16-07-2015     Magliano Sabina → Vazia (Rieti),   127 km

The room that almost became my bedroom

"Piatti d'Asporto"

Breakfast in "Piatti d'Asporto". (Only) One croissant and two cappuccino's. Served by the daughter of the house (I guess.) Alas the cakes they offered me at the party last evening have disappeared, so I order another piece of pastry from the counter. I have a chat with a woman with English roots that has recently moved with her husband from Rome to the Sabinian Hills. And that's the environment in which I will continue my giro. She mentions one route, but adds that she loves the whole area. I'll see. And agree. The plan is to arrive in Rieti in time to add the Monte Terminillo without luggage. So my net displacement will be a mere thirty km, but I can easily add seventy more over the many small, curvy roads through the Monti Sabini. The first 30 km are a bit sombre due to the overcast sky, and little noteworthy. Then the sun breaks through, hesitantly at first, but definitely so.

	Morose morning		Crossing a border
	Nice, quiet,		undulating road
	The sun breaks through,		definitively

I pass several small villages. With wonder I notice (and photograph) the long lists of nameplates the Italians sometimes put at one crossing; and am annoyed when I can't find half of these towns on my map, especially if the one I want to see there is missing. As the English woman told me, the hills are quite woody. After three hours, just when I need one, I find a restaurant where I have a break enjoying the sun, a few cappuccinos and some food. I leave the R313 at San Luigi and have to go up quite severely to Poggio Catino, and some 5 km further with steep parts (all in all from below 300 m on the R313 to above 800 m). The trees open up, yellow broom comes into view. Yellow will be the colour of this tour!

	All these names		and still some are missing!
	Poggio Catino		Woody region
	Apennines!		First view to Monte Terminilo

At the end I descend till around 400 m, in Rieti. Around 14:15 I get my first view of the Monte Terminilo, but it will take 2.5 hours before I start the attack of my first salita di prima categoria. It takes quite some time to find a place to sleep. For one thing I'm refused at "Hotel Blu", where they first of all accept black people (or so it seems). I hope I will find accommodation in one of the villages along the tourist route to the Monte Terminillo. The route that is quite hard to find. When I'm finally confident I'm on the right track, on the outskirts of Rieti, I spot a bar some 100 m off the road. I have a coke and the guy is okay with me having my own tomato + soft cheese sandwich. The two other guests on the small terrace, apart from a dog, don't speak anything but Italian, but the barman knows a hotel a little further 'uphill' and makes a reservation (for only € 35 p.p.p.n., breakfast included). The Hotel Valentino cannot be missed, right along the road, with quite an impressive front. I check in, get rid of most of my stuff, and, shortly before 5 p.m., two hours later than I had hoped, get going for my first 'ranked' climb. And that turns out a ***** experience! It's not so warm, the gradient is a stiff 6-9 % all the time, the road is quieter than I had feared, I feel so light, it's fun from the start till the end. Which is 'only' at 1675 m (where I had expected – as I had been told – to surpass the 2000 m level), at Campoforogna.

	First 'real' climb		Nice climb!!
	Nice views down		After one and a half hour of FUN
	Around the 'top'		First helmet moment

From there I continue a little further, but choose a direction that loops back to the village just mentioned. Apart from the fun this expedition also gives me confidence: I feel one with my Jan Jansen bike, and I 'can still do it'. For the first time I put on my helmet (if not now, whenever else?!), and enjoy an easy ride down.

First 'real' descent

With already a low sun

In the 'wifi-corner' I share my enthusiasm 'with Holland'. Dinner is okay, but rather bleak. In the large dining hall at most ten tables are occupied, there's a huge tv ('Les Intouchables', in Italian – but I'm sitting too far away too hear anything anyway). I fill my plate with hors d'oeuvres which is followed by a huge plate of spaghetti. Halfway this second plate I am summoned by the waiter NOT to cut the spaghetti, which 'order' I dutifully carry out.