3 July 2022
We both had a fairly awful sleep. The very fabric of the building was so hot, it felt like sleeping in an oven…which a fan really did not really help!
So to the second B of our B’nB….which was a voucher to a nearby bar (indeed embarrassingly the same bar I had complained about their Venice pricing for beer!!). Gladly a different crew were on! But Italian breakfasts just do not do it for me! One croissant or a micro panini….and a coffee!
Once on the road…it was lovely…with a long slow ascent through lovely country. I picked up a passenger for 15kms or so…..a biker who happily drafted behind me uphill! A bit unsettling really…for it sort of precluded those pedalling breaks one usually takes (for fear of him running in to the back of me!). It was funny when we turned off…and he said, no, no the ‘other way’ is much prettier! …..so we believed him…and it gave him another 5km tow!!!
Stopped for cold water at one of those lovely old roadside fountains…and a rosemary seller nearby came over and told us about a bike route to take…to avoid the road for ten kms or so. The road had not been that busy…but the alternative route was indeed gorgeous…and traffic-free!!
Came across the classically confusing Italian signs (bikes prohibited…on a bike route?…but it is the helmet which apparently confirms the prohibition of motorbikes! thicker wheels might help too! )
After which the real climb started…up to around 900m…and the high point of our coast to coast crossing of Italy (marking also our entry into Umbria), with – as ever – the compensation of an exciting downhill to follow.
We took a wee detour up into the town of Nocera Umbra. (All towns seem to be on hilltops!!). A gorgeous spot for a rare lunch-time beer and a slice pizza.
Today…away from the coast…it has been scorchingly hot…hovering around 40 degrees, and well past the point where wind turns from cooling to heating! So…it was with some consternation that we arrived at a roundabout….leading onto a road bikes were prohibited on. So the options were a 40kms detour…or a bit of rule-breaking! Not a hard decision…and it turned out to be just fine. A fast road, yes…but also one with a very broad shoulder.
So once again we were thirsty sweatballs as we climbed up (yes, another hilltop) to our overnight stop in Spello. Another place I had never heard of…but another stunning town! Busy enough…but not overly so! Certainly a place to return to!
