Day 3: Campagnano di Roma to Orte Scalo

September 9, 2023

O-o-h child, things are gonna get easier

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Today, we had an adventure. A real, bona fide adventure.

It was completely avoidable*. Given a second chance, I would have avoided it. But then I wouldn't have had a story to tell.

Things started out smoothly enough, as we said goodbye to our hosts at 8am. We walked our bikes down the steep but short back road out of town on the Via Francigena. The air was crisp, and we felt like a million bucks.

This must be what they put in the brochures

Stopping to document the "this way to Calcata" sign. The first time we saw it, we thought it was a joke, like one of those "New York 8775km" signs.

The road starts to deteriorate, but is still quite rideable

We eventually find tarmac and we're able to pick up the pace. We want to put in some distance before the sun starts to beat down on us.

One of several roadside shrines we'd see today

We always enjoy some whimsy when on the road

Eurovelo 5 and Eurovelo 7 intersect. The is no pomp, no circumstance, no signage. We continue to the walled town of Nepi, where we take a long break at the first espresso bar we see.

Nepi. Looks kinda neat, but we didn't explore it.

Its starting to get rather warm, and rather hilly. Not the ideal combination. Next stop is Civita Castellana. We take the opportunity here to stock up on food.

Let's accept the fact that I'm going to take a photo of every roadside shrine I safely can.

Somehow, my dear wife has taken the lead. But then she stops in her tracks and lets out a holler. "Stairs!" Oh boy. Well, those don't look too bad. We can manage.

We soon find ourselves in a little slot canyon. It'll open up soon and we'll be back on the open road, right?

Oh damn, the trail is closed off! This must be one of those famous "forever trail maintenance" projects that Italy is apparently famous for! We are NOT going to haul our bikes back out of the canyon! I scout out the situation. It turns out to be a barrier for wild donkeys. Or burros. Wait, what's the difference between a donkey and a burro? Anyway, onward we march!

We experience our first picnic table sighting of the tour, which is reassuring. I want us to have lunch here, but it turns out neither of us is hungry yet.

Then we experience our first donkey/burro sighting of the tour. It's blocking the path. We cautiously approach it. It ignores us until we get a little too close for comfort, then it starts to saunter towards the cliff. It gives us just enough room to pass. As I dance the little let's pass the wildlife dance, the seemingly nonchalant beast kicks its hind legs towards me, just to show me who's boss.

With the donkeyburro safely behind us (although there could be others), we hop on our bikes and ride for a bit along a babbling brook. This trail is going to open up ANY MOMENT NOW and we'll be on our merry way. I'm such an optimist! Instead, we pass a series of progressively creepy hillside grottos (it was too shady to take a good photo of one), followed by -- you guessed it -- a mirror image of the slot canyon we entered!

Again, I run reconnaissance, and, while daunting, with only 3 switchbacks, it looks short enough for us to manage. We team up and push the bikes one by one up each section. Exhausted, we finally reach relative civilization. I was never so happy to see a cruddy dirt road!

This adventure has cost us a lot of time, but now that the adrenalin rush has subsided, we're finally hungry. We pick a decent spot and chow down on bread, cheese, and arugula. Lunch of champions!

If you zoom in, you might be able to tell that's a mosaic

We bypass Gallese and look for the turnoff for the next leg of today's journey. We find it, but it’s strewn with "private property" and "beware of dog" signs. I see on the map that there's another way to get where we need to go. Whew! It works out just fine.

Now it's downright hot, we're on a poorly-maintained road in the middle of nowhere, and we're climbing and climbing. Not the best of circumstances. We proceed slowly to prevent getting too overheated. The road turns to dirt, which slows us down even more. We take frequent short breaks wherever we find shade. There are a few neat sights along the way, but we can't muster the enthusiasm to do more than snap a mental or digital photo and keep trudging along.

The first and last milestone of this backroad. Too bad. I love actual for real milestones.

We crossed a set of long-abandoned railroad tracks, then discovered this building to our right

We're running on fumes at this point. I know that there's another decent climb between here and Attigliano, so I look for a bailout point. There's a hotel a few kilometers away, but it involves a detour involving what looks like a very steep, very minor road. When we reach it, it appears to be in great shape, so we shrug our shoulders and take it. It's so steep in places that we have to walk our bikes down. It feels like a long and perilous journey, but our bailout scheme probably takes all of ten minutes.

We reach the hotel, dusty and sweaty and completely wiped out. The owners are very chatty, so it takes forever for us to complete the transaction and get settled in to our room, which is nothing special. But there is A/C and cold water and a big shower, and in those regards, it's an absolute oasis.

We walk up and down the main street, stopping to buy a few items for dinner that we then enjoy on our little balcony. Maybe "enjoy" is too strong a word, because the mosquitos are out and I really can't afford to lose any more blood. But we have managed to put together a triple threat of bitter flavors: a supposed ginger drink that instead tastes like Angostura bitters, a head of radicchio, and some leftover arugula.

The plan moving forward is to start every day at dawn, which is about 6:30, and end by 3:00, which is checkin time for most hotels and campgrounds. We may also have to shorten our rest breaks, but honestly I'm not sure we want to do that. This is supposed to a be a vacation, after all.

* I looked on the map afterwards. The donkeyburro adventure is not included in the EV7 route. So Komoot, or whoever I downloaded the GPX tracks from, decided that it was straighter as the crow flies, and totally ok to traverse on a fully-loaded bike.

Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 172 km (107 miles)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesI wish we could give you more than one like for your writing of today's adventure. Oh my gosh, what a day! Here's hoping the rest of your trip is a bit less adventure and a lot more fun riding. And no more canyons or donkeyburros!
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