The South Satisfies – Pedaling Down the Heel of the Boot of Italy
Story and Photos by Nathan Ward
A lunch stop along the sea.
It’s amazing how memory can distill a full day down into a few minutes, regardless of how many miles you ride or how many other things you see. Looking back, I don’t remember much about the bike ride that day, and maybe that’s how it should be. After all, a bicycle is simply a tool to help propel you through and over landscapes.
We stopped at a simple open-sided bar along a banana-shaped beach. The tourist season had ended, and the beach was nearly empty, although the beach boy still set out row after row of red beach chairs topped with white umbrellas.
The water looked warm and beckoning, green fading to deep-water blue, small waves rolling in. We parked our bikes against the bar and walked down to the water. Kian, my 19-month-old son, stared at the water. He had never seen the ocean before, and he was fascinated.
“Swimming?” he asked as I stripped down to just my bike shorts, then stripped him down to nothing. He stood still, with wide eyes, right where the sea lapped at his feet. Then he laughed like a mad- man and ran into the water, careless and unconcerned. He ran in all the way up to his chest, and I grabbed him just before the first wave rolled over his head.
My wife Andrea jumped in, wearing all her bike clothes, and we all swam in the waves. Kian learned the words “wave” and “surf.” He laughed and laughed, kicking his feet with abandon and yelling “Swimming, Daddy! Swimming!”
That swim was some of the best bike touring I’ve ever experienced.
Read the full article “The South Satisfies – Pedaling Down the Heel of the Boot of Italy” from the February 2012 issue of Adventure Cyclist.
