The most scenic day yet, but tough physically! 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 … Continue reading VF del sud day 26: Mola di Bari to Monopoli, 24km →

Leaving Bari old town, 0730 Sunday morning at 0730 was not the ghost town we expected. The beach promenade south of the city extends a long way, and was very busy with runners and regular folk taking a morning stroll. The street cleaners were out in force so the debris of Saturday night was being … Continue reading VF del sud day 24: Bari to Mola di Bari, 23km →

Bari is a big town, and the second biggest economic centre in southern Italy after Naples, so the folks that chose the route did an admirable job avoiding the worst of the industrial areas and new suburbs. We meandered through more olive groves, the fringes of an industrial park (a few years from now and … Continue reading VF del sud day 23: Bitonto to Bari, 20km →

Another double day with a self-directed path in the morning. However, the start of the day had a twist. Leaving Corato a woman stopped in the middle of the road to take our photo. Then ten minutes later a man stopped us and insisted on taking a selfie with us, then his buddy drove by, … Continue reading VF del sud day 22: Corato to Bitonto, 26km →

We made up our own route today, as the 38km on the official path seemed a bit too much for our aching bones. The morning section was great, with a mix of olive groves and vineyards, and lots of harvesting of the grapes taking place. We thought it appropriate to do some quality control, so … Continue reading VF del sud day 21: Canosa to Corato, 32km →

Sam contemplating what our breakfast voucher provided Another day strolling through vineyards and olive groves, although the scale of the operations had shrunk, which unfortunately meant more houses with dogs. One particular white dog came at us from a distance, teeth bared, with two shepherd cross mates circling somewhere in the vineyards. The owners couldn't … Continue reading VF del sud day 21: Cerignola to Canosa do Puglia, 18km →

Cafe view, Stornara We did a double day according to the app, but instead of 41km we did only 24km. The route took a wide loop so we optimized our effort. And our route was awesome. All sorts of agricultural activity - large production horticulture with planting, harvesting etc happening in all directions, and grape … Continue reading VF del sud day 20: Ordona to Cerignola, 24km →

Not the most inspiring day of caminoing, but the lack of hills, especially at the finish line, was appreciated by some tired legs and wonky knees. Big agriculture is so dominant that we were challenged to find shade to take breaks in. For the second day we resorted to abandoned farm buildings as rest stops … Continue reading VF del sud day 19: Castelluccio dei Sauri to Ordona, 19km →

Alternative energy, something we could have used today! Yet another day with a steep downhill start to ensure Sam's knee never had a chance to warm up. We have moved out of the hills and into a landscape of big farming. We saw more abandoned and crumbling farm houses than we saw being lived in. … Continue reading VF del sud day 18: Troia to Castelluccio dei Sauri, 22km →

View from the trail near Troia Our hybrid route added a few kilometers to our day, but had a double benefit: a gradual gradient (for the most part) and a mid morning cafe. To rejoin the route directly from Faeto would have been a steep downhill, followed by a climb back up to 900m, then … Continue reading VF del sud day 17: Faeto to Troia, 19.8km →