Friday 13th today. We approached Naples from the north on a derivation of the via Appia which was straight but got narrower and narrower. Being honked at became a way of life. We’d stopped at Madrigone and the contrast with Rome and northern Italy is stark. The place is dirty, litter-strewn and shabby, and wearing day-glo cycling wear feels very conspicuous. We took all the luggage off the roof rack before entering Naples. Good job we did!
As we rode into the suburbs we entered a surreal world of driving customs and horrendous road surfaces that has to be seen to be believed!! I used to think that riding down Great Horton Road in Bradford was bad, but that’s a picnic compared with this. No-one does anything except that which they wish to do, including window shopping, triple parking, reversing, chatting and swerving irrationally. All this against a backdrop of a constant stream of hooting, honking scooters and a road surface that hasn’t been improved or repaired in at least twenty years. I had the added excitement of route finding and Tizz shouting at me from the rear that the driving was appalling! As if I didn’t know! After a final left hand turn when a motorist tried to reverse into me after she’d missed her turn, we plunged into narrow, alleyways and ginnels, cobble and flag covered, to find the initially forbidding gates of the hostel. Miraculously, the van was there, although it wad already being buzzed by suspicious looking youths on scooters! We had to move it, and I’ll write about that in the next installment!