Into the Eye of the Storm -Ascoli Piceno to Castelluccio

​The night before we carefully study the weather forecast for the next day as we know there is some rain in the future.  We are heading to Casteluccia which is in the Sybilline Mountains. When we cross the mountain we will be back in Umbria.  From here the fellowship is severed (cue Lord of the Rings music). Doug and Shawn head to Spoleto and then the following day to Rome.  Jim and I continue on our bike tour heading back into Le Marche.  We had a loosely planned route which included going to where my grandparents are from. However, we are making adjustments because there was just a disastrous weather event there which “bombed” 15 inches of rain in three hours causing widespread damage.  So we will see.  

Back to the weather report. Looks like by mid afternoon there will be a steady rain at our destination so an early start is in order.  So off we go on the early side.  The morning is calm, cool, the climbing starts pretty quick but is gentle but steady. 

We move along rapidly.  We pass through some towns that were badly damaged in the 2016 earthquake.  

Soon we enter the Sybilline National Park and the climbing starts to ramp up. The weather is still lovely and we are starting to get some  nice mountain views.  

We are into the really steep climbing and I am doing a fair amount of pushing which isn’t great fun but does give you some different perspectives.  For instance I actually see Porcini mushrooms. I notice these purple flowers that we have been seeing throughout the whole trip but this time I notice there are little purple/blue butterflies all over them.  So I decide to take a picture or two.  My camera doesn’t do a very good job but here they are.  

Anyway I say to Jim could you take a picture with his far superior camera.  He says he will. We turn a corner and then it appears that all hell has broken loose.  There are suddenly at least 50 mile gale winds.  There are no more butterflies. There is a severe head wind or side wind or tail wind.  The wind direction changes every five seconds.  It is a little annoying at first, now I have to push into this crazy wind.  Then it becomes scary the further up we go as we become more exposed.  I have never been out in a wind like this and I am feeling threads of terror. It is hard to hang onto the bike, I feel like my glasses are going to get ripped off my face and the occasional 60 plus gust about knocks you off your feet.  We muscle on sometimes having to just put our heads down and brace ourselves until the gusts lighten a bit before we can take the next step.  Meanwhile Doug sends a message as they are quite aways ahead of us saying it is pretty windy but be positive at least it isn’t snowing. More on that later. 

So we finally reach the crest and head over the other side and the winds are still roaring and we can’t get on our bikes yet for fear of getting blown off the road. A kilometer or so down and we feel like we can mount and ride.  

We hit the town and find Doug and Shawn in a restaurant eating the local lentil soup dishes.  We join them, relieved and glad to be close to our lodging.  As we sit and eat the delicious locally grown lentils and sausages, we see the clouds and fog rolling in, winds are kicking up a bit more and a light rain starts. The temperature is dropping fast and we pat ourselves on the back for beating the weather.  Then the winds go gale force again and guess what heavy hail starts pouring down.  Remember Doug’s positive thoughts. Blessedly the restaurant lets us hang out for awhile but eventually they need to close so we have to leave and find our lodging.  It is at the other side of the village- only about a k or so away.  However it is really cold, raining hard and did I mention wind.   So we are now freezing cold and wet but we get to our lodging.  The gracious host shows us the rooms have heat and he thinks that we should accept his offer for a ride to the restaurant later tonight which we gladly do.   The shower has lots of hot water too.