With lousy weather looming, we scheduled a train to get to our next stop, Ferrara. However on awakening we saw blue skies, and felt warmth, so decided to treat this as a cycling day – and prepared thusly. After a quick breakfast we ducked out (senza panniers) for a far-too-brief visit to the Orto botanico di Padova. It’s always a shame to leave a city partially explored, but an itinerary we did have, so an itinerary we must keep. After picking up our gear we hit the bike paths with Ferrara in sight, tracing a line through a fairly uninspiring landscape of weedy canals and industrial yuck, interrupted only by service stations, supermarkets and gambling dens. Once we’d broken free of Padua proper, a few more charming sights appeared, not least the Castello del Catajo (below), a 16th century outrage built by one family and extended by another in the 17th century, and extended, again, in the 18th century by another, and…you get the vibe. Very big castle.

 

 

All the while storm clouds had been a’gathering, and around five minutes from from Monselice, the rain came down. It had been spitting on us threateningly for a while, but by the time we hit the town itself it was coming down proper. Despite being a medium-sized town of around 20,000 folk, Montselice wasn’t exactly airing its charms. Most shop fronts were still, doors closed, with the odd lone soul ducking in and out of cover here and there. Didn’t bode well for a lunch-time stopover, but with a little ferreting about we came across L’ Osticella Spunciotteria & Vineria, whose patrons were clearly locals, and clearly half-cut – not bad for a Tuesday lunch. Pretty certain I saw a couple of said half-cut locals pile into a council truck for the afternoon’s duties. Anyways I digress. The food was sublime. Josephine had a perfect Pumpkin and Speck Risotto, while I had a brief experience with the most superb Tortellini with Sage Cream. You can see from the link to their Facebook page (above) that their chef takes fresh ingredients seriously. This was a stellar culinary moment.

The rain kept coming down and the temperature was dropping, so with bellies full it was to the train station for us. Ferrara was only a half-hour or so down the line, at 2:09.