No train last night - what to do? After some deliberation, we concoct the following plan:
0) Go to the station and attempt to get a refund, or at least an exchange for a train ticket this evening. 1) Pick up bike bags. 2) Bring everything to station and pack into bags on the platform. 3) If the whole train thing fails again, start biking.
Plans, plans: they all go awry in the end - and yet when you arrive at a destination only to find yourself with few options and an increasing desire to solve whatever problem is holding you back so you can keep going, they can be crucial. The first part works without much difficulty; Gianna is able to negotiate with the ticket agents at the biglietteria, who sign the ticket to invalidate the previous stamp (you have to stamp the ticket before boarding) thereby allowing us to restamp it for tonight.
Next comes the search for bike bags. Gianna helps us here as well, printing out directions to two bike shops not far from Barletta. Cycling culture is sadly underdeveloped in the south of Italy, in stark contrast to the cyclist traffic jams we navigated back in urban Denmark and Holland; even the shops that she finds have only recently opened, perhaps to service demand from touring cyclists passing through Puglia on their way out of Sardinia and the Amalfi Coast. Directions in hand, we bike off through Barletta to the first bike shop some 2 km out along the Via Trani - which is significantly easier to travel along by day than it was at night, struggling to see the edges of the road that dip precipitously into the irrigation drainage ditches by the feeble light of our headlamp...but that aside, we make it to the store without much fuss. It is actually a combination fitness and biking outlet, and the top floor is set aside for all manner of clothing and exercise gadgetry that has nothing whatsoever to do with cycling. The bike section is confined to the basement, an early warning signal that perhaps this store will not prove so useful after all - and indeed, after checking the basement and pestering any staff members we could find, we leave empty-handed...
...and ride back into Barletta, stopping at the ipercoop - which, here in rural Puglia, is also somewhat of an oddity. Large chain stores are frowned upon by the agrarian Pugliese, who rightly view food as something that you purchase from your neighbour. That said, these supermarkets are primarily useful for the large variety of items on offer, everything from TVs to kitchen appliances to clothing - which is why we are here, hoping to find something that might function passably as a bike bag. However, the only bag-like items are garbage bags - which the biglietteria agents warned us would be unacceptable as bike receptacles, since they do not adequately protect the train seats from grease and damage at the hands (teeth?) of wayward gearsets - and overpriced luggage pieces, so we leave instead with a stovetop espresso maker that we intend to put to good use upon our stateside return.
Off to the second bike shop. We find another shop on the way, but they try to sell us flimsy covers that will hardly meet with approval from the hardnosed conductors - and, in any event, the shop on our map doesn't carry such bags either. We return in shame to Gianna, telling her of the compound failures experienced in our quest to secure adequate storage for our bikes. There remains one source for official bags: the Decathlon outlet in Molfetta, some 30 km away. This is farther away than we wish to bike - but this objection is meaningless; in any event, the That said, we have another trick up our sleeve: while deliberating the matter last night upon returning from the train station, we came across an online video demonstrating the construction of a train-friendly bike bag using tarp and rope. In desperation, we decide to emulate this ad-hoc baggery...but the shops are now closed until 1700, so we have little to do but wait and hope that all will work out. Gianna finds the addresses of a few ferramenta (hardware) shops in the area, again giving us clear directions courtesy of Google Maps...
...and, after several hours of eating and emailing and napping, it is at last time to resume our search for bike bag materials. Since we must pack our bikes anyways, and since Gianna's family is headed to Brindisi this evening to visit her aunt, we decide that this would be a reasonable time to say our farewells again. We fish around for our items, extract our bikes from the basement garage, place everything back on the pannier racks; she wishes us luck in our second attempt to board the train, all of us knowing full well that failure here means an uneventful 700 km ride to Venezia...
...and the first ferramenta store has the tarps we need, massive blue 3x4m waterproof plastic sheets with sturdy eyelets for the rope. We make an additional stop at the supermarket for snacks and sandwich materials with which to nourish ourselves during the overnight ride - but I am feeling increasingly unwell, a vague sense of bodily weakness that threatens to erupt into proper illness at any moment. We grab cappuccini in the train station café, sipping slowly as we vent about the trials and tribulations of these past couple of days - yet not all is lost; we have had excellent hospitality, and now have a second chance to catch the train to Venezia with no additional cost save for two large-ish tarps. After that, to the amusement of the other passengers waiting for earlier regional trains, we unpack our bikes right on the platform, lay out the tarps, remove the wheels, and wrap the whole thing up with our rope.
Now begins the waiting game; it is 2000, but our train does not leave until 2211! By this time, I've broken out into shivers and am starting to feel nauseous - not even the glut of food at Gianna's can explain this, but there is nothing to do but wait... . ...and the train arrives - it is time for action! Teamwork-style, Valkyrie leaps on the train to hold the door while I pass bags up. We pack everything into the entryway and board the train before worrying about exact seat placement; we are finally on board! A quick inspection of the seats indicated on our ticket shows that they are taken, but there are several empty cabins further on; rude though it may be, we take over an entire cabin with the bikes and panniers. Fever has taken hold, so I pop the armrests up and rest on the seats while taking care to drink as much water as possible...and the train rides off into the distance, carrying us on at last towards Venezia and the rest of our travels...