Day 5-Rome to Castel Sant Ali’s
Today is the first day of the travel to Paris and we begun our journey with an early wake up at 6.30 am and after packing and setting up our bikes we were on the road at about 7.30 am.
The weather was very mild and cool and temps were in the early twenties but heated up to about 30 degrees in the latter part of the day. The ride out of Rome was very easy as there was no traffic to speak of and there were no tourists on the streets.
Made for very good progress to the Tiber River then along the river bank out of Rome. We enjoyed breakfast on the road in a cafe about 20 kms out of town. Breakfast for me was fruit salad, jam croissant and a cappuccino. All very good to continue the journey.
The ride continued along the bike track along the river which made for good riding. After this we were on country roads which were going through undulating hills and the odd river ravine!
Over the day we climbed about 900 metres which was a good training ride for the days ahead.
Lunch was at a lovely town called Sacrofano which is located on the top of a Big Hill! To be frank it was good to have a break at this time. Lunch was a panini and cool drink.
Then it was off again to our final destination with a stop at Calcata for an ice cream… no welcome stop after another big climb.
The ride into Castel Sant Alia was once again through undulating countryside with the occasional hill climb to make life interesting!
Arriving at our destination we had a little trouble in locating the apartment we were staying and we engaged the help of a bartender in the local bar and between us we managed to work out that it was open at 5.00 pm and as we arrived at 3.45 we resolved to have a few cool down drinks to bide the time….
Well ….while we were waiting the bar became a hive of action with a number of locals coming in a for a drink and smoke! The noise these ladies and gentlemen made was extremely loud and at times they tried to engage with us to no avail. They could not speak English and we managed to cobble together a few words in Italian and then we both gave up.
Finally we were ready to go to our apartment which is very nice and comfortable and enjoy unpacking and a well earned shower!
Today we did about 72 kms and climbed 800 metres which was a good day. I think we are all a bit tired so it will be an early dinner and bed I suspect.
No major dramas with the bikes thankfully!
The pictures today are:
Our route
A photo as we left our accommodation in Rome
A view of the trail beside the Tiber
Lunch stop at Sacrofano
General view over the country we travelled we passed many olive groves and vineyards
Afternoon ice cream venue
Our home for the night
