Day 12 to Altamura




I suspected that the 84 miles today were going to be tough and I wasn’t wrong!
The day started with a spectacular sunrise and we managed to stay dry all day, woohoo.

The first 25 miles were like riding around the fens at home, completely flat, but with a delightful Italian style road surface - ouchy.
Apparently there were flamingos out there somewhere but I just saw bird like things (terrible eyesight!)

At the first stop after trundling along at 17mph, the battered body was refuelled with two cappuccinos and yet more cake.

There was then quite a rude climb through vineyards and olive trees.





Lunch was next to Castel del Monte, a hexagonal castle on top of a hill, obviously more climbing!



The final 31 miles of rolling hills were a battle of mind over aching body and I was very relieved to remove my bum from the saddle.
Rusty had fun trying to find a parking space and then the accommodation which is in the centre of the old town. He was really not impressed but he was dragged off to do a bit of pre-dinner touristing.







We had a lovely dinner with Matthew and Ruth aka the Ironman couple where a full trough of carbohydrates were consumed. Here is Matthew’s great photo of ’Italy 1970 missing the goalkeeper’!







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