ACT2401 more Enduro biking in Italy

So here we are in Bologna looking forward to 6 days of adventure enduro riding through central Italy, following in the tyre tracks of the ACT Italy route. The weather has been so so and the last tour has already encountered some muddy and slippery terrain, so we wait to see what there is in store for us. The weather forecast is however looking good, so we can expect some great riding through the spectacular scenery of the Apennine mountains, some great cities and towns to admire the architecture and of course the best of Italian food and wine to keep us fuelled up for the week.

It's a glorious morning as we head out of Bertinoro into the Italian countryside. It's rolling hills here but we have some great views as we roll across the tops of the hills looking down into the valleys. It's not long before we hit the first gravel roads but everything has dried out nicely in the sunny weather from the previous days so it is easy going. We stop in Sarsina for a quick coffee here, but the town square is bustling with people and the cafes are busy already. Then we are out again and back into the countryside and more gravel - it's a perfect day for motorcycling. We stop shortly after Rofelle in a small restaurant for lunch of panini and pasta and to take a break for the dust - it's also warming up nicely. After lunch we are up over Passo di Montelabreve and down the other side into Mercatello sul Metauro. The group decides to skip a late afternoon coffee in favour of getting to the hotel for a cold beer. We finish the day sitting on the terrace sipping cold drinks and looking across the valley down towards Citta Di Castello.

What a fantastic day today - full of beautiful views and full of all kinds of adventures. We even "found" a muddy section which was really tricky and super slippery...... some wise riders found a "detour" through the bushes ;-)

Another lovely warm sunny day greets us as we head out of our Hotel in Lago Trasimeno. We skirt around the north side of the lake and have some great views from up above as we work our way around. It's still pretty flat around here and we cross over the autostrada and head towards Montepulciano. We stop just outside to admire the views and then head on towards our first stop of the day in Pienza. It's always difficult to park here, but we find something and then walk into town to have a look around and stop for a coffee break. Very pretty here but also lots of tourists. We head out again in the direction of Monte Amiata, passing through many vineyards on our way to Bagno Vignoni. There's quite some gravel tracks around here but it is very dry and as a result also very dusty. Everyone is happy to stop for lunch in Vivo D'Orcia for a lunch break and to quench our thirst and hunger. After lunch there is still a lot more gravel and we wind our way through the hills and forests until we can eventually see Orvieto in the distance. We make good time and arrive reasonably early so that everyone has time to take a "caminata" around town before dinner.

Another great day: No dust as it has rained just a little bit during the night and so we had perfect conditions. This day is the most demanding day concerning offroad riding as we have some steep and loose gravel sections, also tight turns. But the riding days before served as a "training", so we are prepared for it and we enjoy the challenge ;-) This day was 100% italian: we had Ice cream and finally we even found Pizza :-)

So today is our last riding day, and here in Italy the sun is shining for us again. It has been raining during the night but the roads have mostly dried out, except in the shadowy parts of the forest roads. We make our way directly to Leonessa and then jump straight into the ACT track there. It's narrow and slippery and still some puddles left from the rain, but nothing too difficult. after a few km we are back on the asphalt and make our way through Posta until we reach some more gravel. We ride through the valley and then there's a set of switchbacks to take us up and over and then we eventually reach the high plateau with great views over the surrounding countryside. We make our way across and eventually hit the tarmac again, but now the wind has got up and it is really blowing up here and not so warm either. As we head down towards L'Aquila it starts to warm up again, but even at our lunch stop it is cool in the shade. After lunch we head up and over the Paso Serra Sant'Antonio, but the road is winding and it is slow going. We wind our way down the other side, but we still have a long way to get to Rome! We make a quick coffee stop to inject some caffeine into out tired bodies at Rocca Santo Stefano and then press on. We skirt around Rome on the highway and eventually reach the hotel just before 8pm. It's been a long tiring day but we made it and now get to relax a little and enjoy the memories of the day.