(continued from Episode 16)
It's a sweet morning here at Castelnuovo Rangone and a very welcome one as most of my week here was spent in heatwave conditions. Fortunately my dear host Claudia has equipped the bedroom with a very silent and effective AC which really helped a lot. I hate ACs so when I praise one it means a lot🙂 Needless to say I recommend her place which you can find among others on my map of recommended ones.
Guglielmo & Claudia (both lovely bikers) waving me goodbye is the view that fills my rear view mirror as I leave their place to head with my loaded bike South to Ancona. You see, after almost two months abroad one more motorcycle trip of mine nears its end as this is my last day over Italian soil. A beautiful country that I have revisited the most as it's my usual point of entry to the rest of Europe and still keeps impressing me. Not the same way as Italian drivers though. I am afraid they get worse. Kinda like Greek ones. Being Greek helps me a lot to deal with them and stay alive.
My Hellenic DNA also helps me to cope with the high temperatures as I'm already riding for a few hours and its noon. Doesn't mean I don't hate them though, I really do. It's lunch time though so I seek for some shade to consume some of my edible stuff and I find it at a service area near Ravenna:
Not the fanciest meals of my life by any means🙂
And definitely not the fanciest looks for my bike during such stops either:
This was the first half of the ride and now that I'm not hungry I do the second half which is less exciting as it goes through more populated areas crossing millions of roundabouts. Still not worse than the expensive and boring autostrada although the latter is the way to go if you're in a hurry. I'm definitely not as my ferry leaves at 7pm.
Despite my slow riding trying to kill time I still arrive early enough at Ancona and I'm the first biker here followed by that Austrian bike beside mine:
It's more windy with lower temperatures here at Ancona but its all time classic humidity doesn't allow much space for joy.
Time to check in:
Since I have a lot of time in my hands after check in I stop for some fruit break under the bridge:
That bridge has saved my ass in the past while waiting for the gate to open under rain. There's no rain now, the gate is open so when I'm done eating banana & apricots I start my way to the gate. At the control before the gate the guard comments on my hairy ID photo. They often do that on borders. Not sure if in his Italian is also questioning my ID so I ask him if he wants me to take my helmet off. In a very friendly and apologising manner he says "no no sir, you can go".
As soon as I arrive at the gate my ferry arrives too:
I'm still the sole biker here:
With a finished front tire which, surprisingly enough, still offers a lot of grip and confidence:
Just like my bike, at 165.000 km now and I still have to think hard what it's missing from its brand new state. Probably nothing worth mentioning. Really worth mentioning though is how it attracts the interest of other bikers for that reason. As I wait for the ferry to dock, a trucker approaches me to tell me that he still has the same bike, actually one 2 years older than mine which makes it a perfect 20 year old. Same experience, no issues. Then another guy leaves his car to come talk to me, shows me pictures of his V-Strom, again 2 years older than mine, also praising it. Are you wowed? Wait for it: An Italian on a much newer 1050 V-Strom arrives behind me and starts telling me that he also has a V-strom same as mine but he bought this new one cause he doesn't feel comfortable to travel on a 240.000km bike. I ask him "you have any problems? increased oil consumption?" He says no, but I just want to keep it for local use only.
In other words, you know a bike stood the test of time when it will only make you feel like changing it... just because it's old. And even then you don't wanna sell it🙂 "It's a joke of nature" he said and yes, I agree. It's like a ghost, it never dies.
I can write a book about this Suzuki and the wonders of the Japanese nation but the ferry is about to start disembarkation so we can embark,
and I have to say goodbye to Ancona, see you next time!
Unfortunately they lead me to go down to the second from last garage which means more stairs to do carrying my stuff but... 1st world problems right?
Here's a video with bits of my ride, ending with entering the port and the ferry:
See you on Episode 18!
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