Day 9 Chivasso to Cremona "Go with the flow"

The air was cool and still. A cloudless sky gave a hint of the heat to come. It was Saturday and no one in Chivasso was going anywhere in a hurry. A fine mist hung over the Po as the sun began to warm the moist reeds. A group of egrets in a pool stood as still as any living thing might achieve. It had all the makings of an uneventful day and so it proved. The route from Chivasso to Cremona was flat, straight and passed more rice fields than I had previously believed existed in Europe. The traffic was light for the most part though it flies by at quite a speed on the straights without  much margin for error. There was a bit of truck suck. I forgot to mention that I was sucked by a Romanian caravan a couple of days ago. Some people can go through life without ever having that experience.

I apologise if the quality of these posts has deteriorated over the past couple of days. On both nights I was in bed with the urge to sleep overtaking me. Anything written in that condition should be reviewed the next morning but I hadn't the time or the energy. Thursday night's meal was a contributory factor. It was a mix of complex and bizarre which in less remote places is no longer fashionable. The first course mentioned "St Jaques" and something to do with lamb. Scallops and lamb is an unusual combination but, whatever. Live dangerously. When it arrived I recognised the scallops. I did not recognise the taste of the lamb but sure as hell recognised the shape. Balls to it, I thought, get them eaten. The main course was a breast of duck so rare that it gave one last quack as it left the kitchen.  Four raspberries were impaled on a knotted bamboo skewer and rammed  into its bloody heart. A single half carrot sat next to a white purée of unspecified vegetable. A timbale, if that's the word, of courgette in tomato sauce balanced precariously next to a complex creation in spud. Next to it was placed a large bowl of unadorned spaghetti. I must look as if I need feeding up. Cheese followed then lavender flavoured creme caramel. A meal far better to eat than it sounds. All in all it filled the remainder of the evening nicely. And you wonder why the blog wasn't up to much?

Another 190k has been bashed out. Cremona is marvellous. I will attempt no further description as I could never do it justice. I sit at a cafe at the back of the Duomo. The blazing heat has faded to a comfortable warmth. I have a spritz, a dish of olives and some lumps of focaccia to assist me in watching the world go by. And it is well worth watching. Clouds of swifts gyre and swoop around the Duomo and its tower. It is a long way to come on a bike but there are compensations.

A small refinement to the kit washing plan. If you use the socks as a flannel it cleans sock and body in one procedure, especially the oily marks on both.