Lodi -> Corniana
Ascend: 1278m, Descend 743m
Answer: No, you can not.
It was a breath of fresh air to be back on open road, through country side and out of Lodi today.
I soon stumbled on a pretty little village that confirmed my wife Dominique is an Angel. Here is the church dedicated to her
Today was all about trying to get as far as possible into the Apennines, but without getting too far away from Milan. But why? There are five reasons.....
1) My good friend and avid cyclist, Grant Woodthorpe will land at Milan airport tomorrow at 10:35am. He will then jump into a taxi with his bike, and should reach us in Corniana by 1pm.
2) Grant and I then need to immediately cycle 90 miles over the Apennine Mountains (total climb expected: 1750m) and finish in Lucca.
3) In Lucca we then rendezvous with Neil and Louise Graver. Neil will be cycling with Grant and I for the 60 or so miles from Lucca to Florence on Saturday.
4) The world cycling championships are taking place between Lucca and Florence this week
5) Which adds huge amounts of uncertainty to points 1- 4 above.
Regular blog readers will notice the large holes all over the place in this particular part of the plan. If we pull it off without having to use lights (in darkness), getting lost or missing a connection I'll be amazed.
In an attempt at trying to make the next days remotely possible, Corniana was picked as today's destination to get a climb out of the way in an effort to save time for tomorrow.
On my way to the mountains I met Jachu , an Indian fella from Punjab, working at his fathers newsagents near Fidenza.
Jachu was amazed that I had cycled all the way from London on a remembrance tour. He insisted on giving me free food and drinks (he would not take payment), and wanted to take me back to his house. I politely declined as I needed to get moving, as I cycled away he shouted down the street that he loved me. I thought to myself at the time that I will never meet a more genuine and delightful person for the rest of my life. Upon reflection this evening, I think he might have fancied me.
I carried on, all was well until about mile 70. Then I hit a head on afternoon wind rolling down off the Apennines easily blowing a consistent 20+ mph. Horrendous. It finally died down just in time to attempt a corner cut that I had cleverly discovered on my satnav.
I knew I had a climb into Corniana, but my short cut only made it worse by cutting over the highest local peak at 800m, which involved a 600m climb over the last 6 miles of the day. Cue a near mountain peak chunder at the exhaustion of it all.
I finally made it at 6.30pm ,Dad met me in Corniana central square and guided me to the charming B&B we had booked up here in the Mountains.
It is run by Lori and Paolo. Here I am in their kitchen tonight as they prepared an amazing home cooked meal for my parents and I.
Paolo than showed off his Grapes, cut freshly today in his back garden. Care for some Chapeau Paolo?
Until tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to cycling with friends again. Grant has given up 9 days of his own time to cycle with me all the way to Rome! Whilst the Gravers join the tour for the Lucca - Florence - Sienna triangle. I'm blessed to have such great friends.
Brett x
I think he was just being friendly......
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