From: Morfetta
To: Andria
Miles: 17
Total: 400
24 days down; 126 to go. Today we turned away from the Adriatic coastline and headed inland. We won’t see the sea again until early August in Denmark. Basically it was a fairly straight forward day except for the crazy highway we were on most of the day.
We started out the door this morning about 8:30 after some breakfast at our little seaside B&B. Our first destination was the local Decathlon sporting goods store. Decathlon is similar to our Academy or Dick’s sporting goods and there was one just one hour into our walk. I needed a new pair of shoes and Dave needed some gloves. We both found what we were looking for, but not without a very overzealous security guard in the store who kept an eye on us the whole time we were there. I guess he thought we were going to stuff something in our packs and leave without paying.
After leaving the store we had about an hour to walk into the one and only town we would see the rest of the day along our route. It was a little early for a break and lunch but we’ve learned not to assume there would be another opportunity later so we stopped in a small cafe for a bite and a break.
After lunch we started walking on one of the worst roads we’ve had to date. The road was actually a main highway with heavy car and truck traffic, but there was very little or no shoulder. With it being a main highway the traffic was going pretty fast so we had to keep a constant watch to make sure drivers saw us. One thing we’ve noticed in Italy is that drivers take a lot of chances passing other cars on two lane roads. We’ve seen several incidences where a car has been passing another vehicle and barely made it around before they had a head on with someone going the opposite direction.
We made it into our destination of Andria about 3:30. We saw several groups of high school-aged kids walking through town on their way home from school. One group on the opposite side of the street were laughing and talking when suddenly they ran across the street to talk to us. They wanted to know what we were doing, where we were from, where were we going, etc. They were very nice kids, but had no clue where the nearest hotel was in town. Turns out it was only one block from where we were talking to them. So we took a selfie with them and were on our way.
We were planning to go to a local B&B again tonight, but because it was further out on the edge of town, and we had not confirmed it was even open, we opted to stay at a nice hotel in the city center. It adds a little to our 22 mile day tomorrow, but we avoided the walk back into town if the B&B had been closed.
So tomorrow we keep moving inland. We’re headed straight for Rome now, where we plan to be in 18 days. Hey! Don’t laugh! It’s 270 miles down the road. We’ll get there eventually, even if we have to crawl. But seriously, Dave and I are both having a great time and taking all this in. The last few miles are a grind every day, but it’s all well worth it. Each morning when we get up, we’re rested and looking forward to what that day might bring. So thanks for reading our blog. Hope all is well at home.
