Day 5 to Monteleone di Spoleto




After yesterday’s deluge, it was good to be dry on the bike today, although my shoes were still rather squelchy. We spent the day in Umbria with medieval villages perched on the hills. The ride started with 30 miles of flat riding on a cycle path running down the side of a river with the hills on either side. That sounds much easier but my bum and neck were not keen on zooming along in the same position, weirdly they both prefer hill climbing.

After a coffee break where I may have eaten my body weight in biscotti, the climbing started with a 10 km plod up through beautiful hills and virtually no traffic - happy pedalling time.





Lunch was in a children’s playground where the local wasp population apparently hang out, we all wanted to get going quickly! The climbing then got a bit tougher but still doable, up to 3400 feet followed by a descent into the village on very potholed roads.



Rusty got to the hotel earlier as usual and sent me a message - ‘There are 2 men and a dog in this village and I am not sure if any of them are alive!’
Fortunately the hotel has cold beers and hopefully will feed us a huge amount of carbohydrates ready for tomorrow’s Appenine climbing extravaganza.

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