This week’s on this day post comes from the 2nd-June-2010, and it seems as though it’s been an expensive and stressful couple of days.
Wednesday 2nd June 2010, Gaeta to the outskirts of Rome. 100 miles.
Well, that was an expensive stop last night. It cost me more than 200 euros! And to top it all, I came across a campsite an hour down the road this morning! But that was an hour this morning on fresh legs. It was already eight o’clock by the time I’d stopped last night. Although, if I’d spent less time pratting around trying to find a room in other hotels, I might have found the campsite. But then again, I didn’t know it was there until this morning. And to be honest, I’d just had enough last night.
“All roads lead to Rome”, or so they say. Well, they did today! I had a lovely ride into Rome along the tree-lined SS7 Appian Way, the ancient Roman road that used to connect Rome to Brindisi in the southeast. Rome was as beautiful as ever. Apart from the cobbled streets! But at least they were nowhere near as bad as the ones in Naples yesterday.
In Rome
While in Rome, I did the tourist bit and got my photo taken in front of the Colosseum, which a kind German family took. After getting my photograph taken, I decided to leave central Rome and find somewhere to stop. And what a nightmare that was. In a rush to beat the cars, I pulled away from some traffic lights and snapped a toe clip off one of my pedals! As I went to put my foot into the toe clip, I hit a large cobble. And instead of putting my foot in the clip. My foot landed on top of it and snapped it off! Luckily the toe clip landed at the side of the road in the gutter so that I could retrieve it. Hopefully, I’ll be able to bodge it back on.
Things didn’t improve either after breaking my toe clip. Every road I went down turned into a motorway. But after much perseverance, I eventually found a way out of Rome. And I even managed to find a campsite. Although it was a bit pricey at twenty-five euros. But compared to last night’s hotel, it’s a bargain! Things seem to be a lot more expensive along this coast. But then I suppose there are a lot more tourists around here than there are in the south and east of the country.
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