We really enjoyed the small town of Spotorno. It had a nice, small oceanside vibe and was a great find. Although we could stay here for another day, looking at the weather, we needed to move on. The weather for next couple of days may get wet and we need to be ready to use a regional train if it starts to rain. We do not want to repeat the Neive to Cherasco ride!
After breakfast we took our panniers to the bike room where we met up with our host, Giuseppe. He is a keen cyclist and we discussed the route that we had planned for today. Although the language barrier made it tough, we did make some last minute adjustments that he suggested and uploaded the changes to Garmin.. We had no desire to ride the busy coastal SS1 so we headed up into the hills almost immediately after leaving Spotorno.
We turned onto the SP45, which crosses over the headland, gaining and then dropping 300m in elevation between Spotorno and Finale Ligure. At the top of the hill there was a roughly five kilometre stretch of flat road which was popular with outdoor enthusiasts. The SP45 was relatively free of cars but full of road riders, mountain bikers and hikers. It is really an. outdoor mecca, but we were the only ones packing touring gear.
An old church that had been converted into a restaurant at Manie, but it was too early for a coffee stop here. This is in a forested area with lots of hikers around.
The ride down to Finale Ligure was very steep and full of switchbacks. We passed a number of people on mountain bikes who were tackling the difficult uphill. Care had to be taken to keep your speed down on the narrow road, but with the views of the Med, Scott was stopping for pictures frequently.
Reaching the town, we rode along the waterfront and stopped for a great espresso and capuccino at a beach front cafe. Finale Ligure is a very nice seaside town. Grabbing a quick lunch from a pasticceria, we again headed back up into the hills hoping to repeat the riding experience that we had enjoyed on the first half of the ride.
Road back down.You can see the elevated tight corners overhanging the hillside
The second part of today`s ride had a similar elevation gain as the first but it started on a busy SS490. Fortunately, most of the cars were connecting to the A10 Autostrata about 4km up the hill. The traffic dropped off significantly after that. As we climbed, we were getting concerned about the clouds building above us and the possibility of rain.
At the top of the hill we saw a number of trucks with trailers that could carry at least a dozen bikes. It looked like these vehicles would pick you up at the end of a trail system and move you back up to repeat the run down again, much like a ski lift system. It was Sunday, so likely a busy day on the trails.
The A10 took the majority of the traffic from the SS490.
Fortunately, we stayed dry as we began our run back down the very tight hairpin SP4. The corners were very sharp and the brakes needed to be almost fully applied. It was a great ride at the top of the downhill above the town Tovo San Giacomo. After that it was a straight run down to the ocean and a few kilometres along the busy SS1 to Loano.
Loano has a very developed marina with a long promenade along a breakwater. We rode out to the end to admire a few of the larger yachts moored there before making our way back to the waterfront for an afternoon refreshment.
Passing under these massive highway pillars on route to Loano.
Our ride today was excellent. We rode a relatively short distance but covered some challenging terrain while staying off busy coastal roads. We are expecting rain tommorrow so the plan will be to catch a train to take us just two stops down the line to the town of Alassio.
1 year ago