"On the Trail"

The Journals from the Road

Thursday, July 12, 2001: Variety Night - Paolo to Praia a Mare, Italy - 80km

Frank here…

The owners of the Bahja campeggio gave me a Tshirt and a cap as I left. I told them that their employee Dominic is a great ambassador for their campground and that he is very valuable for keeping guests content.

The riding started with some welcoming clouds which came and went. When the sun shone, however, the heat was intense. It almost looked like rain as I did a bit of grocery shopping, and headed down a steep windy descent overlooking the Gulf of Policastro into the lively town of Praia a Mare.

I found a campeggio, set up my tent then immediately headed to the beach for a swim. I met a man who was fishing who had spent time in Toronto, Canada so he spoke some English. As we chatted I could not help admiring the incredible view of Isola di Dino (Dino Island) which has steep sides and nearly connected to the mainland (about 200 metres away) by a set of small rocks.

My three young French neighbours at the camp were fun to chat with. I gave them some of my tomatos that I was given freely the day before at a roadside tomato stand. They in turned offered me a sandwich which I gladly accepted.

During the evening there was a fun contest going at the campeggio. Six married couples were being given a number of different challenges. I only understood about half of what was happening but I still knew when to laugh. This was followed by a group line dance, then regular dancing. At the end of the night I chatted with many of the patrons and answered many of their questions, and told them many stories of my trip and about PeaceBike. It ended up being a very late but fun night.

-Are parents right when they put the blame on themselves after their kids do something wrong or do something bad?

-Frank Pollari

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