Everything good again
After the ride in the heat and dusty surrounding we were curious what this day would bring. Distance wise it was not too long, less than 70km, however too long ascents where waiting for us. When I planned the route I chose it this way because it looked liked a nice road through the back country andon the second half the map stated that it would take us on a cycling path on a former railroad track. Which normally great for bike riding since it means no traffic and no steep climbs. However given the experiences with bike paths in Italy I was very curious to see whether it will be rideable or not. In Italy bike you can be really lucky with the bikepaths or they can be a simple joke. For example the bikepath along the Adige river or down from Brenner pass throught the Dolomites are simply perfect. Others however can be full of obstacles pot holes and stop without any indication.
Luckily it had rained during the nigth which brought the temperature and climate back to normal and once we found our way through the town and left the main roads it actually turned out to be a really joyful ride. Just as expected, small road almost no traffic and nice countryside. No comparison to the grey sky and dusty roads we had the day before. So on a high mood we made our way up to the first pass and passed the town San vito Romano. There it did not look like southern Italy at all more like a mountain town somewhere in our region. We thought about having a break, but Anouk was sleeping so no break for us and despite the town looking quite nice with wonderful views in the surrounding countryside.
We descended and soon actually found the mentioned cycle path. It started with a stop at a nice little cafe (Anouk finally woke up) After our obligatory mint sirup with water and ice cream we went back on the bikes and oh boy the cycle path was great. We knew it would be a long ascent more than 15 kms, but since it was not steep we made great progress. The bike path could use some tender love and care but in general it was good tarmac and it winded itself up the mountain. Definitely worth a ride. On the last kilometres I somehow managed to damage my rear wheel, it must have been a pot hole or something but the bike was still rideable
We arrived in Fiuggi our destinatoin for this stage. We realized that the old town was actually another 50-100 higher. It looked really nice from our hotel in the new town 😉 The hotel was actually wort to mention. It was called King Hotel and somehow it looked da bit out of place, with its best times some time ago. But the owner was super nice! And it had a really beautiful park with a pool which we loved. Great value for money and worth the stay.
