John Clark – Page 8 – JC's iPhone Blog

Sansepolcro to Montone

Yesterday’s ride was yet another 25+ mile ride with about 1000 ft of elevation gain. It’s starting to feel a bit like Groundhog Day around here, though not really, because each day’s ride is so uniquely great. (Spoiler alert: we’ve got longer rides ahead too!)

Anyway, Here’s a couple of shots I took as we were leaving Sansepolcro…

...and a striking bit of much more recent architecture. — …and a striking bit of much more recent architecture. Nice, eh?

Fortunately, since it’s been so hot, we were glad to have a little overcast at the beginning of the ride. More pics from along the way…

Freshly turned hay, with church tower in background — For the Fergusons: freshly turned hay, with church tower in background

Poppies sprinkled into fields of grain — Can’t get enough of the red poppies sprinkled across fields of grain

Two-faced clock on church in Città di Castello’s main square

Città di Castello is the home town of our Italian guide, Giovanni, so we sent him a selfie from the square to give him a smile.

Once again, the ride finished up with a fairly grueling climb (especially due to the heat), up to the hill town of Montone. Some photos of that last part of the ride…

A cute little bridge at the foot of the climb up to Montone

Mallory attacking the switchbacks at the bottom — Mallory attacking the switchbacks just above the bridge

Giant cactus, near Montone — Giant cactus, approaching Montone

Once again, we found our hotel (which had a pool!) showered, rested up, then explored and had a lovely dinner out. I’ll close this post with a few more pics from our evening’s explorations (since, as you may have guessed, we have much better internet here in Assisi tonight). More about the ride from Montone to Assisi tomorrow, since we’ve got two nights here!

Medieval wall in Montone — I love these old stone battlement walls

More giant medieval walls to worry about! — This should give you a good sense of the climbs we’re doing!

“Hummingbird moth” on white petunias — Another lucky catch!

Stone buildings and swallows swarming — Swallows swarming stone structures

Glorious flowers against ancient stone walls at sunset

Another day in Sansepolcro

Our next two-night stay was in the slightly larger town of Sansepolcro, for Saturday & Sunday night. For our loop ride yesterday, we rode out and around a lovely little reservoir just to the north of town, called Lago artificiale di Montedoglio. It was yet another 25+ mile ride, with about 1000 ft of elevation gain. Here are the obligatory photos:

Lago artificiale di Montedoglio — Our first glimpse of the reservoir

Mallory gives chase to a local rider — Mallory giving a local rider a run for his money

The view from way on the other side, close to the dam

We rode into Umbria today, the official start of our second week of riding. The destination was Montone, which …wait for it… was on top of a hill with another big climb to get here! The worst part was that the temp topped 90º, and we’re just not used to heat like that yet. Anyway, I’ll report more on that ride, and the splendid little town of Montone, tomorrow…

Arezzo to Sansepolcro

Two posts in one day!?! Yep, I’m determined to get caught up, even if it means the posts keep getting shorter…

It’s late Sunday night here, our second night in Sansepolcro. The ride here yesterday was another ~25 mile one, with about 1400 ft of total elevation gain. Toward the end, we stopped to visit a sweet little hill town called Anghiari. More photos!..