April 21, 2025
In Termoli: day three
Before starting in on our last day here, I want to remember how much fun we had last night that I forgot to mention in yesterday's post. When we left Oregon Rachael installed eSIM cards to our phones. The ones we purchase are valid for a month, but if you register them you can continue renewing them each month and maintain the same overseas phone number indefinitely. Last night we finally got around to the registration process, a simple enough idea that somehow took two reasonably intelligent, educated, tech-literate adults well over an hour.
Rachael started working on this while I was going through photos from the day's ride. Eventually after hearing enough sounds of frustration coming from her way I asked if she wanted help, so she brought her iPad over and we worked on it together.
And it's really not bad, assuming you haven't lost the email with the necessary details in the meantime. You just need to enter some basic identifying info: the phone number, the number of the SIM card, your personal information (name, nationality, birthplace, address, birth date, passport identity) and then upload a photo of your passport.
It only took about five minutes to complete mine. Hers though took the better part of an hour, because we did hers first; and in doing so debugged the process and discovered all the gotchas that led us into a dead end with no option but to cancel out and start over completely. I'm sure we started from scratch at least ten times, as well as spending a fair amount of time puzzling over how to enter something correctly. For example, our phone numbers are French. They begin with the country code, followed by the nine digit number: +33 123456789. So what to do with an instruction that requires a ten digit number? It took us awhile and several restarts to conclude/guess that we add a leading zero to the nine digit number. And what to do when you get to the very end and after uploading an image of your passport you're told the attachment is too large and there's no option to delete the one you uploaded so you can resize and upload a replacement other than starting back at the top again.
Great fun! Thanks, Orange!
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Today begins with a lazy, relaxed morning lounging around our AirBnB estate, waiting for our lunch reservation we made yesterday. We didn't come away from lunchwith any photos, but we enjoyed our meal (a shared arugula, apple and walnut salad to start; and then a prosciutto and arugula pizza for Rachael and duck breast with a sweet and sour sauce for me) while being entertained by the family at a table across the room: two guys, two gals, two toddlers that looked likely to be fraternal twins. The kids, a very sharp looking boy who looked dressed in his Easter finest and a very animated girl, had the free run of the place and were entertaining to watch. The speculation was on who the parents were, and even if the children might have different mothers but were born about the same time. It eventually became clear from the interactions that one of the men was definitely the father, and his wife the mother of at least the girl. It looked like the women were possibly sisters though, and both women interacted with and shared in responsibilities for the children so the son could have belonged to either.
After lunch we returned to our room, and I finally got out for my ride at 3:30 - leaving me time for the loop I had in mind as long as I kept track of it. This one was another loop into the interior, hilly but less challenging than the ride to Guglionesi. The climbing all came in the first half of the ride, followed by what I expected to be a fast descent back to the coast at the end. I figured that as long as I made it to the final summit by six I'd be fine to make it home by sunset at 7:30.
The ride begins with the same two miles along the bike path north of town that I rode yesterday, after which I crossed under the highway and gradually gained elevation as I followed the Sinarca River upstream. Rachael and I rode this way two years ago, and among other things I remember it for spotting a few linebirds along the way - a stonechat and a whinchat, I see from the previous post - so of course I have the camera strapped behind my back and ready for action. There's not much to be seen today though, and the few linebirds I come across and stop for invariably end up being just another corn bunting, a bird I'm quickly becoming irked with.
It's excellent, relaxed riding though, and the views are great.
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After a few miles I turn away from the Sinarca and start the most significant climb of the day, but a relaxed one that maintains a fairly steady 3-4% for the next 3-1/2 miles. It's a really quiet road offering multiple reasons to stop. There are more birds along here to stop and check out - another half dozen corn buntings, but there is one new one to add to the list; and in the distance are a pair of kites, but they don't stay above the trees long enough to tell if they're red or black.
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I make it to the top and then turn back to the sea, but there's still more climbing before the final drop. I've got a short dip of a mile or two and then a second climb before finally topping out.
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I make it to the final summit at roughly six, right on schedule. I'm still 11 miles from home, but assuming it's a fast descent I'll be fine for time. And it is fast - excellent, really. Most of the descent is a steady 2-3% on a reasonably smooth, reasonably empty, reasonably straight road that lets me make good time. Except for a few spots where I slow down for curves or traffic or to pass through the village of Petacchiato I keep a steady 15-20mph pace, as fast as I allow myself any more.
I'm back on the coast at the start of that two mile bike path to town with plenty of time to spare, but then come to the slowest part of the entire ride. The combined bike path and the walking path next to it are clogged with folks - bikers, scooters, walkers, dogs, strollers, the works - the kind of scene you'd enjoy seeing if you weren't trying to bike through it. And there's no effort by anyone to keep to their lane - the walkers are often in the bike path, and some groups are spread out across both lanes - so there's a lot of opportunistic weaving back and forth looking for a gap.
Finally though I make it back to the castle and up to the sea wall right about seven, where I call Rachael to reassure her that I've arrived and then line up with others up here to see if there's a sunset tonight.
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Rachael got out for her own walk also, but an ambling one that she wasn't that enthusiastic about. In retrospect, knowing what we do now we wish we'd stuck to our original plan and moved on to Vasto today instead. Part of the problem is that it's the Easter weekend and even in this season the place is jammed with folks.
At the end of her walk she headed up the pedestrianized main street into the new town for some pistachio gelato and found a complete madhouse - a solid wall of folks with huge lines at all three gelaterias she checked out. She finally picked one, waited in line, and when she got to the front was disappointed to find that they had only dregs of pistachio left, not even enough for a full scoop.
Termoli is a beautiful place, but it's time to move on.
Today's ride: 26 miles (42 km)
Total: 282 miles (454 km)
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