Ostuni to Gravina

This was the longest, but not the hardest (stay tuned for that one), ride of the tour. Early in the morning we found ourselves on this wonderful, wide, well paved road. Until it just ended abruptly at the top of a long climb. Dead end. Stopped. This sent us back into the narrow, winding rural roads to practice navigation skills and work on climbing. Later in the day we took a planned detour to ride through a national park on a sand and gravel road, did an unintentional tour of the city of Altumbara and finally rode in to the hotel a few miles outside of Gravina on a road I am sure was paved with broken tile.

Today's ride
Friday, March 23, 2012
Ostuni to Gravina in Puglia
80.5 miles
4,203 feet

We ride just a few miles north of the area around Alberobello and again encounter the Trulli. This a rather impressive new or significantly restored home it seemed...


Riding here, it is hard not to find street scenes like this one. It is so, well, Italian...


The road in the national park was rough and responsible for two of us having flats almost simultaneously. On the way up, we were passed by a tall rider on a mountain bike; I am not sure he even saw us...


The hotel was out of town and served primarily for weddings and retreats. It was nice, in spite of looking a bit like a minimum security prison, but pretty much in the middle of nowhere (the prison thing maybe?)...


We would be here two days, providing an opportunity to catch up on domestic chores.


Highlight of the day Hmmm... There is the whole thing about being the longest day with the most climbing. Or maybe the numerous navigational challenges. But the ride through the park (the excursion to the north of the direct route on the map above) was very pleasant so let's take that as the highlight.

Another day in Gravina in Puglia
Today was a not-on-the-bike-at-all day as we Walked down into town. Here are some bonus pictures from our stay. First, the hotel dining room - pretty fancy for a bunch of bikers...


Every town, it seems, has war memorials. This one is in the center of a nice promenade in the town. Too many names...


Francesco's in the middle caught my attention. Interesting name. And descriptive of the events that led it to appear here...


There was a highlight on this day. We walked back up the rather steep hill towards the hotel watching a gathering storm. It was gathering faster than our progress towards shelter; the hotel was the only option as there was no other opportunity for refuge. Just before the heavens opened in a torrent of wind and rain however, a small car pulled up and the driver asked if we needed a ride. He asked in Italian, but that was not a problem with Julio on board. We replied in the affirmative and he drove us into the hotel grounds and dropped us off near the entrance to our rooms. An angel for sure.