Lamezia to Coccorino

Sunday 14th February.
Lamezia to Coccorino
The helpful receptionist at the Bram Hotel booked our next hotel for us which was great (or so we thought).The plan was that we should cycle a bit today but the rain was so hard we just rode to the station and waited for the train. Had the weather been a little better we would have enjoyed the ride along the coast but as it happened the train past through tunnel after tunnel and when not underground was in cloud or thick fog. After an hour or so we arrived at Joppolo station; it is a small place with two platforms - one either side of the line. It was not immediately obvious how we were going to get our bikes and baggage across said line but eventually Vivi spotted some planks laying parallel to the lines about 50yds away which were presumably there to help porters and the infirm people cross the tracks. There wasn’t a soul about, it was still raining and we had no idea in which direction we should go to find our hotel.
From nowhere appeared a girl so Vivi in ever so fluent Italian asked her if she knew the Albergo Royal. In a nutshell – 'I haven’t a clue what you are saying I’m Romanian' was the answer. A car turned up to collect the Romanian so we thought we’d try the driver with the same question. The music in the car was so loud we couldn’t hear ourselves let alone any answer given – which there wasn’t. After a false start which took us 200yds down the hill we were told it’s that way (back up) and it’s 7k’s. The road followed the coast and went up and up and up. Very soon after setting off we both had to get off and push, half way I ventured back on again only to have to stop as a massive mud and rock slide came crashing down the hill only 50yds ahead. It was all over as soon as it began and the cars just drove around the debris.
I (Vivi) thought the upward route would never end and would have happily just lain down in the ditch in the rain and given up. Luckily as you went round each bend you thought it would be the last until you saw the next 100 feet looming. Anyway we made it and have learned that when you book somewhere it is a good idea to ask a few more questions about how you get there! Just because a road looks straight on a map doesn’t mean it is horizontal. No maps here have contours so there is a lot of guesswork.
The hotel, the owner informed us,and was 400mtrs above sea level and we had just puffed and panted up every one of them. There was a fabulous view of the Capo Vaticano and in the summer it would be a great place to stay.
There began the coldest night of our adventure so far. On running a bath the walls and floor promptly ran with condensation. No amount of coaxing would get the air conditioning to blow anything but pure cold air and to keep the cold in the marble floor out of your feet took slippers and a pair of shoes!
But they (as we were the only ones there) cooked us dinner and gave us a bottle of their own red wine (everyone seems to have a few vines to make wine for the house) spaghetti followed by a very good swordfish steak.