Day 383 – EU – Italy [Benevento to Savignano Irpino]

22/04/21

47km

  From Benevento (Italy) to Savignano Irpino (Italy)

Europe

Two rivers to cross and sticky muddy fields on a rainy day with 1000m+ elevation… What else!

Crossing the Miscano River

Oh what a day on the road… The longest so far, by a distance. I made it to my destination nearly 10 hours after I started the run. I could not have imagined what I would have to face today. When I prepared my itinerary yesterday, and in light of the fall I had taken yesterday and the “non-existent” pedestrian trails of Google Maps, I had chosen a path designed for bicycles. I thought this would be safe for me and the stroller.

That famous sticky sticky mud… an ordeal for BoB and I

Once I got engaged into the itinerary, it would have taken me to backtrack nearly to my start point in Benevento to take another route. The further I went, the more difficult the decision to turn back became. The first 18km or so went well, I was on a road which was very quiet. Then I got into a trail. And pretty quickly Google Maps sent me across the river to get to the path (that was cut). Except: there was no bridge. It was cold and rainy. I went in by myself, to check if it was feasible, I was above the knee in water, there was a strong current but it was doable. I went back to cross again with my bag. And one more time with the stroller above my head. I was cold and wet.

Then things got complicated. A kilometer or so into the trail, it got muddy. But not just “muddy”. A kind of mud I have never seen before. Sticky like hell. At some point, I had to take the mud from the wheels to free the stroller every 20 meters. A stretch of 6km took me over 2h30mn to cross… Such hard work… I then decided to do whatever it would take to just join the road, any road, as soon as I could. I crossed the river again, with water nearly to the waist. And I was back on the road.

Food package from my host

On top of all of these terrain difficulties, the elevation profile of today’s run was quite significant, with nearly 1000m positive elevation (including 170m+ in the final two kilometers). I am totally spent tonight! My host Pasquale has been incredibly kind to me. When he asked me at midday if there was any way he could help me, I told him I had no food reserve and if he had some pasta or else to give me, I would pay him to spare me a lengthy walk to the shops. He very kindly provided me with pasta, parmigiano, biscuits and sweets – and all for free. Very generous of him, and it means I could relax as soon as I got home. What a treat to be greeted with kindness at the end of such a day!

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: