Danie made the call last night to go back to La Specia and het some ointment for his injuries and then either stay in La Specia for another day or start cycling to Genoa by tar.
We had something to eat and drink at a local pub and got to bed early. I got up at 07:30 and managed to get going at 08:10. The shop, where I hoped to buy something for breakfast, was still closed, so no breakfast. Up the hill we came down yesterday afternoon. It took me half an hour to cover the 3 km. I had a date and some raisins from my "prositions", which I brought from SA, as breakfast.
After that little rest I tackled the route. From where I was there were two options: a nice gravel road and a steep and rough single track. Being an optimist, I chose the gravel road, but very quickly realised, from my GPS that it was the wrong option, so turn around and tackle the single track. It was so steep, I had to push my bike, but it very quickly became ridable. Unfortunately that did not last long and I had to revert to pushing again. Once I got to the top, the track opened up to a beautiful path through the woods. The ground was covered on leaves and the roue followed the contour of the hill.
Every now and then I would get to a junction and then get a que from my GPS which track to follow. Sometimes these tracks are close to one another and I did once take the wrong option, but saw my mistake quickly and back tracked without too much of a problem.
Unfortunately the good state of the track did not last. It turned into a very rough track both going up and going down. I must have push for at least an hour before I could ride again. It took me 4 hours to cover the first 18 km.
At that point the route crossed a tar road. I checked the GPS and saw that the two do meet about 20 km down the road. I took the "soft" option and went for the tar road. The next 17 km was covered in one hour and took me through seaside towns of Levanto and Bonassola and these two towns are connected by cycling and pedestrian tonnels.
When I got to Levanto, the GPS took me to the waterfront and then it dubbled back on itself but there was no road! After a while I noticed the cycle path and realised I had to take that. Levanto and Bonassola are 6 km apart and in that 6 km there must have 6-8 tunnels with some longer that a kilometer.
When I got to the end I encounter another problem in picking up the track. I tried the steps down to the sea, but showed me being off course. In the end I realised that I had to take the lift! Once at the bottom confusion once again reigned as there was no aparant path. Some cyclist also used the lift and I heard a wissle. When I looked in that direction, he indicated the path around the otherside.
Once I was on the path, I could cycle again. I stopped at the first bend and manged to fill my water bottles. Back to road again and Garmin told me this was a 6.5 km climb. Initially the gradient was quite managable at between 5-9%, but after a while it went up to 12-15%. There were no houses here, there was no wind and the temperature hovered between 36.3 and 36.6. I could feel my body temperature rising. When I nearly got to the top, the GPS directed me to a gravel road. I checked to options for continuing on the tar road, but that turned to not be an option.
The gravel road followed the contour of the hill after an initial climb. It then once again became quite rough. At this point I felt pretty exhausted, so when I got to a point where the rough track would carry on for another 3 km and then a firther 3 km with a tar road to the village. I saw a walking trail straight down the hill which will reduce this to 1.5 km. I went for the shorter option, which turned out to be very rough and steep, but I made it to the bottom. The last photo is of the hill I came down. Photos can never do justice to what the actual gradient is.
I stopped at the first hotel I saw, but they were full. Number two down the road was also full, so were the next three! This is seaside town, we are at the end of their season, so the chance of me getting a place was remote. I stopped at a cafe to review my options. I also had a mediocre ham burger and two 500 ml bottles of water. I would probably end up sleeping in a park so decided to look for a shower on the beach to at least was the sweet of my body. That worked and I shower with my cycling socks and trousers on. Felt quite tefreshed after that.
I then took the road out of town. About 3 km up the road I saw a B&B on Booking.com. I tried contacting them, but no luck. As it was on my way, I decided to go have look. Suprise, suprise the gate was open. Walk up the to dwelling and found some people there who could speak a little English. They got hold of the owner, whose English is worse that my Italian, but the message got through and he asked me to take a seat. That was promising! After a while he came back and showed me to a room. Cost Euro 90 but he wants cash and I only have 50. Only option is to look for an ATM and see if I can draw some cash. I managed to find one close and draw the funds.
That is day 4. Tomorrow is unlikely to be easier, but I will be moving more inlznd and may find it more difficult to find a town with accommodation.
Statistics Distance 52.97 km. Time, including looking for accommodation 9:26 Meters climbed 1,358
Profile of day's ride.
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