60. Ancona to San Severino Marche 

2 July 2022

The ferry cabin was surprisingly comfortable…and despite the heat (& probable snoring)…we both had a fairly good sleep.

So a relaxed lazy morning. Cheese pie for breakfast (..the Greeks do love their pies…cheese, spinach, bacon and ham, sausage etc etc…and on the bike there is no guilt!)…

Interesting to think that overnight we have passed by Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and a good portion of Croatia! Weeks of hard work undone in a night! (And this ferry is flying along! 30 knots..which is around 55kmh!)

The ferry pulled in to Ancona about an hour late at midday…so strikingly Italian…

…..but it was at least thirty minutes before we could get off and on to the road. Not a great time of day to start a 75km ride!!…with the humid heat sizzling off the tarmac from the start. So we started our relatively short 300km journey across Italy!

Lovely ride…through rolling hills, sunflowers….and the grain harvest getting finished off. 

In Italy…the Google maps bike route thing was working once again…so we followed it religiously…..and it took us on probably the steepest climb of the whole trip……

….now 30% is tough on an ebike and all but impossible without for mere mortals!

We pulled into San Severino Marche at around 5pm…very hot and very sweaty and very thirsty, longing to jump into a shower. But our wee B and B was deserted…and no-one was answering any phones. Thankfully the neighbour (thanks to Nae’s un-practised Italian!)  stepped in and managed to track down the manager who eventually let us in. An odd place…the worst of which being the promised aircon was just a fan…single beds in one room…a bunk in the other….and it was like an oven…!

The town itself is a pleasant looking place…

….but it felt really quite soulless. Saturday night…and all but deserted. The lack of accommodation options perhaps told a story (..but we know that is not always a harbinger of funlessness!).

It did brighten up a bit later….

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