Altamura

May 26, 2019

We’ve had generally excellent cycling weather for the last week, but it looks like that’s changing. We awoke this morning to a grey sky and the sound of a light rain. At least it wasn’t an early morning rendition of Volare.

We’re looking at a much different sea and sky this morning.

Not the sort of thing you like to see first thing in the morning.

Looking back, here’s a photo I failed to include yesterday. This is at the base of the cliffs beneath the old town. I think the scaffolding above is a viewing stand for next week, possibly for the diving judges.

We’ve really had a pretty easy time of it for a full week now, ever since dropping down from Matera. That’s about to change too, as we head back inland and up today to Altamura, a city in the upper Murge that’s only about thirty miles from Matera. We’ve come nearly full loop.

We’re not really relishing the day’s ride. The weather looks unstable, there’s some climbing in store, and the gears on both of our bikes are crap. We’ve totally failed in our quest to find a decent mechanic, and when we grind noisily along we’re a bit of an embarrassment.

After enjoying a nice breakfast on the roof of our hotel staring at the slatey sea and sky, we pack for rain and start off at the first promising break in the weather. It doesn’t promise much though, and doesn’t give much - five miles later we’re stopping by the side of the road pulling on the rain boots.

Let’s see if I can put on my rain boots with my eyes closed without falling over.

Booting up is effective, and before long the rain stops and the skies lighten up ahead. A few miles later though it starts up again as we pull into pretty Conversano. Our route through town takes us through the heart of the historical core, which is lovely but precarious - we bike slowly and carefully over the slick marble slabs.

So how much lean do you think this bike will take before the tires slip out on the wet stones?

The band is ready to strike it up, as soon as this shower passes.

On a drier day we might have followed along to see what’s happening here. Instead, let’s look at the phone and check out the weather forecast.

The next fifteen miles, like the previous ten, are totally uninteresting. We’re on the main road, which is direct, smooth, fast, but boring. If you want to see anything interesting you have to get off of these roads, slow down and add some squiggle miles to the day. Today though direct, smooth and fast are just the ticket. We want to get there as quickly as possible to minimize the soak risk factor. A nice side benefit is the traffic noise, which drowns out the grinding of our gears for a few hours.

Not too interesting and occasionally wet, so no photos or video. Finally though at Cassano della Murge we leave the highway and start climbing out of town on a minor road marked as a cycle touring route. It’s raining when we arrive here in town, and for the fourth time of the day we stop in a sheltered spot and wait for improvements. They come, and the sky lightens significantly ahead of us, giving us prospects for a dry ride the rest of the way to Altamura.

We enjoy a pleasant, gradual ride as we grind our way to the summit. Once on top, suddenly we’re in the middle of a fantastic landscape - a broad, green, unspoiled vista. Across the valley is Altamura, seven miles away, a very gloomy sky overhanging it. It’s too much, and I have to stop for a photo. OK, says Rachael, but then you have to fly like the wind!

Well, I do pretty well but I still squeeze a few additional shots in as I fly down from the summit into this beautiful space, a tailwind speeding me along. Twenty minutes later I catch up to Rachael sheltering under a railroad overpass. I apologize for lagging behind, saying that I misheard her and have been flying like the winded instead.

Altamura is seven miles ahead, on the horizon at the far left.

In spite of my efforts to bring us in wet we arrive at our hotel dry just as it starts to rain. We arrive at it from the backside coming up through alleys, and the town and this neighborhood really looks pretty grey and uninspiring. Later though, we step out in the other direction and in just a block find ourselves on the main road through the old city, not far from Altamura’s stunning cathedral. It looks like a beautiful place to sit out tomorrow’s high winds and rain, so we’ll look at it then.

Guarding the portal of Altamura’s cathedral.

Altamura’s Cathedral is too large, and too closed in by other buildings, to really get a decent shot of it.

Heart

Comment

Link

Ride stats today: 42 miles, 2,600’: for the tour: 1,833 miles, 116,700’

Today's ride: 40 miles (64 km)
Total: 1,829 miles (2,943 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	10
Comment on this entry	Comment	0