Into the Abruzzi - Joy and Suffering - Sora, Lazio to Opi, Abruzzo

​We were offered a nice Italian breakfast with a homemade cake in our prison accommodation.  You can see how beautifully they renovated -keeping the antique look with the modern amenities.  Our host checked in to see if everything was to our liking and gave us a warm farewell.  He wanted to get some pictures of us with our bikes before we left.  We learned that he had been the mayor of Sora in the past and had been to Toronto Canada as Sora and Toronto are sister cities.  




Then on the road again. Although not terribly hot, the humidity was high.  It wasn’t too long before we had to go up this road.  Lincoln Gap, Vermont has nothing on Italy - just saying.  So that was my first bike push of at least a dozen today.  Thus the suffering referenced in the title.  Jim accidentally turned off his strava and lost at least a thousand feet but probably more like 2000 feet of climbing but it still registered 4000 feet of climbing.   


However the joy was passing through some really beautiful towns.   Here are some photos of sites along the way. 





Then we had a really long climb over 20 kilometers.   The sun was pretty warm and several of us commented on the fact that the black of our bike shorts and the beating sun felt like our butts were on fire!  We did see some incredible sites along the way.  Getting into the high mountains with cattle grazing and we even watched some hang gliders launching off the mountainside. 




 Then the culmination of the climb was in a National park on the Lazio and Abruzzo border. Then a joyful descent through cool, dark forests that went forever!  



So after the long drop into the gorgeous valley , a couple of k climb up to the picturesque town of Opi where we rejoined with Doug and Shawn as I was rather slow on the big climb.  Our lodging was lovely with sweeping views of the valley below.  We watched cattle and horses grazing below and then we spotted a large herd of wild boars and even had a great show when some local dogs chase after them, a boar turns around and starts chasing the dog. The dog turns tail! It was great!  


So as is often the  case, we arrive starving during Italian witching hour - nothing open except for some place at the base of the village that would require us to bike down and do the climb again which everyone agreed was not going to happen.  So a four hour wait till dinner at our hotel but we stroll around town with some ibuprofen assistance and take pre dinner naps which I don’t think I have ever done before in my entire life.  Alarm goes off at seven thirty and we head down to a really delicious dinner.   So to bed exhausted but happy!  



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