Lavello to Barletta – welcome to Puglia

Well already I’m falling behind with this blog – so lets see if I can remember what’s been happening (apologies for the lack of photos, I’ve not got the camera with me but will add more flickr shots soon).

Freewheeling out of Lavello

So, after Levello and all the help that Massimo had given me I was on my own but freewheeling downhill and enjoying the promise of sunshine until…

On my first turn off the main road I caught the attention of six dogs ‘guarding’ their field of vines. Now I’m not very good with types but we’re pretty sure one was a Pit Bull, and the other big one was one of these big white Italian sheep dogs – not to be messed with! Fortunately the road was flat so I was able to get a bit of speed up before they caught up with me, but then we were at a bit of a stalemate – big pit bull leaping in front of my wheel trying to make me stop, sheep dog at my rear end and the other four dogs taking it in turns to run at my pedals while I peddled on, swerving to avoid them all and hoping that they’d loose interest before I ran out of energy. Fortunately a car eventually came along and gave them enough of a distraction to leave me alone with just a couple of yips to prove their points. This was my welcome to Puglia!

The rest of the morning I proceeded very warily, but fortunately only got chased by one more pretty pathetic excuse for a dog just outside Minervino – still I’ve learnt my lesson and been much more grateful for the fast main roads (I’m not sure I should admit that my spirits were raised slightly on these roads by the sight of a couple of dogs lying in the gutters, at least they wouldn’t be coming after me…). Since then the fabulous Maurizio has given me some sage advice – have a bottle of mosquito spray handy to scare any dogs off.

View from Minervino

So, Minervino – well I almost didn’t bother with the town after seeing the hill it involved climbing. As it was I had to get off the bike and walk it as the cobbles, combined with a pretty horriffic slope, were impossible to cycle over. But when I got to the top both the village and the view over Puglian countryside were fantastic – well worth the effort. I ate a bit of lunch looking out over the vinyards and olive groves and thought about the downhill ride I had to the coast – mmmm. As it turns out the new section of fast dual carriageway highway was completed but, this being Sunday lunchtime, almost completely deserted. When my GPS accidentally set me off on it, and considering my earlier experience of quiet country roads, I decided to go with it and enjoyed about 35km coasting down smooth, clean and quiet roads past olive groves and the occasional flattened dog all the way to Barletta. The weather had warmed up and the sun was shining when I arrived at about 4pm, so I decided to camp on the seafront (I found a clump of date palm trees to camoflage my tent and bike on the edge of one of the allotment strips that front onto the sea).

Camping heaven

I woke up early and a bit tired from the sound of immenent canine attack that I read into every distant bark across the fields, but happy to enjoy a Barletta sunrise and then head in to town for a cafe and croissant.