VF del sud day 26: Mola di Bari to Monopoli, 24km

Facing a 30km day we made the obvious choice of walking along the road for a few kilometers. It turned out to be a great decision as it was a protected bike lane for most of it, and totally devoid of cyclists. Mind you, it was raining lightly which may deter some, and the reality of cycling here – based on my observation – is it’s either full-on all the right kit weekend warriors, or kids on e-bikes tearing up the piazzas. In its day it was a great bike path, complete with flush mounted ‘landing lights’ along the centre line. Sadly many of these landing lights seem to have found a second life on the private driveways of the locals. There was one section where five successive lights were working (about 30 metres of the path).

Much of the day we had light rain – just enough to be constantly putting on then taking off the rain ponchos, but not enough to get seriously wet, even with the poncho off. At times it made sections of the coastal trail hard work as the thin layer of mud stuck to your boots, but along the coast there are few areas with a meaningful amount of dirt. The coast is very rocky, with what appears to be limestone interspersed with lava flows. I should see if google lens is up to the task of identifying rock types.

Periodically there are coves eroded into the coast. Many are very beautiful, all are hard work to scramble down into then exit up the subsequent rock face.

The most famous cove is in the town of Poglinano a Mare, which was humming with tourists benefiting from cheap flights in Europe. We didn’t see any hotels, but there is a profusion of B&B’s there ( the same is true of Monopoli where we are staying. Booking.com must be immensely profitable!

Tonight we are in Monopli, drying ponchos and using Limoncello as a blister antidote. Susan has set a new high score in the family for the number of active blisters on any of our caminos, so the next few days could be tough going.