A Night at the Horse Farm and on to Ferrara: Another Flat Tire

September 17, 2015

Today began with another wonderful meal at Corte Nigella, prepared by Germana and served by Sauro. We often pinch ourselves at how these brief encounters with strangers can so quickly become significant and memorable moments for us.

The main house at Corte Nigella where we ate our meals.

As we proceed further south in Italy, we are seeing sights like this pomegranate tree which is at the front door of the farmhouse. Cactus, palm trees, citrus are all welcome sights.

As well as enjoying the farm and our hosts, the animals at Corte Nigella were a big part of our enjoyment of staying here. The dogs, horses, cat..the pictures say it all.

This dog was excited by everything that moved, including the wheelbarowl. As Sauro pushed the wheelbarrow, the dog kept trying to catch the moving wheel with his mouthHe really connected with Barry.

Germana's spontaneous laugh is well captured in this picture. As we were trying to photograph her pomegranate tree, she was trying to take our picture. We got her too!

This crazy cat had just jumped down from the 2nd floor window. It was determined to make its mark and claim our pannier as his territory.

Unlike the exuberance and excitable nature of the other dog at the farm, this gentle and mellow dog just wanted to visit. When we left, he followed us along the trail for some time.

Germana and Sauer are hard working hosts who have many jobs on their farm and in their agriturism business. Their warm hospitality made our stay very special.

These two guys were out for a ride and stopped when they saw our flat tire. They were determined to help but their pump wouldn't fit the North American valve on our tube. As you can imagine from the photo, we shared some laughs.

Alessandro, who worked at the local auto garage, came to our rescue when our pump wouldn't work.

Ongoing repairs are being done on this church for some significant damage - we think from the earthquake a few years ago.

The last 18 km to Ferrara were along this canal - a lovely ride.

Fishing is popular along the canal - we see many fishing cabins with nets that are suspended in the canal with pulleys.

Just as we were reflecting that we have seen no other touring cyclists for may days, we came upon this couple from France.

The recumbent bike was handmade by the man from France. He is an organic cheese maker and he had used an aluminum cheese tray for the foundation of the seat. An amazing bike.

…and then we were joined by two men from Milan who were also touring. This man was a cycle cross champion and he had also built his own bike.

6 cycling tourists all in one place - so much to talk about. All of us are hot, covered in mosquito bites and having a great time.

We are quickly approaching Ferrara, the Italian city of cyclists (some compare it to Amsterdam).
It is no coincidence that this young man from Ferrara is also juggling 3 balls while he rides his bike.

The canal route after Bondeno was a good choice to use to approach Ferrara.

It has become a repeated experience to enter a town to find that something special is happening. In this case, as we were riding to our campground in Ferrara, we came upon a Hot Air Balloon festival that is a several day event and is in the park by our campground. The food tents looked really good.

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 1,418 km (881 miles)

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