Let me out let me be gone: The Wolf's Lair

We normally spend a week cycling in the Highlands in May, but in between the train strikes and the temperamental weather, I threw the idea of going to sunny Italy and give the Wolf's Lair bikepacking route in the Abbruzzo region a go.

https://bikepacking.com/routes/bikepacking-abruzzo/

We watched a few blogs and the description (99% ridable) and got exited at the prospect of spending a few days in the mountains, with stunning views and food... It turns out the sun was shining in the Highlands and not so much in Italy, but oh well, somehow it had to be done at some stage and we are glad we went for it.

L'Aquila to Santo Stefano di Sessanio - 47km and 880m up

This was an endless and varied day, hard to put it all in my head. We got an after work flight to Rome Ciampino on Friday, which was 1h delayed so that we got there at 10pm (through the " third country arrival" and the "mantrap"...). We booked a b&b in Ciampino and got there at 12pm, the worse ever but not much choice either...there were signs telling you what not to do everywhere, don't know which kind of animals they get there but it was as intimidating as absurd!

We woke up at 5.40am, and in order:

6am - walk to the Ciampino train station for the 6.46 train to Rome Termini
7am - walk to the bus station to get the 8.15am Flixbus to L'Aquila
9.40am - we got dropped off at the "station", which was a bench by the road.
Walked 10min to the Attitude Bikes shop, and stopped at the café nearby for a slice of pizza (10am!! ...but you never know when food is next!)
10.15am - got to the shop to rent the bikes, while outside it started pissing down badly...

The shop was massive but we were the only 2 people. I contacted them a month before to book 2 MTB (named Sundance and Butch) and yet nothing was ready. They started sorting the bikes and pretty much putting them together on the spot, and occasionally got lost serving (= chatting) to whoever would come in. We were not too bothered at first as the weather was awful and we decided against going for the original route up in the mountains as we could see nothing. We used the time to re-plot the route in lower grounds. After 2 hours the bikes were finally ready! Paul's one was a bit of a mess with the back tyre not pumped and the gears unaligned and with a weird setting, but we really had to go!

At midday we set off in pouring rain and slowly found our way outside town, on a busy and a bit scaring road (marked on Google as a cycling route...). We then finally got on a proper cycling route in the valley, and the rain would stop at times but it was all dark and cloudy. The nice path gave way to a messy track of stones and mud and we got filthy straight away. We rejoined the nice one again eventually, and a fountain where I washed myself and the bike...what a mess!

We passed through a village called Monticchio, no shops there but out of nowhere we heard a band followed by a procession. We were trying to get out of the village but we were going around in circle and crossed them a few times... finally the fireworks started (during the day!?) and lasted forever, what for we don't know, maybe for us starting our adventure??

...will we ever get out of this village??

Eventually they stopped and we found the right way. We got on a quiet road to S. Demetrio, a town more quiet than the road but thankfully there was a bar and at 2pm we had our lunch of focaccia farcita with tomato and mozzarella. We had a chat with the guys there who were commiserating both the weather and our luck...and wished us luck!

At 2.30pm we were ready (not really) to tackle the last 16km of climbing to destination. We followed Google's direction thinking it would send us on a road but we ended up on a rocky and steep track instead, thank you! When we reached the road we went left instead of right, on what was actually the best bit of the route so far, on a kind of plateau, surrounded by fields and flowers. I was actually glad we had to do it twice and retrace our steps. We reached a village called Barisciano, and from there the last 8km of proper climb = granny gear to the top. It felt like proper mountain, gaining elevation quickly on a road with more sheep than cars. We could get views on lower grounds, but realised we would soon enter the clouds too! Thankfully we brought the lights as a few km to destination we reached the clouds, with barely 20m of visibility. By then the gradient eased and it was a quick cycle to S Stefano. I had to ask 2 passer-by where the village was as we could see nothing! A bit gutted as we were in the National Park of the Gran Sasso where the views are supposed to be spectacular, and the village itself is one of those historic and scenic places nested on top of a hill but all we could see was rain and clouds!

We checked in La Bufora e le Lune b&b and were offered tea and biscuits, we were cold and that was much welcome, but the they kind of forgot about us which was a common thing in this trip... Eventually we checked in and got washed of all the sweat and mud.

We went to check out the village (and get a sandwich for the day after) and it was pretty indeed: all cobbled streets and alleys, old buildings and a few tourists too, pity we couldn't see anything outside the walls!

The surprise was that there was a vegetarian restaurant in the village! We managed to book a table for 8pm and little we knew of what was coming...it turns out it was more of an event than a dinner, and we should have got a program instead of a menu (if there was a menu). We were at the 3 tables "Elisir del Pensiero" run by a couple and absolutely spectacular. Dinner consisted of an endless series of small dishes all made with locally sourced produce, and the guy would explain for each one how it was made and were the ingredients came from, and that his wife cooked them with much love. It was absolutely delicious and unique, but at the last cheese serving we gave up! I think it's the first time we spend €70 for dinner but it was totally worth it. We got out at 10.30pm (2h 30" of dinner...not even at Christmas!) in pouring rain and thinking how was it possible that we started the day in Ciampino??? Unaware of what next day would bring, we both slept sound!

Santo Stefano di Sessanio to Tocco da Casaurio - 80km and 1400m up

The new day brought sunshine, and we finally got all the views we missed before, just amazing! We were at 1200m of altitude and it felt like we were back in the mountains. We had a great breakfast of local products at 7.30am and got on the move asap eager to see where the route would take us.

Finally we could see something

The village with more cats than people

We started on a 4km climb on tarmac and we soon took off all the extra layers. We then got on a perfect gravel road which brought us to Castello Rocca, above the village of Calascio. There are no words to describe how peaceful and beautiful that place was. We got there early and there was not a soul around. We spent a good half an hour taking pictures and checking it out, we really didn't want to leave but we knew the day was long and we were barely started.

We then pushed the bikes down the other side, where the sleepy village was, and got on the road towards Castel del Monte, but we didn't go up there and took a nice gravel track at the bottom of the road.

looking back to Castel Rocca

It started very smooth and with a great gradient, but the more we climbed the rockier it became until we just started pushing as the energy expenditure was outweighing the distance covered. I actually didn't mind at all as the views were getting better and better, and we did take into account a fair bit of pushing today. Paul also supplied the almond biscuits he got from breakfast out of nowhere, so sweet!

The going was slow but eventually we reached the top and got rewarded by stunning views of the high mountains in front of us. They were a bit shy and covered in passing clouds, and the biggest peak, the Corno Grande, was never to be seen, but still, it was quite something to be up there and had no regrets at all!

After a short break on we moved and finally we got some speed. We passed a flat pasture and then joined a road, which again was deserted.

Avanti!

At that stage the rain started again, bye bye sun! It was a pity as it was a kind of a twisty scenic road up on a plateau, and on tarmac, but in between the rain and the headwind it didn't make for a very pleasant one, with little opportunity to look around.

It went on for a while until we joined another road where a kind of Rifugio. It was the saddest place ever, inside it looked like a butcher shop, selling only meat and cheese, and just sad really. We put on all the waterproof and moved on. It was a short few km until we got off on another gravel road, and things kind of degenerated from there... There were a few maps around, but none would tell us where we were, and we had little signal so for the next few hours we were just guessing how long the ordeal would last.

It started off as a rocky path, if the overgrown kind, which was kind of cyclable, until we entered a forest where it was not really cyclable, but at least we were covered from the rain there. We were pushing the bikes up and down (mostly down), rocks, mud and broken branches and trees. We stopped at 1pm to get our lunch. The cheese sandwich bought the day before was massive so we left some for later.

We moved on thinking it can't get worse than that but actually it could, and much! When the Garmin told us to turn, and we saw where to, I was like "are you kidding me??" It was not even pushable! Some forestry heavy vehicle must have passed there and left 2 parallel ditches, which with all the recent rains turned into paddles of mud, plus the broken branches and the steepness, up and/or down, I was cursing in Chinese! We eventually got out of there and could see a proper gravel road, but the Garmin was pointing the other way, towards a pasture with no sign of a path...

There was no way but forward, so, with more cursing, on we moved. The field was drenched in rain, which was great to clean the bikes from all the mud of the previous bit, but was really hard going. When it started climbing we pushed again, and when all the hopes were lost and we thought we would spend the night trying to get out of there, we saw a kind of Shepard hut, with a car parked outside...it was over!!! I asked Paul if we covered 30k and he replied (joking) only 20. I totally bought it and was like "only 20??!" while in fact we had done 40km, or half way, the hardest one.

We joined a gravel/tarmac road and it would be a long way down on it. We were high up to start off with and could see all the plain below which was nice. Even nicer the fact that the sun came out again! We stripped off of the waterproofs and enjoyed the long descent. Before reaching the very bottom we turned right on another gravel road and stopped to finish off the sandwich and recompose.

It was 3pm and we still had 10km in dubious gravel, and 26 on tarmac. It would have been a long day! The gravel turned out not to be too bad (until the point where Paul thought the Garmin was sending us up a vertical grassy slope and I just started going up thinking that was totally possible and acceptable...by then I would have bought anything!)

We got on a col from where it would all be descent almost to our destination. It was actually quite cool as we passed by another of those abandoned scenic villages located up some slope, contouring all the mountains and with the view of low plains below. We didn't find much water, or anything, along the way, so we stopped at the first and only bar, 10k to destination, for a cold drink.

On we went and at the bottom we got on the final 3k stretch road, which was a climb, to Tocco da Casaurio, which we reached almost at 6pm. What a day!!! We def got our ass kicked badly but we're proud of ourselves and couldn't wait for a shower and a nice meal.

The b&b was actually very nice and central, and the village itself big and pretty, like the historic type nested on a hill, with old buildings, hidden yards and alleys, but it was deserted. Everything looked closed and frankly a bit sad, which was really a pity. We thought we were going to a pizzeria but it was a take away kind of place, the no frills kind of place run by a local couple. We ate it at a table there with some elder people, and had a chat before they closed. They said the place was trimming with life when they moved there 23 years before, but slowly it emptied as people moved to the cities for work and places started to shut down. This would have been a common story in all the villages we passed through and just really sad...

Tocco da Casaurio to Pescocostanzo - 67km and 1700m up

Today was a climbing day, on road!!! My favourite. We had a self served breakfast, a bit poor so we topped it up with a croissant bought at the local bakery. There was only an American couple (no idea how they ended up there!), and an Austrian guy who cycled all the way from home and was heading to Rome. It was so nice to chat with him, especially because so far we haven't met a single cyclist, nor person really, along the route. He was going on road and was having a good time, we wished him luck and set off on a sunny morning ready to hit road and climb!

The first 10k took us to a small village called Salle, where the main entertainment was provided by a friendly doggo, who peed on Paul's bike, and then came to say hi. We were now in the National Park of the Majella.

Ten more km and we reached Caramanico Terme, the only place we would pass with a cafe before reaching the Passo San Lorenzo. We stopped at a café for a coke and pizzetta...We started to use the Highlands approach: never turn down food if you find anything.

The stop was great, and the guy running it also gave us 2 local biscuits to charge us up. That was nice but I paid it back by forgetting my new gloves there!!! Anyway, I enjoy the climb a lot, and especially the fact that we were actually cycling for once...

We got to the top od Passo St Lorenzo without rain, which in itself was a bit of a miracle given all the black clouds around. Everything was closed up there but we enjoyed a little break in a field packed with wildflowers.

We reached Campo di Giove for lunch time, for once a village on a flat valley instead of on a hill. It seems to be a winter destination, but with no snow all those big residential buildings looked empty and dead. We stopped at a bar where I had the most amazing local soup: chickpeas with chestnut with garlic and rosemary. I really need to try it when I'm back home! Paul had chips and eggs, a dish that originally came with ham, but given he asked not to put ham they must have compensated that with chips instead, so he got a portion of like 1kg of chips...

Energy restored we moved on for climb number 2 of the day, and as we were setting off a guy on a mountain bike joined us for a bit. He moved there a couple of years before from Trentino and liked the place very much, but he confirmed the lack of snow is affecting the economy of the place. He never saw a bear but wolves do come to the village in winter...and pray on cats!

The pass came soon and after that it was a short descent to a wide and flat valley, from where we started seeing our destination up a hill, for a change! Despite black clouds from all directions we finally managed to dodge the rain for once and got there dry! The village is high up and chilly, but the sun made all the difference.

We checked in our b&b Garni la Rua and got to know Luigi, the man running it, who was well entertaining and loved the idea that we were cycling around the region. He definitely liked to speak a lot and told us about the history of the place which was very interesting, as well as the tartufo business in Abbruzzo and Molise compared to Piedmont.

We thought there would be a shop or something in town but there seem to be jewellery shops only... Eventually we managed to find a fruit shop open and got fresh tomatoes and apples. I'd never have thought we would struggle to find food so much in Italy!

We had dinner at the only open restaurant, La Terrazza. We had an amazing view on the flat valley below, but 53 euros for 2 beers, a soup and a pasta is a bit of a rip off.. Walking around this old town was quite something, but we could feel the cold and the tiredness, and were quite glad to have 1 more day on the saddle before a day off!

€53 for this...

Pescocostanzo to Pescasseroli - 61km and 933m up

Breakfast was simple and nice: cappuccino, homemade cake, yogurt and a small piece of bread with jam. We also got cornflakes cookies that we packed for the hard times to come... the only other guests were an Austrian couple who were on a pilgrimage to Puglia. I've never heard of that pilgrimage before, and frankly I don't think is that popular either, but they seemed very cheerful and having a good time. If we struggled finding food cycling I wonder how hard walking must be!

Luigi described the route as amazing, so I had expectations which is never a good thing (expect nothing!). We set off in sunshine on the road and joined a big strada statale which thankfully was not too busy at that time of the day.

After 6k of road we turned left on the best gravel ever.

That road was going up to some lake via the Montagna Spaccata, which in my head was a rocky dramatic high mountain, but it turned out we would be in forests all day. The start was steep but cyclable in good gravel, and as it forked away from the lake road we entered messy paths again. We had to push the bikes up the top as it was way too steep and rocky and broken branches and mud and gates, but with the prospect of a day off coming we were happy to have a bit of a walk.

Paul thinks this is from a bear, me from the cats escaping the wolves. It's probably from a dog...

On the top we stopped on a patch of grass to eat the breakfast biscuits (really gnammy), and while there Paul spotted a group of dark animals grazing 50m away...wild boars!!! We discretely left them to themselves and moved on, like pushed on downhill too as it was still too rough and steep to cycle. Eventually the gradient got better and we got on the bikes, but 99% cyclable my ass!!

At some Shepard hut things improved and we got on what we think was a strada bianca. A family of Shepard dogs was around on patrol and it was quite cute to see them in action, they must have a good life up there!

Dog family at work

We started climbing on this road until we reached the paved one, and some sort of pass with it.

By then the sky was really black and rain started coming down soon. Waterproof on we started the 16km descent down to Villetta Barrea. At the top it was raining hard and I got super cold, but as we descended I could feel the heat from the valley, and by the time we reached the bottom it was not raining anymore, but I was still freezing!!

Like the others, this village was dead and it was hard to find where to eat. The first restaurant was closed, the bar didn't serve food, so we went down to the lake where finally we found a place serving some food, which for vegetarians was bread and cheese. Out of pity they also added a bit of aubergine which was a nice touch.

The sky was not getting any brighter, or it was but in the wrong direction! Looking up the valley towards where we were going it was pitch black like the apocalypse was coming. Thankfully it was only 10 miles to destination, on a gradual climb with no serious gradient, on a narrow but not too busy road. Along the way we could see patches of hail by the side of the road, the air was definitely chillier and we thought where are we heading to???

I thought Pescasseroli would have been a nice and charming village, as it's at the heart of the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo and quite touristy, but at 1200m it was raining, dark, empty and a bit sad really... I also thought we would be spending a nice day off in a pretty hotel, but the hotel was this huge structure, probably built in the 70s or 80s, which was now falling apart, and cold, and empty and dark. At least there was some conference in town so about 10 more people were staying there too.

Again, all my expectations of spending a day off laying in a garden in the sunshine went up in smoke, but at least I managed to buy the gloves that I lost, we finally washed our very sticky clothes, and appropriately ate both nights at the restaurant La Tana del Lupo where I had the best meal of the trip, fettuccine with porcini...not losing any weight in this holiday either!

"dogs forbidden" laughs the cat...

Pescasseroli to Gagliano Aterno - 59km and 1000m up

We set off with no expectations, as we learnt we should by now, and had a great day! We were glad to say goodbye to Pescasseroli, and promised never to come back! We set off in sunshine for a change and knew it wouldn't last, but we managed to get to the top of the climb passing by a cute hamlet called Gioia Vecchio. Not many cars around, a little break to put on a layer and the descent started.

At km 16 we went off road and the first bit was idyllic, like nicely graded and enjoyable kind of cyclable. Then the memories get a bit blurred, but basically it was all kind of the same rocky and steep stuff, which we had mostly to push up and down.

At least the views were great and we could see the mountains fat away, towards we were going to. The descent to Pescina was a bit of a joke, like when you thought the bad bit was about to end, the Garmin would point us to another one even worse! It took us ages to get out of there but eventually at noon we reached town.

We cycled down out of town to the Eurospin, the only big shop we had seen till then. Our eyes in seeing the amount and variety of fruit and food of any kind said it all! We got stuff for dinner and decided to get the lunch there too, and ate it right outside the shop like true bikepackers! It consisted of a big salad with added couscous mix, a bottle of cold tea and pizzette for later snacks.

At 1pm, despite the fact that we couldn't be bothered the least, we got ourselves ready for the last 21k of gravel, and really expected it to be a constant push the bike. We climbed out of town and pushed the bikes up yet another steep and rocky climb, went below a road and the railway, and after that it became ridable!!! Behind us the clouds were gathering so we tried to move fast, but the irony of this all is that while cycling up this road in a narrow valley, the wind built up, and it was headwind, so strong that we gave up on cycling even if it was the most ridable gravel if all the road! On the positive side the wind was kipping the black clouds behind us, and eventually we got sheltered by a mountain and managed to get on the saddle to the top. We knew we couldn't waste too much time as the rain was catching up with us, so we started descending as fast as we could. The last bit to the village was super steep and by that stage I think my break pads were completely consumed but still we managed to get there in one piece.

Gagliano Aterno is another of those villages in the mountains that saw better times. When we checked Google there seem to be nothing, no bar no shop nor restaurant, but for once we were actually pleasantly surprised...

We were staying in the Casa di Medadro, and pretty much rented all of it for a night. The place was actually the best one we stayed so far as it came with a big garden with benches, and the local hedgehog resident too!! Somehow we dodged the rain again and when we entered that village it felt like we entered a parallel universe of happiness and sunshine. I'd normally take a shower straight away, but it was so warm sunny and welcoming that we spent a good hour outside just enjoying being there. The girl who welcomed us was so solar too, she came there under a programme to bring young people to these abandoned villages to try and repopulate them. So far is a small trial but I really hope it will work and expand, it was the first time that instead of sadness we felt hope for these villages.

Benedetta told us that a couple also moved in the village and they were running a kind of van selling drinks and food up the square. We went to check it out and it was so much my place. The girl was from Chicago and the guy from Rome. She spoke perfect Italian and I have no idea how she ended up there from Chicago but it looked like her place. We had strawberries and beer and enjoyed drinking it in the sunshine, and seeing the few locals using it as a meeting place too. Had we known we would have eaten there too, but given we dragged pasta and bread and tomato sauce all the way up the mountain we thought we should really eat that instead!

Gagliano Aterno to L'Aquila - 10km downhill and train

We originally planned another day of cycling up the mountains, but given how long the route took us, and the uncertain weather, we decided to plan it safe. We cycled down to the train station in Molina (deserted), got a morning train back to L'Aquila, returned the bikes, got something to eat and then got on the bus to Rome which we reached in the afternoon. We were upstairs in the front seats of the double decker bus and were stunned at all the near misses and generally appalling driving we saw. Like really it's a miracle they all get home alive down there. Overtaking from the right, cycling down a busy road from the wrong side (or just generally cycling in a jungle really), scooter kamikaze coming down full speed in the middle of the lanes to name a few...

Can I eat them all??

ROMA!

Rome is beautiful. Nobody can't really argue against this. Paul has never visited it and we thought he should really see the eternal city, and this would provide a great ending to the journey.

We spent one day checking out the main attractions, in 28 melting heat... We had a great time, and got back to the b&b right in time for the best thunderstorm ever, like the sky was coming down and the thunders loud and scaring, I just loved it.