We leave the coast this morning for the interior. For the next ten days we’ll be traveling slowly as we squiggle our way through the mountains of northern Calabria and southern Basilicata. For much of this time we’ll be in Pollino National Park, a huge wild reserve and the largest park in Italy. Looking at the map, this looks like a remarkable region - Italy is only about thirty miles across at this point, but the highest peaks top out at 7,500’.
Today’s destination is Morano Calabro, a mountain town I’d never heard of before planning this trip. It stands at about 2,200’, but we’ll overshoot it by a thousand feet before dropping into it at the end of the day. Along the way we’ll put in nearly 6,000’ feet of climbing - the most of any of our travel days on the tour. For the first half we’ll follow the Lao river into the mountains before breaking away and rising far above it, finally crossing the watershed and dropping into the Ionian side of the narrow isthmus.
The ride is incredible. One of the hardest of the tour, but today at least it feels like the best. Fantastic scenery, quiet roads, and even wild boar! It feels a bit like western Sicily actually, but wilder, cleaner and with better quality roads. Why haven’t we heard more about biking in Calabria before now, and why didn’t we come here when our knees were a few years younger?
Now this is more like it. Definitely a day to ride.
Looking north as we start climbing away from the coast. I think that’s Scalea on the extreme right. At the end of the tour we’ll return to about this point biking down the coast from Amalfi before hopping a train for Sicily.
Following the Lao down in the canyon below, we gain elevation quickly on the first of our three significant climbs today. An incredibly beautiful ride.
The still photos don’t do justice to this bend. That sheer golden cliff rises about two hundred feet above the road, with the river cascading through the canyon far below.
It’s a disappointment, but this tunnel denies us the final, stiff hundred foot climb to the summit of the pass. We could go up there, but the temptation to start coasting is too strong.
Rachael looked in shock when I biked up, and couldn’t get the words out fast enough to express her astonishment. Wild boar! About six of them dashed across this road right in front of her and disappeared up this road.
From the summit, we drop 1,300’ in four miles to Morano Calabro, still hidden around the bend. Heat is leaching out fast as we descend, and we’re anxious to reach our hotel.
We hardly saw any of Morano Calabro when we arrived because our room is just on the outskirts and the town is still hidden. We stayed in our room until dinner warming up and recovering, so we just saw a bit of it on our way to dinner. It looks like an amazing place though, and we look forward to exploring it tomorrow.
