Day Three
The Cosenza - San Giovanni Line (Narrow Gauge).
Hallelujah - We Have Found It!
Peter crosses the viaduct at S. Pietro in Guarno
Our GPS showed a shortcut out of the mountains to the freeway in the valley far below. Winding down the narrow mountain road we unexpectedly came to the village of S. Pietro in Guarno. Entering the village our eyes popped out of our heads. There before us was the most spectacular of all the stone viaducts on the railroad. Towering a hundred feet above the village it dominates the town.
Surely God was alive and well because the rain stopped and the sun broke out of the clouds. Our spirits soared. Parking at the station we unpacked again and hurriedly assembled out bikes. Just as we arrived at the bridge my back tire went flat. We were too impatient to repair it immediately so Arne rode across the bridge and back again before we changed the tire.
The view from the bridge was breathtakingly beautiful. The village of S. Pietro lay below us, the colorful buildings clustered on the hill top with the church spire reaching for the sky. Behind it the valley lay far below, lost in a soft haze like a fairy tale, with the blue mountains rising in the background. We looked on transfixed, wanting to absorb every nuance of the mesmerizing scene. It was everything I had hoped to find on our railbiking adventure.
Our first view of the viaduct took our breath away. It was pure nirvana.
Crossing the bridge above S. Pietro was the high point of our trip. We had finally achieved one of our goals.
On the hillside above S. Pietro we rode through the steeply terraced family vineyards of the local residents.
Arne repairs Peter's
flat tire on the
station platform at S. Pietro.
Fortunately, Peter was riding one of
Arne's bikes, otherwise he
would not have benefitted
from this trackside service.
The bridge at S. Pietro towers above the village.
Arne turns his bike to head back to S. Pietro. We were only able to ride about one kilometer up the grade in this direction.
