A day of two halves

Day: 2
Route: Rescaldina - Santhia
Distance: 64 miles (with a few detours, both intentional and not!)
Height: c.1000ft ascent
Time in saddle: 5hrs 10mins


First half - pretty dull scenery, suburbs, ticking off the miles. We stopped at a supermarket for picnic supplies around 12, but every time we sat down to eat it we got covered by mossies. Eventually we rode into a town called Navaro and sat in a little park with our long sleeves and trousers on in 30 degrees to eat (we're not guessing, all the pharmacies here have temperature displays outside them). With a final tally of about 6 bites each, we started the afternoon ride.
Second half - we decided to avoid the main road, which meant we would add a few miles by going on the winding country roads, but we were rewarded with beautiful green fields, sleepy villages and crumbling farmhouses:

We churned up the miles through this beautiful and flat-as-a-pancake landscape. One side of the road was wheat and the other rice (we're assuming of the risotto variety!):

Great riding. We rode into a place called Vercelli mid afternoon still in hot sunshine (who knew the back of your hands could sweat?!) and found a fabulous Gelateria (called, less than appetisingly, GROM). It would have been rude not to stop so Alistair had a delicious chocolate concoction and Sam enjoyed a sugary coffee granita. Nothing could have been more perfect for the occasion.

We've just arrived in the agritourismo we're booked into for the night, where we appear to be the only people again, this time accompanied by Barney and Baloo the resident dogs. Lucky for us (as we're in the middle of nowhere) this place will cook us dinner....
....just got back from dinner. Luckily Alistair had emailed ahead and asked if they could cater for Sam who doesn't eat meat or dairy and was told it would be no problem.
Starter was the ever present solid bread, pork in tuna sauce and pork tongue carpaccio in herb sauce. Sam likes bread and sauce.
Primi Plati was risotto cooked with red wine and sausages. Helpfully, Sam likes risotto and can dodge sausages
Secondi Plati was Pork medallions and tomato and green beans. The tomato and green beans were the best veg Sam has had in ages.
Desert was a baked peach with chocolate and amaretti biscuits. Hallelujah, Sam loves fruit and amaretti is her favourite.
In all seriousness, the farmhouse was spectacular with beautiful iron chandeliers, the people are lovely and the food was fabulous. The local wine was the first decent and non-fizzy red we've had in Italy (no idea how or why the red has been fizzy previously). We assume meat was misunderstood to mean beef, luckily Sam is expert at dodging unwanted animal products, we shall have to be more explicit next time.
With the rumble of thunder in the distance and the noise of rain drops hitting the irrigation chanel just below our window, we've retired for the night with tired legs and full bellies to plan tomorrow's cycle.
Night night. X