Steep alleys and sandy beach-30.10.2020

30.10.2020

Dear friends,

Just because I think it's not too far away doesn't mean it's not.

This morning started with a desperate "Too early" and another fall into bed on my part, meanwhile Dad sat relaxed in the chair and let the world pass by. But thanks to my heroic feat, we finally managed to leave at a reasonable time today.

We went by bike to the small town that we had seen since last night and that had won my love with its old houses and a small church tower. I dressed warmly, as this morning my feeling thermometer indicated less than twenty degrees. Unfortunately, I completely underestimated the mountain and had to take off two layers at our first viewpoint. With a now full backpack, we set off for the top of the mountain, and as it turned out, this village was really very small, because after two hundred meters of narrow main street, we arrived. Torre di Palme, really very cute, but somehow just a tiny village with a bridge that should not be suitable for cars to pass through.

According to Dad, it should only be ten kilometers to Fermo now - should. After what felt like thirty, we had to climb the steep mountain because we had arrived back at the bottom of the valley. Can you feel my motivation? Completely sweating, we gave up after the first fifty meters in the old town, and after a friendly old man made us understand with gestures that the only somewhat human-looking path would be much steeper than our current one, we set off panting. Panting beside our bike, avoiding the sun as best we could, and taking a break at every corner in the hope that we would soon be done. But it went even further up.

Stone-built houses flowed together and the narrow alleys were surprisingly used as one-way streets (otherwise it didn't seem to matter how small the road was, as long as you could drive in both directions). When we reached the top of the mountain, we also reached the only flat spot in the whole city, but instead of building a large building or a marketplace here, we found ourselves in a park - the only usable building site in all of Fermo was used as a park - very sympathetic people.

The view was truly magnificent, all the surrounding valleys lay at our feet and the sea glittered not too far away. When we dared to descend again, I could enjoy this place for the first time, as I hadn't noticed much on the way up. The city's aura is beautifully calm and playful at the same time, and the streets are designed in such a way that it's easy to get lost and always find your way back to the main square. But we also had to go down, as the risk of our brakes overheating was too likely. No, kidding. I was just a little afraid that stopping wouldn't be quite as easy because every half meter there were protruding stones in the way to prevent cars from rolling down, and sometimes the intersecting road came so suddenly that it caught you off guard if you wanted to go in there, because if we hadn't stopped at the perfect moment, we would already be on a slope where you shouldn't leave your butt on the saddle but a whole piece behind it to maintain balance.

So we successfully pushed the worst part again and then rode down with great enthusiasm until we were in front of our motorhome.

After a delicious cake on the beach, we also had to go into the ice-cold water, because why not? Then we quickly warmed up in the sauna of the car before we set off again to a town fifteen kilometers away where there's a shower. So pack everything together, drive there; almost despair at the counter to get to the pitch; arrive successfully; go to the beach; play cards; rest; eat and admire another beautiful sunset with an even more impressive moon.

See you soon and we'll stay here for now.