Day Three
The Cosenza - San Giovanni Line (Narrow Gauge)
As we unpacked our bikes and began the routine assembly, the sky continued to darken and rain appeared inevitable. We headed east in an attempt to reach the spot where we had turned around the day before. Again we were faced with the steep grade but this time we were climbing on our first leg of the journey. A small washout had undermined 200 feet of track which was the only spot in all of Italy that we encountered such damage.
Climbing steadily for over an hour we threaded our way through a couple of tunnels to an overlook with a grand vista of the rugged mountains and valleys below. The blackberries finally stopped us at the mouth of another tunnel and we reversed course and headed back downgrade to Santo Janni. Still hoping to ride further we headed off in the opposite direction from the station. Within a couple of kilometers the rain started to fall. Hastily donning our foul weather gear we headed back to the car. It looked like the end to our riding that day and for the narrow gauge altogether.
Arne is all smiles as we prepare to head off from the station at Santo Janni. The device at the right is for operating mechanical signals. The signals may be
several hundred yards away and are connected to these
weighted levers by cables running down the side of the
right-of-way.
Arne stands on the stone bridge (above)
that is seen on the curve in the photo on
the left. This view of the railroad was
taken from the highway and is a good
indication of the rugged terrain. Note
the tunnel toward the top of the photo,
one of more than 40 on the line.
Rain was bound to catch us sooner or later. We were lucky that this was the only day in Italy that we needed our rain gear. Fortunately, we were not far away from our car and had to turn around anyway because ....you guessed it.... blackberries.
Arne walks his bike up the washout incline.
End of the line for us heading upgrade. Time to turn around and try riding in the other direction.
The tunnels often came one after another. They were a relief from the blackberries and were always free of undergrowth.
After disassembling our bikes and repacking the car we decided to head north to our next scheduled location. After seeing the marvelous photos of the fantastic stone viaducts that spanned some of the hill towns we were depressed that we had missed these unique monuments because the line was so overgrown.
