62. Spello to Orvieto

4 July 2022

Today…we knocked the bastard off…as Ed might have said!!

And enjoyed a bastard breakfast in a bastard bakery!! What a classic name, and with exactly the same meaning in Italian as in English!

We had had a relatively slow start today…for Google told us it would only be around 70kms today! (I have found distances to be around 10-15% wrong, and climbing metres around 25% wrong. I should learn, but always start the day believing what I am told!!).

A lovely ride first off….before our bastard stop.

And onwards…beautiful Umbrian countryside as we headed for Todi. Another truly stunning hilltop town I had never prior heard of!! (..so do not forget the names Nocera Umbra, Spello and Todi…!). Really very special!

But another hugely hot day today…and by the time we had climbed 300m to get to the town…we really did not feel inclined to be very good tourists!!

And it seemed to just get hotter and hotter…so the final 30km leg was really quite difficult. You just could not carry enough water. 

Nearly there…I said…just before we turned off for the final climb (yes another hilltop town) to Orvieto.

And the Google bike route was certainly an error. It was ridiculously steep. Even steeper than our 30% from two days ago!! So you had to lean right over the handlebars to stop the front wheel lifting off the ground! It was all but impossible…and just exhausting when we were already knackered beyond belief!

So…we were just delighted to quickly find our lovely overnight accommodation, in a newly refurbed apartment. Indeed…as their very first guests…so they had pulled out all the stops, with lots of cold water in the fridge, wine, fruit etc etc…all those lovely wee touches (..sadly it is always wine, never beer!!!). And we had arrived shortly after 2pm…so were looking forward to some chill time, which we really have not had for a few days.

So I popped out for a smoke, leaving the door just ajar, in case it locked itself.

And then Nae popped out for a vape…and just as I saw her pulling the door closed…I called out “nooooooo”…..but it was too late!! There we were outside our spectacular apartment back in the heat cauldron, with the keys inside the air-conditioned luxury, together with all our communication gear, phone numbers of our hosts, etc etc.

What to do….? 

I did not strangle her!

And eventually we raised the neighbours…..who – thankfully – used to own the whole building, so after much discussion….they rang the daughter of the new flat owner, who rang her mother…who rang the guy who had originally let us in…who came back to let us in again!!! ….and it only took forty minutes or so of sweltering!! Could have been worse!!

Photos of lovely Orvieto to follow……an extraordinary cathedral (facadism – is that a word? – at its best)….& it had a really good feel! Somewhere to go back to…..