18-07-2015     L'Aquila → L'Aquila,   145 km

Good breakfast, which I start at 7:15 in an almost empty breakfast hall. There's fruit salad, rolls, juice, cereals, yoghurt(s) . . . . This opulence takes me quite a while, so that as 'late' as 9 a.m. I finally get going. Beautiful day! Hotel Canadian is on the good side of L'Aquila (for the way I am going), and with only one short hesitation I find the right road to Montereale. Today: The Gran Sasso, the first of a quintuple of challenges that I've planned beforehand to include in my giro, and by far the easiest. (The next is supposed to be the severe climb to Piazzale de Blockhaus.)   In the morning a supposedly quiet detour after which I will attack the Gran Sasso d'Italia. The road to Montereale is a bit busier (with trucks too) than hoped for, but it's an easy starter, with nice views to the range I crossed yesterday afternoon, and a lot of green and yellow around, all under a clear blue sky and with quite reasonable temperatures.

View back to yesterday's pass

View to the upcoming mountains

Four km before Montereale I turn right onto a smaller road to Capitignano, nicely adorned against a mountain range. I hope to find a shop and a restaurant, which I do, after searching one in the wrong uphill (steep!) part of the village. The man that sends me down 'to the church' keeps harassing me about this church during my coffee break at the location he informed me of. Next comes an amazing ride till Fonte Cerreto. I think I saw a sign for some Passo somewhere and I don't know whether this road will lead to it. Neither do I know how much the road will go up. However, I feel weightless, the slopes are easy, the road is quiet, and I have all the (good) time in the world. For some thirty kilometers I will not come across any village. It's a long way up first, almost till the crossing with the SS80, about halfway.

	Into no men's land; Lovely!		Less lovely: The condition of the road surface
	The crossing with the SS80		And then a much better maintained road
	View back from the SS80		. . . .   and back into no men's land

Afterwards it appears that Capitignano lies at an altitude of about 900 m, and the highest point of the SP106-SP86, located after the crossing just mentioned, is about 1500 m above sea level. After this 'summit' comes quite a descent, long, mostly, straight also, and with nice views onto the motor way that will turn into the Gran Sasso tunnel. At the end there is one steep km up to Fonte Cerreto.

Lovely Apennines

The highway leading to the Gran Sasso tunnel

F.C. is a typical 'tourists & sports' village, with a big parking lot, also because it's the starting point of the funivia, i.e.the short/fast way to the summit of today's stage. The boy that serves in the bar tells me I'm still at an altitude of 1050 m, where after the long descent I imagined I would be at least 200 m lower. (It's even 80 m higher.) So I 'only' have to go up 1000 m in 27 km! After a gelato and a coca cola I'm ready for two hours of fun to get up to Campo Imperatore. Great fun! First the road is through woods, but quickly the views get more open. In the beginning the steep funicular points to where I'll finally end up, but over the road I will make quite a detour.

Tourist village Fonte Cereto

The funivia leading to Campo Imperatore

First 17 km to the west, with views down to the valley of L'Aquila, and every now and then a peek to the left, onto the white peak, the Corne Grande, though not as white as two days ago, when I got my first peek onto it. The grades are very gentle all the time, hardly ever a km steeper than 6 per cent, and never a km steeper than 8 per cent. At the end of this part there's even a long descent of 4 km (where I 'loose' 100 m!). At a junction I turn sharply to the left; the road still goes down for about a kilometer, and then again rises slowly. It now follows a sort of straight valley, and because of the easy slope – also because of the small luggage – at a good pace I go up some 300 m in 7 km. The Corne Grande is much closer now, and more impressive too. Since it's warm (and my nose is sweaty) I put off my glasses, and do not put on my sun glasses.

	Il Corno Grande		View down over the valley of Aterno river
	'Around the corner'		In higher spheres
	Il Corno   closer by		The end in sight
	The last phase:		(a bit) rougher and tougher
	How many more bends to go?		None!

The last part is a stiff climb of around 8 per cent, and it is still fun and no trouble at all. I'm getting to like these mountain roads in Abruzzo! Around 4 p.m. I'm almost sad when I reach the 'top'. I make photographs to all sides, have a drink and a sandwich, and a talk with two nice Italian chaps, first a man aged 45, which he considers old (!) and then a 'young' guy (35?), that joins us some ten minutes later; they're both cyclists. We continue our chat in the restaurant, with espressos for them and cappuccino for me (and one of them regrets his choice ;-))   And then when I leave I miss my glasses (I don't need the sun glasses since the sun is not so sharp). They're not at the picnic table, neither at the point from where I took pictures, and also not on the table where we had coffee . . . sssshit! Either someone has taken them – but then, whoever would do that? – or they've fallen when I took out my camera (most of the pictures are taken while I am riding). So for 2 km I keep my eyes glued to the left side of the road. And then I have this mental image they are lying on the counter of the bar, a place I didn't check. So with a (quiet) curse I turn around, and climb the steepest section a second time. After which extra effort the glasses remain not to be found.

	View over Assergi   (and L'Aquila)		Two nice guys
	Down		. . . .   and up again

Well, I have to accept it and continue this great stage; maybe tomorrow in Sulmona at an optician's I may find some temporary replacement. At least I will stay there three nights. For the rest I just forget about it, and enjoy the long, long descent (apart from 4 km uphill). For completeness' sake (against all odds) I check the bar in Fonte Cerreto (for my glasses); to no avail.

And then down

. . . .   down, down

After Fonte Cerreto another three steep km, and from Assergi, from where it is still some 20 km to L'Aquila, the road keeps descending. Quite a nice road, actually, through a narrow valley which at one section could even be called a gorge. I do not want to ride through all of L'Aquila over a busy road, so I ignore the signs along the road for an alternative route that first goes up so much that I am afraid I will end up at the motor way. However, I don't, and after a final descent enter L'Aquila at a better spot indeed, although even now I have to follow a busy road through a busy town (during a busy hour) for, I guess, some 5 km. Just as I am starting to worry whether I am on the good road, the Hotel Canadian comes into view. I tell the receptionist about the lost glasses, he says: 'Oh, that's okay', pulls open a drawer with at least five different glasses (and an even larger amount of mobile phone chargers). The third glasses I try have about the strength I need. Hurray! I have a shower, make a picture for the 'family' at home (with the question: "What's wrong in the picture?"), and again follow the dinner recommendation of the man at the reception. I end up 200 m up the street, where the restaurant feels a bit like the last hotel we had last year in Bastellica (Corsica), mostly due to the amount of overwhelming dark red colours. It feels warm, but also a bit weird, with only black people serving, and with so many tables taken by single guests like me. I suggest that one singles' table may turn out quite a success. The food is okay, the walk back is dark, and after some writing in a comfortable couch in the lobby I put my tired (but not exhausted) body to rest.

Dessert in L'Aquila

Me and my 'new' glasses