6/05/15, Day 50, Wednesday, Italy, Castelletto di Branduzzo at Motel 7 Laghi to Bariana (18km NW of Milan) staying at the Hotel Quottro Strade. Warmer day 24degC, minimal wind, heaps of "fluff" pollen from Silver Chestnut trees floating in the air, some cloud but lower visibility from humidity? We rode 74kms. Departed 10am, Arrived 5pm. NB: World Expo 2015 is on.
Grocery 13€, McDonalds 12€, Accom.(includes Breakfast) 99€. Total= 124€
Well that was a difficult day !
The plan was to skirt around the city of Milan find some where cheap to stay and call it a day... But this is how it played out.
#Breakfast was provided at Motel 7 Laghi consisting of a chocolate filled prepackaged croissant, dried toast, like crispy bread, biscuits, coffee, juice. The staff were very nice and helpful.
#We were on the road at 10am, but soon stopped so Jenny could change her pants, the bum padding no longer worked.
#The traffic heading towards Milan was horrendous, verging on dangerous, we did pass an older couple loaded up on touring bikes headed south, but we were on a large bridge crossing a River. All we could manage was a couple of yells and a wave.
The bridge where we saw the other Touring Cyclists.
We have to go and play "Road Warrior's" now out in that...not much fun !
#DavoGPS was a life saver today, he put us onto 10kms of excellent cycle path following a disused canal, complete with decaying locks. Numerous cycle paths & occasionally the busy road for a short while to link up to another path or back road.
#Met up with an older German couple riding together on a tandem bike. Helga the lady was blind so she just happily pedalled away at the rear. The man (sorry unusual man that has slipped my memory) was in the pilot seat. I'd reckon you would want to be blind cycling around Milan.
Germans on a 2 week cycle tour, Helgar is blind.
Not the best photos but all the white crap you see on the path is Pollen Fluff....nasty!
Now which way DavoGPS ?
#We stopped at a U2 Supermardo (like Coles), Jenny said it was my turn, so in I went. At the checkout the young man frowned and said I was suppose to weigh and price tag my own fruit/vege & buns. I had also mixed buns with donuts in the same bag. Bad move, he called for assistance, the assistant took the fruit buns and donuts away for weighing, while I stood to one side and other customers were served. Finally all sorted and off I went.
#We stopped for lunch in some graffitied filled park, refilled our water at a tap, I went to grab a donut each, and the bugger back at the supermarket had stolen one of them...Aargh...so we shared the remaining one, it tasted good, but 2 would have tasted better.
#More riding on roads and it is after 4pm, we still have about 7kms to our end of day destination of Saronno, but no accommodation arranged. We saw a McDonalds & thought we would use the free wifi to find a place for the night. The French SIM in Jenny's phone has run out of credit and it is impossible to recharge outside of France. So Jen goes into the Restaurant uses the facilities, buys a couple of large coke zeros and a small burger for me. We go to use the free wifi & it will not work ! This is a first for us at Maccas it should work but just won't connect. I check out Me.Maps App on the iPad (this app has been a massive help as it shows your location, maps, shops, Hotels, etc. all offline & it's a free download).
#So using Me.Maps I locate 2 hotels about 500m back in the direction we had come from, so we double back. It turns out both are owned by the same company, the first one is for tourists and is expensive, the other one is for Workers (working on the Expo), which is the one we decided on for 99€. The bikes are stored across the road at the Flash hotel. By now my eyes are caning from the fluff pollen so I don't have a high care factor....
You can't get a beer or any alcohol at this Hotel because apparently lots of the workers are alcoholics & won't make it to work the next day. Hey Jen do you still have that 1L cask of Red in your front pannier ? :-)
#Tomorrow we cross over the border into Switzerland which is only 35kms North of us. Milan has a population of over 5 million. Should we have caught a Train ? We will never know.
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