Cycling Italy & Hiking the GR5

Wednesday 15th June:  Misty, then clear and cool to warm, 18°C to 25°

Montemarino to Calosso: 42.8k, 6hrs  30mins from 9.30am to 4.00pm

Another lovely day cycling around the hills of Piedmont.  Our day consisted of cycling, shopping, cycling, morning tea, cycling, lunch, cycling - then getting lost at the end and doing 5k extra. Total ascent for the day was 1025 metres

A late start.  There's no rush as it's a relatively short day and we're anticipating a luxurious breakfast spread and we were right.  Our nicest breakfast buffet so far with hazelnut cake, hazelnut tart, and the usual breads, meats and jams.   We're away at 9.30 am and after passing through the village of Montemarino, it's another 7 k to Mango where we find a very small meat and cheese shop and a small grocery store. There's a map in town that shows the Moscato Wine route from Mango to Camo, and better still it pinpoints the picnic tables.  Donna must take a photo.

So we bypass our set route through Busi and follow the trail along the ridge through vineyards to Dornere where there's supposed to be a picnic table according to Donna, and there is.  A little manoeuvring by Graham and Ian puts the table in the shade as it's now quite warm. 40 minutes later where on the bikes again to Camo then down a very long steep hill to a busy main road and on to Setfano Belbo then still on the main road to Cannelli.  I feel much safer on Italian roads than I do at home in Oz.  The drivers are very courteous to cyclists and wouldn't dare pass in a tight situation so even on a main road, they give you 2 metres of space 

Once through Cannelli in the valley, it's a long long up hill slog to Calosso and by now it's 2pm.  Through the village there's a castle with picnic grounds overlooking the vineyards.  A perfect spot for lunch, and besides, we think it's only another 2k down hill to our accommodation Ca Rapulin for the night. At 3pm we're hurtling down a steep hill, on teh lookout for a turn off to Ca Rapulin.  But after reaching the bottom and not finding any turnoff, we realise something is wrong.  Donna gets out her phone with GPS and we see we need to cycle along the main road for a few k, before turning off and cycling 2k up hill towards Calosso on a different road.  The legs turn to jelly on an uphill ride after lunch, and it takes a while to get them moving.  One hour later we see the right road, SP41 five minutes later, there's a barrel set up with a sign to Ca Rapulin.  It's an ultra modern Agriturismo accommodation with luxurious rooms overlooking a patchwork quilt of vineyards.

It's not long before we've all done our washing and hung it on the balcony to dry.  Washing with a view.  At 5.30, its drinks on the patio but the weather has turned - its now windy and cold.  We leave at 7pm for a 2.5k walk up the hill to Calossa where our host has booked a restaurant for 7.30pm.  Dinner is nice, the wines very ordinary - that's what it's like in Italy - the wines are hit and miss and sometimes the very expensive wines at a restaurant are no better than the 2 euro bottles at the supermarket.

The walk back down the hill is damp and chilly and we're glad to come back to a warm room.  A quick limoncello on ice in the kitchen, Ian takes a night time photo of the twinkling lights across the valley and it's bed.