Il Calabriano had proved to be a restful place to stay-a beach bar and a tent pitch next to the sea,electricity and wifi, plus the hottest cleanest showers yet (it’s the small things) all for the princely sum of five Euros, left me feeling pretty smug.

Last nights glorious sunset had given way to a shepherds delight of a dull and very overcast day, meaning I smelt the smoke before I actually saw it .

Climbing steeply up to the main road I was head down, concentrating on not weaving too much and wondering why the sea always had to be at bloody sea level when I smelt and almost tasted the thick acrid smoke that was before me . From my vantage point I could see three or four separate pockets of smoke being blown towards the coast and I realised the tinder dry verge and roadside vegetation was well ablaze. Shrouded in the thick smoke, hazard lights ahead suggested that I was about to pass close and so it proved

It was pretty surreal riding through it, the noise was incredible and had the wind been in the other direction I wouldn’t have been able to get through it all. As it was I held my breath, thought of England and went for it -no one seemed too alarmed and about twenty minutes later I saw a rickety old fire engine dawdling towards. So maybe it’s just par for the course round here-felt dramatic to me though.

In fact ,it was the most dramatic thing that happened all day. I’d never use the “boring” word but I was finding this part of Italy pretty unstimulating. I wanted to visit Spain, Sardinia and Sicily but I needed to cross this part of the world to get to the Adriatic ports and over to Greece-maybe that was influencing my thinking .

Anyway, not long after the fire it started to chuck it down ( probably why the fire engine was dawdling 😊) and it stayed that way all day . Wet mile followed wet mile and I realised this was the first rain I’d had since the first few days in Northern Spain. I also reflected on how my daily routine had developed and while I wouldn’t quite say it was fine tuned, I was certainly spending less time faffing.

I’d organised my panniers so that one contained only soft stuff, clothes, sleeping bag, towel. The other pannier carried all the other bits, tools, chargers, toiletries, iPad and notebooks etc . Sounds obvious but it saved time. I also had a small daypack which rolled up when not in use -this was proving useful in the final run in to a campsite or hotel for carrying last minute supermarket goodies for that nights feast-it was no hardship wearing that for the last couple of miles, and removed the risk of a tomato exploding over my clothes (even though that would probably freshen them up 😂😂)

I had enough kit to be able to go a week or so without being slapped with some kind of “smelly bloke” Anti Social Behaviour Order but in practice I was washing stuff out as when it was easy to do it -some places lended themselves to it, some were not so practical.

Route wise, I was completely digital. No paper maps at all, which is a shame really. I’m a proud map nerd and could spend hours with an OS or Michelin paper map and a glass of wine, but for a trip of this length, sadly it just wasn’t practical.

I wouldn’t typically plan my route more than a day ahead . I was using the cycle.travel website for planning and then the app for navigating, and it was proving excellent (but not perfect-I’ve got some more to say about how I was learning to adapt its routes and sometimes ignore its suggestions on the ground, but I’ll wait for another boring cycling day to go into that )

The four main criteria for deciding my route were :

(i) deadline-was I heading towards a booked ferry ?

(ii) legs-how knackered was I feeling after today?

(iii) terrain-how much climbing was involved

(iv) accommodation-probably most important as the route obviously had to end at somewhere bookable to stay

Anyway, all that has distracted me from the rain and before I know it I’m at Lamezia del Terme railway station heading for Sibari. This is not a cheery experience. Wet hands, heavy bikes and lots of marble steps make getting on the train like something out of an episode of Mr Bean Goes Cycle Touring .

The train was packed and I was soon loudly scolded by an elegant Italian lady whose white jeans brushed my muddy front wheel. (Note not the other way round, but that didn’t stop it being my fault. Obviously)

I hadn’t had time to take off my rain jacket and I was melting from within on the hot train, with my dirty unwelcome bike in everyone’s way. Now it was the guards turn to remind me where I sat in this particular eco system, loudly telling me I was in the wrong carriage and to get off at the next station and move up the train to the designated bike section. I’m sure I heard an Italian cheer as I did so, with the guard then gleefully making a running motion to get me to hurry up on the rain soaked platform. This was just pure sport for him (and revenge for White Jean Lady) as of course there was no rush at all .

After all that we missed the connection and I was delayed overnight in Castlignio Cosentino, once again making good use of the words “last minute deals hotels near me “ on booking.com.

I was a bit alarmed to find about twenty Carabinieri cars parked outside the hotel when I arrived -perhaps White Jean Lady had been more irritated than I thought, but turns out they were all on some kind of police training course. Phew, diplomatic incident averted 😊