Day 12- San Giovanni to Mantova

Got to say the hotel we stayed at in San Giovanni was the best so far. The lady who owns the hotel was a great host and made sure we were looked after. She did our washing at no cost…. No mean feat with clothes from 3 smelling men after a day of riding! Also the breakfast was delicious and delightful and made us ready for the day of riding.

So we were up at 6.00am again! Ready for breakfast at 7.00am and all packed and on our way by 8.00am.

Today the weather was not as hot and humid thankfully. The early morning was about 16 degrees and as the day went on the temperature rose to around 30 degrees…. There was a slight headwind in the afternoon which was helping the temperature but made for slower than normal riding. We countered this by taking turns at the front after every km or so.

The ride today was flat and mostly on cycle paths. Early on the paths had shade which was great. In the afternoon there was less shade as we rode in open farmland. Michael Maxwell mentioned yesterday that much of the area we were traveling through today is intense farming and it is essentially the “food bowl” for Italy.

Early on at Cravalcore we had a stop for fruit and water which was delightful. The ladies at the fruit shop provided peaches which hit the spot and free water.. absolutely delightful.

After this we were on our way and after a short stop for Chris to repair a broken chain we then made it to Mirandola for lunch. The bakery was excellent and o had a small pizza, smoked salmon and avocado sandwich and a cake together with the Italian version of iced coffee. It was made using a cocktail shaker. Whilst having lunch we were entertained by a guy playing a multi-instrument machine…. Great entertainment. We were also in the street market!

After lunch it was on to Mantova.

It is worth mentioning that much of the land here appears to be well irrigated as there were many irrigation canals we crossed on our ride. Much of the trails were in fact on the banks of the canals or on levy banks of the Po River.

We arrived at our accommodation in Mantova at about 4.00 pm after completing around 95 kms … the ride was flat and we only climbed about 150 metres for the day… a far cry from past days!

We are in a hotel again tonight which is very comfortable.

The day was a good day of riding through lovely country. We saw many out on bikes along the trails including a few fellow adventure cyclists.

The pictures today are:

Our route

We finally see a Eurvelo sign. Right after seeing this sign we had some confusion on which way to go!

A map of the route from Bologna to Verona

A view of the trail … good surface and shade!

Chris fixing his broken chain. I hope I don’t have one of these!

The ladies outside the fruit shop

Our entertainment at lunch!

And the cakes at the bakery

A view of the farming country