Day 57: Torrenova to Tonnarella

April 13, 2023

First flat tire

The hotel does not provide breakfast so we start the day with our own granola, banana and milk in the room.

We follow the route by RidewithGPS until we miss a turn in Brolo. This would have taken us back to the beach, losing some hard earned altitude. Instead we just stay on the main road. We stop for a snack of juice and donuts. Neither of us is feeling the best today. Rachel has aches and pains and takes an Aleve. Patrick feels like he maybe has a fever and also takes one. We decide to just stay on Rt 113 to simplify the naviagation.

Before the big hill, we stop for cappuccino and Patrick also orders 4 small sandwiches. When we start riding again, we both think the caffeine helped. We ride past Patti, where we were to meet up with Scott and Rachael, and start the climb. And Rachel has the first flat tire of the trip so far.

We see signs for the Giro d’Sicilia and preparations for blocking off roads tomorrow, so we are happy to be riding through today. They seem to be riding a large section of our route today. We see many racing cyclists that look real fit. We also see two separate cycle tourists going the opposite direction on a busy stretch of highway with no shoulder, so we just wave to each other. After another section with a hill, a couple touring riding bike Fridays pass us and look in a hurry. Amazing how fast those go.

From a distance, we had been watching the church high up on the hill, thinking that is where the road is going. Sure enough, we climb up gaining about 200 meters. And then a great downhill with nice views down the coast. We then ignore the RidewithGPS that would take us on a convoluted route and instead again staying on Rt 113.

This is for our house/catsitter Kim Johnson a big Bryan Adams fan

We really should have been on the right side that went down and up, but we'll do anything to avoid a hill.

The final stretch we return to following RidewithGPS because staying on 113 would put us on the wrong side of the railroad tracks. “We end the day how we started,” Patrick says, “On a long boulevard.” We turn toward the beach and follow a long boulevard that suddenly stops. We ride down a sand path and discover the road has been washed out by a small stream. Fortunately there is no water now, we push the bikes through the loose sand and back onto a paved road.

The Tonnarella Area looks very touristy, but is pretty much deserted this time of year. Our B&B Tonnarella Beach is located down a narrow residential street with many summer homes and very few people to be seen. We have a nice room though and there even is a kitchen that we can use and a washing machine. We are able to do a load of laundry and get it dried on the clotheslines that hang off the balcony.

It is still low tourist season here and not many restaurants are open or they open later than when we like to eat. There is a supermarket only a couple of kilometers away, Patrick rides over to buy groceries so we can cook our own meal. We really enjoy the familiar fare of porkchops, mashed potatoes and peas & carrots. The supermarket does not carry cold beer, but Patrick finds that the butcher shop keeps some beer cold under the counter. Today was warm and muggy but there is a big weather change coming our way. In the forecast, some rain tonight, cooler tomorrow and then about a week of rainy weather. We are considering our options since we are not too keen on riding along the Calabria coast in rainy weather.

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Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 1,963 km (1,219 miles)

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