Ferrara to Rolo - so hot!!

We decided not to bother making breakfast on the campsite, but to pack up early and to cycle the two or three kilometres into Ferrara and find a café there. We had coffee and croissants in the main square and enjoyed looking around at the buildings. Ferrara is a very bike friendly city and there is no traffic in the centre, just bikes  and pedestrians, making it a very peaceful place to sit or to wander. We enjoyed it, but all too soon we felt we should start our day's ride as it was obviously going to get very hot later.

Ferrara Castle 

The whole area is full of metalled cycle paths; they are very well used and are a pleasure to ride on.

By lunchtime we reached the area that we had crossed from north to south a few years ago on our way to Rome. This region was devastated by an earthquake in 2012 and whilst there is much evidence of reconstruction with cranes everywhere, there are sadly still many shored-up buildings and in the countryside many agricultural buildings are little more than heaps  of rubble.

Cathedral at San Felice sul Panaro

Ruined house, San Felice

We knew that there was nowhere to camp today, there aren't many hotels either, so at lunchtime we decided to use Booking.com to book a nice looking B&B about 50km further on and duly received a confirmation.
We arrived there, rather hot and tired a few hours later to be greeted by a very characterful man who had let the last room five minutes earlier without checking Booking.com. There were many expletives and much repetition of "Mamma mia" and "Mi scusi". We're not sure what has happened to the other guests, but we are now installed in a comfortable room. Thank goodness as we certainly didn't feel like cycling any further.

Ferrara to Rolo - 86km, 180m climb