20-07-2015     Sulmona → Sulmona,   146 km

Breakfast is a completely solitary business – even more solitary than in L'Aquila – in the rather secluded kitchen. It's certainly not good for the upcoming feelings of loneliness. And the worry about the possibilities to cross Piemonte/the high Alps and reach Souillac on August 6 are not good for my mood either . . .   As far as the distance is concerned the stage I have in mind for today is quite challenging: it adds up to around 160 km, which will make it the longest since 2008 (where seven years before, in 2001, this was my average distance; oops!).   I can only keep my fingers crossed that the two climbs that I guess I have to accomplish from looking at the map will not be too exacting! During this morose breakfast I notice there is a shortcut of some 15 km possible, avoiding the Passo del Diavolo, and also leading over a supposedly quieter road. Sulmona is quiet when I leave it. The right exit is easily found. The road to the west goes up slowly (or is it that today I don't carry all my luggage?), with impressive views to the motor way high up. Jan Jansen is quickly having me forget my good old Koga . . .

Getting out of

the valley of Sulmona

The score so far,

so slow!

I cross again that crazy railway (under a very high viaduct). I make a photograph of my odometer when it reaches the 1000 km (a distance I reached on day five in 2003!). To the left I see the village I will climb up to. Actually, I will pass around it, partly through a tunnel (500 m, well lit), and WHAT a great environment I get into after this tunnel. An older Italian asks me to photograph him in front of Anversa degli Abruzzi, and now (at home) I wonder why I didn't have him return the favour.

	The tunnel		From both sides
	Anversa degli Abruzzi without me		And the beautiful gorge that comes next
	Beautiful gorge indeed		Out in the open
	Beautiful area		First view onto Lago di Scanno

The first part of the long climb, eventually leading to the Col de Godi (but that I'm not aware of yet) is certainly the most spectacular part, with an impressive high, steep, rocky mountain side on the left, the French would call it gorges. It's a lovely green road, the grade is gentle all the time. Almost without effort I reach the Lago di Scanno, where it even flattens off more. Around 10:30 a.m and with some 30 km behind me I reach Scanno, where I guess I'll find some pastry and cappuccino. And so I do. (And I won't for the next 27 km!)   I feel quite like an alien, noticing the way people seem to be looking at me. Nevertheless I take place on the only empty chair in front of a café amidst a dozen older locals (all men). A bronzed man in his seventies approaches me, and after I have revealed my nationality talks about the twenty years (or so) he has lived in The Netherlands and worked at the space center near Noordwijkerhout. AND he informs me of the stage I had in mind. Quite accurately so: first the Passo di Godo (± 1600 m), and then not so much the Passo Diavolo (I haven't decided yet about the afternoon part), but instead some climb later on, close to the N80. And right he appears to be!

	More of the		Scanno lake
	Scanno		And the company of my coffee break

From Scianno it's another 500 m up (I learn at home) in some 10 km. The road rises (a bit) steeply from the village, then it's a lovely, easy ride through an open environment, with some hairpins, and with me wondering where the pass is located (I guess wrong). Follows a nice '40 km/h' descent, hardly any braking required (I love Umbria!) till Villetta Barrea, on the Lago di Barrea. I turn right to follow the river Sangro upstream – which is good: that way I don't lose more altitude. It appears I don't gain altitude either. So I can keep a good speed, a higher speed than the family of three, German/Norwegian, heavily loaded, halfway between Armenia and Spain (and eventually planning to be back north in November!).  

	Going up further to the Passo di Godo		Some serpentines along the way
	Jan Jansen in front of Lago di Barrea		And eastward
	Norwegian/German family		Opi

I skip Opi, high on a hill (I do have to go up a bit to get around it, though), end up at a slowly climbing road against the wind – but it's not too bad, and in the morning the wind had helped me up – and postpone my second ravitaillement till Pescasseroli. That's a perfect place, already 1200 m high, to have a rest and a panini with a large bottle of acqua frizzante. And wifi (and Leontien is online!)   It's clear that it will be an 'early' arrival, though I won't try my luck and try the longer alternative.

Scary! Bears?!

Ortona dei Marsi

Shortly before I do indeed turn right for the 'shortcut' I overtake the globetrotting family a second time. The small road through the Montagna Granda/Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo is slightly disappointing. The highest point must be around 1400 m, and the descent is rather straight and open. Back on the main road (S60) I'm already much higher than the motor way (E80). That road is going straight on into a tunnel, whereas I have to make quite an effort to also reach a tunnel, from 950 m up to 1250 m, at still a warm time of the day. These are definitely the hardest twenty minutes of the stage.

	Along the SP60		The hardest kms of the stage
	The end/The top:		The tunnel!
	Change of		landscape

And after the tunnel: What a change of scenery! Two eyes are not enough to take everything in! The direct neighborhood is barren, I notice an abandoned (?) quarry right on front and to the right there's a barren mountain range with a dozen of windmills; later on I get a tremendous view over the narrow valley leading to Sulmona, with the high viaduct of the E80, and Cocullo lying there beautifully. Lovely! The descent is an interrupted one – a bit like the last descent yesterday (which is also quite close by). I make a sidestep to Cocullo for a drink (and/or an icecream), but though it seems to attract tourists (at least, people with cameras), there are no facilities whatsoever.

	The final descent		with nice views onto Cocullo
	Zoomed in onto Cocullo		In Sulmona: I only ordered a beer . . . .

So I return to the SP60, for the rest of the descent: 800 m from the tunnel down to Sulmona, which I reach shortly before 6 p.m.   Yesterday I had looked for, and found, a restaurant with 'north-European' food (no pasta or pizza), but it's on the edge of a large piazza where some football match takes place with a lot of noise (music alternated with comments on the match). So I postpone this 'treat' till tomorrow. Instead I have an 'Italian' meal on a terrace 50 m from "Casa Barbati". Alone as usual, which is the only negative issue of today.     Great day!