"On the Trail"

The Journals from the Road

Saturday July 14, 2001: The Cuono Family - Sapri to Acsea (bike 73 km) then to Agropoli, Italy by train

Frank here…

I got up rather early and was amused to hear Alberto snoring in the next tent. Whew, I was not the only one who snored. Fortunately he awoke before I left so we had a chance to say goodbye.

I was glad to get on the road while the sun was still low, but by mid morning the temperature, as usual, started to sear. There were many tough climbs which were at least countered by the beauty of the Mare Tirreno (Tyrrhenian Sea). At one point, when asking directions a woman told me that I needed an airplane to make it to the top of the road. She gave me a bottle of ice tea with I greatly appreciated. It was great to drink but the two litres added more weight to carry up the six or more kilometers. I had to stop several times to cool down in shade. I also poured water over my head and upper body whenever I got to a public fountain.

The time was going by fairly quickly and I already told the Cuono family (who were good friends with my parents) that I would make it to their home in Agropoli before the end of the day. I still had 30km to go but did not have a lot of daylight left so after some internal struggle, I decided to hop a train at the base of the town of Ascea. What a steep downhill!

This was my first attempt on a train with my loaded bike. I was not sure where to go. The conductor asked me if I was going to get on and told me just to pull up my bike on the car beside me. I didn’t know the rules so I just lugged the sucker into the car and leaned it against the door in the little room between the cars. I was nervous for blocking the door and thought that I would meet some grief, but fortunately, the train was quite empty so no one got upset. In fact, a kind young fellow helped me take it off the train and under the binari (tracks) to level ground.

I headed for the address through a very very busy, but fortunately short main road. When I found their house, everyone was a bit surprised. They were expecting me to call for a ride from the train station. It would have been much more difficult to put the bike in a car than it was to ride the kilometer to their home.

I met Constandino Cuono and his wife Lucia. They had quite a busy home but still room for me. On the lower levels lived two of their daughters with their families. Rosa and Enzo (aka George) and kids Rebecca and Sarah; and Teresa and her kids Michelle and Muriam. On the same floor as Constandino and Lucia lived the their two youngest – Rita and Antonio. I was saddened to hear that Lucia (who became a hero of mine), passed away several months later. I felt that she was the strong glue that held the family upright. The Cuono’s came to Thunder Bay then moved back to Italy in 1970. The older girls of the family were quite distraught when they had to leave Canada as teenagers; in fact some of the scars still remain from that separation.

When I got in the house, Teresa and Constandino were fidgeting with the one of the sheets of my bed, trying to be sure that all the wrinkles were gone. I told them to relax and that I have slept in very terrible conditions on this trip and that this place was like a castle in comparison to most other places. A wrinkle would not even be noticed by me.

We ate and talked until the wee hours of the night.

-Only hold on to the past to learn, do not use it to wallow in grief and misery.

-Frank Pollari

back to top