Narni to L'Aquila by Train
Ride to Narni station - 3km
Not a real riding day. During Patrick's planning, he had decided that there was no suitable route: have to use high traffic volumes roads, 900m of climbing, 100km distance - a real bad combo.
Bad day for it - another train strike and we had to wait hours in the heat at Terni for a connecting train. Made it a long day. Liked the piazza in L'Aquila.
L'Aquila to Sulmona (6th? day of riding)
Pleasant day for riding. Had the blocked road (Via Sant'Eusanio) near Fossa at about 12 - 13km out.
One steep climb on a recently resealed road - flash, at about 21km!
Had quick look in town of Stiffe for a cafe but nothing open. Might have had better luck at Vallecupa/Soschio but Chris was too far in front to get him to divert!
As we descended into Fontecchio, there were road bikes and riders drinking coffee on footpath, so we stopped and did same. After that we rode down into the town piazza, checked out sculpture and fountain Fonte Trecentesa, then rolled out. Interesting hillsides riding in river valleys.
By 45km mark, we were getting hungry but next town Molina Aterno was no good. At about 48km, we found a tiny sort of bar next to a automatic petrol station, and had ice creams and soft drink for lunch.
The outskirts of Sulmona were very drab but the riding in Sulmona showed a very nice town. Lovely place to stay for a few days.
Sulmona to Colli a Volturno (7th riding day)
Main feature of the riding day was the long steady climb out of the area of Sulmona.. Paused at about 12km, and reached peak at about 22km. Il Faggeto ristorante near summit was not open that day😧but we were able to refill water bottles there.
A few km later, it was obvious (smell) that we had entered a diary cattle valley.
Stopped for a slow recharge (battery and body) at Bar Palaghiaccio, out front of the Palaghiaccio G. Bolino sports complex, as we entered Roccaraso. It was strange to be eating mini-pizza and watching Queen Elizabeth's funeral broadcast on Italian TV.
The paths on outskirts of (trout?) fishing town Castel di Sangro were nice.
Fast ride down on busy bitumen road (Ok but...) towards Colli a Volturno.
Not a tourist town like the ones further up north. Found a bar for a pre-dinner drink and joined Chris for a lovely meal at Ristorante da Oreste e Maria
Colli a Volturno to Benevento (8th riding day)
After the overnight stay, we had a long day in front of us, and we probably should have started much earlier. Our day was made longer by a closed road. So DO NOT take the left turn on Patrick's route 3km out, keep going ahead. Our blocked road added about 9km to our trip. We had a coffee/toilet break at a cake shop Fornai Ricci.
After some boring main road riding we got onto nice tree lined side roads for a while.
Somewhere we started using some of the same roads as BI6 - Ciclovia Adriatica - in blue below:
and our actual in blue below:
BI6 would have been much slower for us.
We paused in the little town of Alife to buy some cold water (or was it soft drink?) at Bar Pompei outside Porta Roma. We had done about 59km so that would be about 50km without the blocked road detour.
We were running late to get to lunch stop on time, and so the direct route on Strada Statale 372 Telesina was used, although lots of motor traffic. Strada Provinciale 34 and 122 probably would have been much quieter roads but slower.
We rolled into Telese Terme later than planned. We were so lucky that the folks at La Rimessa let us stay and eat. The staff were wonderful, great location, great premises, and excellent food. We stayed a long time - the batteries were low and needed time to recharge.
The ride into Benevento was busy, it was late afternoon.
I suspect the secret to enjoying Benevento is to check the street called Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Benevento to Accadia (Day 9 riding)
My battery was pretty low by the time we got to Ariano Irpino at about 40km. We wasted some time riding around looking for a lunch place that would give us an opportunity to recharge. We were so lucky to find La Pignata for lunch - fantastic place! Long stop then out of hills onto windy plains before Accadia. A very small and quaint town.
Turns out we probably followed BI6 most of the day. BI6 route:
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