The day has been gloomy and wet. This is the first real rain (beyond the 30 minutes our first night tenting) that we have seen since arriving in Italy. We awoke to thunderstorms, heavy rain, and strong winds. Fortunately, it did clear up for a little while in the afternoon, such that we did not…

Our day started out well, with both of us waking up and feeling well rested. We had wifi access, so got caught up on email and blog posts, then packed up our stuff and moved out of our spacious double room. We were the only guests for the night, so sat down for a coffee…

81 km, 5h 30 min We did not sleep too badly last night, but were still somewhat restless. At 3 am, Becky woke up to sounds that sounded like someone walking around. She woke Scott up and we both listened intently for about 5 minutes to discover that it was just the tarp flapping. The…

81 km, 5h 30 min There is lots more to see in Matera, but we are starting to feel time slipping by and worrying about weather in Turkey. Hearing about the first winter storm back home in Ottawa a few days ago reminded us that Turkey gets snow too. Scott went out shortly after sunrise…

This morning at breakfast, it occurred to Becky that not speaking the language meant they we often experienced things more like the locals. Being in a tourist town, the folks at the hotel speak English. This meant that when I ordered my coffee in the morning, I got exactly what I asked for. In the…

56 km, 4h 45 min Riding today was challenging. It was another beautiful sunny day in Italy, albeit fairly windy (15-20 knots). The ride itself was not that difficult, rather we did not have appropriate fuel. We started out the day at the campground eating the remnants of our food for breakfast – we each…

108 km, 5h 45 min The extra rest day left Becky feeling better and we were ready to get on the train and on our bikes for the 50km to Matera. Our plan was to take the 9:25 am train from Cariati to Metaponto; however, when we arrived at the train station in Cariati, we…

15 km to Cariati and back Since we had found a comfortable spot at Ristorante Camping di Mario, and Becky wasn’t feeling 100% (she felt a cold coming on), we decided to stay here for another night. In order to do that, we needed to do a quick trip into town to get food for…