24-07-2015     Norcia → Norcia,   110 km

When I wake up:   it's raining!
I am one of the first to have breakfast, a copious breakfast in a big breakfast room. I am joined by a few young people, first two girls, then also a guy, who attend the Norcia Music Festival. The girls are here to study accordion. Nice. I take my time, definitely over an hour, to have a copious breakfast indeed.
And still it rains. The plan I cooked up yesterday is to revisit the Monte Terminillo, but now from the north. Well, no need (no strong urge) to expose myself to an experience like the one from Perugia. I spend a whole morning whats-apping on my bed (what a poor thing!) and reading on the two-sitter in the hotel lobby. Included in the price is the use of the sports center with swimming pool and sauna. Around 1 p.m., just as I am on the verge of deciding to spend the afternoon like that, it seems to clear up, and when I leave at 1:10 p.m. the last droplets are falling.

Rainy outlook

Still rainy

Almost dry!

I turn south to the Forca di Civita (1227 m), and then let my itinerary depend on the weather and the time. The first 10 km or so are completely straight and only very slightly uphill – I think I gain 200 m. I ride through a wide valley, not very spectacular, but what a present/surprise it is that I'm cycling! And that the clouds cover less and less of the sky! To the left I can see the road I arrived from yesterday. During the remaining 7 km I climb another 420 m and it's great fun. I feel so light! (In fact, too light! After 10 km I realize I have left the small front pannier containing my repair kit and my sun cream in the hotel!)   It's paradise in the Apennines! The climbing speed is between 11 km/h and 14 km/h, which is unusually high. After the pass it has become completely sunny, but not so warm as during the last few days.

	Drier		and drier
	Drier		and higher   (up to the Forca de Civita)
	And sunnier		and sunnier
	. . . .   sunnier		. . . .   sunnier
	View back to Norcia		Around the forca

The road stays high for a few kms, and then the descent sets in, a gentle descent that leads to the S4. That road again. Fortunately, today I can stay on a road parallel to this main road. I wait too long to find a restaurant, so (like yesterday) I have to go back 2 km to where I saw one. In this friendly bar I have a sandwich and decide to 'risk' the long way back (and not return by the way I came).

	Pictures of . . . .		. . . . . .
	. . . . . .		the
	gentle		descent

View back

Italian sandwich

Start of part II

On the map I can count the kilometers (63), but cannot read off the elevation gains. And it's past 4 p.m. already! However, it feels as if I'm still a few hundred meters higher than Norcia (and these feeling are confirmed now by Google Maps). I might even come across two passes, though the 'main' one, sort of parallel to the Forca di Civita is only 938 m high. I hope to be home at 8:15 p.m. the latest. From where I leave the S4 the SR471 indeed goes up for some 6 or 7 km (to gain by and large 300 m), again tremendously easy, 13 km/h or so, then a descent to Leonessa, starting point for 'the other side' of the Monte Terminillo. And then, to my surprise, the next 10 km the road goes down slowly, so that even 7:45 p.m. is a very conservative expected arrival time. It starts to drizzle (I did take my rain coat!), but that doesn't last long. There is a short climb, 4 km or so, to the Forca Rua La Cama (speed ≥ 14 km/h) and a long, long descent.

	Long slow descent		to the north
	Monte Meraviglia		Last stretch to the SS548

At the end, close to 'main' road to Norcia, I have a short stop at a fruit stall, where on second thoughts they do want to split a box with 500 g of cherries in two. The last 6 km, with already quite a low sun, are a bit tiring – well, I only had one break in 105 km, which albeit the late start is not even the shortest day distance. Great day! I'm back in Norcia around 7:15 p.m. already. I have a short contact with L. and then an hour for a shower and a meal, since I want to visit a concert at 9:15 p.m. in a church close by.

Friendly fruit stall

Specialties shop in Norcia

The staff of the hotel help me to order and serve a quick, delicious meal. Meanwhile I have a chat with the guy at the table next to mine, pianist/composer Alberto. He also wants to go the concert, but back in my room I get a call from the reception whether I have taken (or seen) his mobile phone. I haven't, and I'm sure it must be somewhere in his room. I meet Alberto later, and he is still rather panicky; no phone! He skips the concert. In which church?? Not the one at the central piazza, but even closer to the hotel; it's immediately across the road at the back side. I arrive just in time. Well, it is supposed to start at 9:15 p.m. It actually starts as late a 9:30 p.m. I meet a colleague of Alberto, accordion teacher and composer Corrado. Now that I have decided to go home, the evenings suddenly get better!? The concert is wonderful. A young (24 years?) Italian pianist plays an impressive program, with Schumann's first piano sonata as pièce de résistance. Amazing/beautiful.   After the rain and the late start this has been quite a fulfilling day!

Evening concert

to conclude a very good day