Day 13 – Sunday 5th June 2011
Things took a turn for the worse. After such a pleasant evening last night, I decided to just kip at the station and wait for 7.45am to come. It took long enough. The cycle back started out ok. It was dark, but I knew where I was going and I had the lights on. But after a few minutes I started to feel sick. Not good. A bit of water and keep going. If I didn’t think about it, maybe it’d go away. Almost back in Pisa and I just had to stop and hope it never actually comes. No? Ok, let’s go.
Back at the station and I find a place to lie down, which helps. Unfortunately, not for too long. Well, I tried to aim for a bin... but suddenly I feel quite a lot better. I find a different place to lie down, trying to get some sleep this time. I make it to 3.30am before Round 2 comes. Again, I feel better for it. A bit of water and back to sleep.
6am came and I decided to freshen myself up since the toilets had opened before going to the platform and waiting. I tried to sleep a little more on the train. The sickness was coming back, but if I didn’t move I seemed to be able to hold it at bay.
A number of things could have brought it on: the dip in the sea (it wasn’t the nicest part of the sea I’ve been in... not the worst either, though); missing a meal or 2 as I’ve slept at stations; the heat in Pisa; the water in Pisa; or even the fact that I cycled over 100 miles and the next day did the Grand-St-Bernard pass – that’s a lot of exercise! Anyway, enough about illness.
I get to Rome! The first challenge is to get out of the station – it’s massive! And to complicate matters, there’s a huge shopping centre there as well, over 2 floors. Somehow I end up on the lower level and can’t find a working lift to get to ground level. Oh well, up the escalator it is then... with a heavily laden bike.
I find my around to the station’s main entrance in the hope of finding some sort of information point. The place looks like Heathrow airport! Anyway, I get a map of Rome, find some information about a campsite and set off. Before I leave the station, I’m accosted by a couple of guys who want me to stay in their hotels. The first one seemed quite reasonable at €25 per night in a single air-conditioned room... although who knows what state the room would be in! He gives me more details anyway... I suppose it’s a backup plan. (I actually tried haggling with him: “€25 per night? How much for me? €20?” I don’t think he was too impressed!) The second guy was crazy... €50 per night! No way. Anyway, I want to see Rome!
I get outside and onto more cobbled road... why do so many cities have this annoying surface? Paris, Beaune, Aosta, Pisa and now Rome! It’s not good for an overloaded bike. They clearly weren’t thinking when they designed it...
I see lots of interesting features (statues, obelisks, etc) as I make my way around Rome’s insane road system. Stopping every now and then to take photos, I eventually see the Colosseum in the distance. I find a place to prop Ol’ Betsy up, nicely out of the way, then take a walk around the huge structure, trying to see how much of it I could see without paying to go in. Not much, really. I give up and pay – it has to be seen from the inside. Lucky for me, if you’re aged 24 or under you get a discounted ticket. One flash of the passport later and I’m in.
I’m already thinking of films which feature the Colosseum... Gladiator (although for the film they needed a complete one, so what I’m seeing in front of me is a little different), and Jumper. Jumper is a good one as it features the Colosseum in ruins and I can see where the various pieces of action took place. It’s a phenomenal structure, even in ruins, and I can’t believe I’m actually here.
After a few rainy showers, I eventually left to find my soaked bike. By now it was getting late, so I found a little supermarket to stock up on a few supplies and headed west towards the campsite (still taking photos of anything interesting along the way).
There was a little fountain which had a fairly large number of tourists around and as I made my way through, I heard an English voice: “That looks well loaded!” Apparently anyone touring on a Raleigh bike must be English. It turns out this guy does a fair bit of cycle touring as well. Plus, his wife is a nurse (or something medical) so I got to ask about this horrid sickness which is still lingering. Apparently what I needed was some kind of rehydration salts.
Continuing on, I found myself at the Piazza San Pietro... I’d got to the Vatican! It was 8pm and everywhere was shut, so a few photos and I was on my way again. Tomorrow I’ll have a proper look. I found a pharmacy where they eventually understood what I was after (lots of gesticulating and silly noises) and headed out to find this campsite.
So I’m going... and going... and going... and I thought I must have missed it. Then I saw a little sign for a campsite, so I headed in that direction... and kept going... and going... and going. “This is stupid,” I thought to myself as I was about to drift onto Italian autoroute. About turn, and I might try to see if that hotel for €25 a night is still open... it would be at least 10.30pm by the time I get there.
Anyway, only a little way back down the road and I saw a sign for the campsite: “Roma Camping.” Success! And for €13.20 a night, I won’t complain. It’s been a long, hard day and all I’m thinking about is getting some much-needed rest.
Stats
Mileage = 14.25 miles
Riding time = 2 hours 26 minutes
Average speed = 5.8 mph
Top speed = 28.8 mph
Total mileage since start = 729.3
Things took a turn for the worse. After such a pleasant evening last night, I decided to just kip at the station and wait for 7.45am to come. It took long enough. The cycle back started out ok. It was dark, but I knew where I was going and I had the lights on. But after a few minutes I started to feel sick. Not good. A bit of water and keep going. If I didn’t think about it, maybe it’d go away. Almost back in Pisa and I just had to stop and hope it never actually comes. No? Ok, let’s go.
Back at the station and I find a place to lie down, which helps. Unfortunately, not for too long. Well, I tried to aim for a bin... but suddenly I feel quite a lot better. I find a different place to lie down, trying to get some sleep this time. I make it to 3.30am before Round 2 comes. Again, I feel better for it. A bit of water and back to sleep.
6am came and I decided to freshen myself up since the toilets had opened before going to the platform and waiting. I tried to sleep a little more on the train. The sickness was coming back, but if I didn’t move I seemed to be able to hold it at bay.
A number of things could have brought it on: the dip in the sea (it wasn’t the nicest part of the sea I’ve been in... not the worst either, though); missing a meal or 2 as I’ve slept at stations; the heat in Pisa; the water in Pisa; or even the fact that I cycled over 100 miles and the next day did the Grand-St-Bernard pass – that’s a lot of exercise! Anyway, enough about illness.I get to Rome! The first challenge is to get out of the station – it’s massive! And to complicate matters, there’s a huge shopping centre there as well, over 2 floors. Somehow I end up on the lower level and can’t find a working lift to get to ground level. Oh well, up the escalator it is then... with a heavily laden bike.
I find my around to the station’s main entrance in the hope of finding some sort of information point. The place looks like Heathrow airport! Anyway, I get a map of Rome, find some information about a campsite and set off. Before I leave the station, I’m accosted by a couple of guys who want me to stay in their hotels. The first one seemed quite reasonable at €25 per night in a single air-conditioned room... although who knows what state the room would be in! He gives me more details anyway... I suppose it’s a backup plan. (I actually tried haggling with him: “€25 per night? How much for me? €20?” I don’t think he was too impressed!) The second guy was crazy... €50 per night! No way. Anyway, I want to see Rome!
I get outside and onto more cobbled road... why do so many cities have this annoying surface? Paris, Beaune, Aosta, Pisa and now Rome! It’s not good for an overloaded bike. They clearly weren’t thinking when they designed it...I see lots of interesting features (statues, obelisks, etc) as I make my way around Rome’s insane road system. Stopping every now and then to take photos, I eventually see the Colosseum in the distance. I find a place to prop Ol’ Betsy up, nicely out of the way, then take a walk around the huge structure, trying to see how much of it I could see without paying to go in. Not much, really. I give up and pay – it has to be seen from the inside. Lucky for me, if you’re aged 24 or under you get a discounted ticket. One flash of the passport later and I’m in.
I’m already thinking of films which feature the Colosseum... Gladiator (although for the film they needed a complete one, so what I’m seeing in front of me is a little different), and Jumper. Jumper is a good one as it features the Colosseum in ruins and I can see where the various pieces of action took place. It’s a phenomenal structure, even in ruins, and I can’t believe I’m actually here.After a few rainy showers, I eventually left to find my soaked bike. By now it was getting late, so I found a little supermarket to stock up on a few supplies and headed west towards the campsite (still taking photos of anything interesting along the way).
There was a little fountain which had a fairly large number of tourists around and as I made my way through, I heard an English voice: “That looks well loaded!” Apparently anyone touring on a Raleigh bike must be English. It turns out this guy does a fair bit of cycle touring as well. Plus, his wife is a nurse (or something medical) so I got to ask about this horrid sickness which is still lingering. Apparently what I needed was some kind of rehydration salts.Continuing on, I found myself at the Piazza San Pietro... I’d got to the Vatican! It was 8pm and everywhere was shut, so a few photos and I was on my way again. Tomorrow I’ll have a proper look. I found a pharmacy where they eventually understood what I was after (lots of gesticulating and silly noises) and headed out to find this campsite.
So I’m going... and going... and going... and I thought I must have missed it. Then I saw a little sign for a campsite, so I headed in that direction... and kept going... and going... and going. “This is stupid,” I thought to myself as I was about to drift onto Italian autoroute. About turn, and I might try to see if that hotel for €25 a night is still open... it would be at least 10.30pm by the time I get there.Anyway, only a little way back down the road and I saw a sign for the campsite: “Roma Camping.” Success! And for €13.20 a night, I won’t complain. It’s been a long, hard day and all I’m thinking about is getting some much-needed rest.
Stats
Mileage = 14.25 miles
Riding time = 2 hours 26 minutes
Average speed = 5.8 mph
Top speed = 28.8 mph
Total mileage since start = 729.3
Great reading. Great adventure. Almost as good as our motorbike trips! I agree with you, everyone should have adventures, especially seeing different countries and cultures. Then we would be more understanding of those different to us. Dad.
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