Day 88 – EU – Italy [Imperia to Loano]

02/03/20

46km

  From Imperia (Italy) to Loano (Italy)

Europe

A long tough day, stormy, rainy, 100kph winds – and an arrival in a coronavirus hit region

What a day…! I started out under some heavy rain, covered from head to toe in waterproof garments. I was a bit disappointed that the pedestrian coastal path I had elected to run on was suddenly closed without warning, forcing me to backtrack and join the SS1 (National Rd 1) for all of today’s run. Traffic was light but I was uncomfortable being on the main road in the rain.

About 16km into the run, the wind started to pick up very violently. I kept running, the rain was pouring horizontally, pushed by wind gusts of up to 100kph. That’s when I started losing control of BoB. I had to stop the run. At least until the conditions got better. I searched for a place to crash, there was no visibility at all. At km20 I randomly entered the hotel Moresco in Andora.

The man who welcomed me was very kind. I was standing there, dripping, BoB even more, with literally a puddle forming under its wheels. The man asked me what I needed, I was shivering. He offered me to use the staff shower, how kind. I was able to warm up, hang my wet clothes and put on some dry ones. They then served me a hot chocolate. The wind was blowing above 40 knots outside, with heavy rain. Lunchtime arrived and I sat with the guests, enjoying the set lunch of the hotel. As I finished eating and started to fall asleep, they offered me a room to go for a nap.

At 2:30pm, as the wind was showing signs of calming down, I came back to the reception to pay the bill. And that’s when I was told there was no bill to pay. It was all on them. I was totally blown away by such kindness. I thanked them profusely and promised to write them a note to confirm when I’d arrive safely at Loano. Grazie mille, Vignola family from Andora 🙂

I resumed the run in the afternoon, which has never happened to me before. It felt good physically, a bit like starting a new run with much fresher legs. The rain was still heavy but the wind was not an issue anymore. I ran all the way to Loano – and when I arrived: the hotel was closed! The Savona region (where I am to spend one more night tomorrow) has been classified in the Coronavirus Red Zone. Hotels are closing and I am going to have to check what happens to my hotel tomorrow night… Meanwhile, the host came to pick me up and relocate me to one of the few hotels still open tonight.

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: