Friday, July 27, 2001: Costiera Amalfitana - Agropoli to Positano - 99km

Frank here…

I did it! I actually hit the road, and quite early too - somewhere around 6:30am. A few kilometres up the road I stopped to buy some food for the day's journey. I met a man who used to race in the Giro Italia (Italian's prestigious and world famous bicycle race). Wow! I realized later that I should have asked his autograph.

I continued along the very flat journey until I got to Salerno. I decided to take a heat break there and have a big cool drink of arangiata (orange pop). From there it was onward ho to the famed Amalfi coastline. And with the beauty came the hills which were quite a contrast from the flatness of the earlier part of the day.

My motivation was a bit deflated when I got one flat after another on the unshaded cliffs, but I thought, what a beautiful spot to stop. This coastline was magnificent. Hill on the right, undulating and twisting road, and the beautiful Golfo di Salerno from 100 to 300 metres below on the left. I was never very close to the beach because the road was built quite high. This coastline is known to be one of the world's most famous and has been written about quite often. I can see why, but I have seen others that were just as magnificent. Perhaps its close proximity to Rome and Naples gives it a very high traffic count. The amount of traffic for me was not too bad, however.

Even though the traffic was not too bad, I found it quite amusing when I had to slow down for a bus that was inching forward while being very careful not to scrape against the adjacent buildings. There was probably less than 20 centimetres on each side of the bus! So, all traffic came to a bottleneck here.

I had an interesting encounter with a young English fellow who was setting up a low cost hostel in the vicinity. He invited me to stay for a very low cost and told me that I could have all the lemons that I wanted. After telling him about my journey he said that he was glad to see that I had a stomach on me. "What?" I thought, "I don't have one do I, I mean enough to be noticed through my t-shirt… Do I? After all these kilometres? Really? I know, I know, I have a deep navel which gives the illusion of making my tummy look bigger… doesn't it?" He was glad that I wasn't some skinny stereotypical racer type. I think he was trying to compliment me in some way. I decided to ride on a bit further

I was getting tired and trying to find a place to sleep. There was a hotel that had places to set a tent but the cost was outrageous - 50,000 lire. Holy Cow! So, I kept on going. I saw many potential spots to set my tent near or on the steep grades and small vineyards. I kept going however until I got to Positano which had a fairly new hostel there. I immediately sought it out and found a cushy place to sleep with nine others.

I met quite a few travellers there and hung out with Dave from the UK and Charles from New York. Chatting with Anna and the owners of the hostel added more fun to the night. We had witty chats and a great dinner at a nearby ristorante. The town is relatively quite expensive. My most impressive memory was meeting a group of deaf women who were visiting Italy to watch the deaf Olympics in Rome. Boy, if I knew that I was so close to a high level sports event like that I would have definitely made plans to see them but apparently they were almost over. I chatted with Elizabeth who was very, very patient in teaching me how to speak in sign language. I was so glad to see them travelling with a bit more limitations to deal with than most other people. I tip my hat to you, Elizabeth, and to your group.

-Cool wind against the body could be so refreshing.

-Frank Pollari

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