December 14th & 15th 2023

Today, after a coffee with Salvatore and Lisa and a few more tangerines from the garden, I spent the day playing hide-and-seek with the rain, in an endless gloom. I had checked the weather forecasts, and specifically planned a very short leg of just over 50 kilometers, to have time to play. But without seeing the landscape, it's a bit boring.

So, I'm taking the opportunity to develop the theme of the road and its surroundings, in decrescendo mode.

- ♫♫♫♫ For the first part of the day, everything around me is tuned to the dominant color of my blog. I pedal through thousands of tangerine and orange trees. And here and there, when a tree is too close to the fence, I pick a fruit up, because I have a long arm and a gluttonous appetite.

- ♫♫♫ From the start of the trip, along the way, I saw hundreds of dead animals. Toads, cats, rats, dogs, birds, beetles, ... Usually, they're almost 2-dimensional. But between yesterday and today, I had 2 wild boars and a dog, in true 3D, and even in 4D since the very recognizable smell of corpse added to the macabre.

- ♫♫ I've been meaning to mention this topic for a while, so I'm taking advantage of the theme developed today. Rant mode ON: Hey, Italians, please stop throwing your garbage, plastic bottles, beer bottles that end up as crumbs and so many tire punctures, and other bulky objects along the roads, including in national parks. Nature is not a dustbin ! I've been cycling here for a while now, but this state of affairs still shocks me every single day. It's mind-boggling ! Rant mode OFF

- ♫ When there's a 2.5-meter-wide shoulder at the side of the road, and you pedal in the middle of it because the rest is littered with garbage and glass (see above), you think you're safe. Well, no, because today I almost died, being very closely grazed by a fucking retard who was probably texting...

That's all, see you soon in Sicily:-)

Sapri to Paparone