you need if you want to stay in Pilgrim's accommodations along the Via Francigena 
(which is one of the long distance pilgrim's walks in Europe - much like the more well known Compostela de Santiago.)  We will be following this trail for several days and staying in monasteries and churches along the way - so we needed the "Passport". 

The next several miles were uneventful but my back started to get really sore.  Then we started to hit the hills - both going up and down.  On one stone and dirt paths which was quite steep heading downhill, my bike slipped in the loose soil and over I went again, scraping up both knees.  Two falls in one day - that has never happened before.

We made it to our campground completely exhausted.  We showered, had dinner, watched a little soccer on their TV and then hit the sack.  The night was cool (down to 60 degrees) and I slept well - with the help of a few Ibuprofen.

Our campsite was right on Lake Bracciono.


Comments

  1. BobbieJuly 1, 2024 at 10:54 AM

    So sorry to hear about your falls! Hope you recover quickly!

    ReplyDelete

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