Day 10 - Lecce to Ostuni - Schnooks Takes A Turn in Puglia - Tandem Tour - May 2024

May 19, 2024

Day 10 - Lecce to Ostuni

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Today was a long transfer day. There were no major sights along the way. The job was to bypass Brindisi and get up into the region where the next few towns of interest lie.

We ate breakfast in the room, using our portable teapot and eating some stuff we had bought in a small grocery store the night before. We got the tandem out of the garage (Robin is strong!) and were on the road by about 0930. We had a lot of km to cover, so the cool morning was welcome.

Navigation out of Lecce was pretty easy, considering the size of the city. The fact that it was a Sunday morning probably helped. We were soon breezing along through the normal groves of dying olive trees.

Typical road from today. We saw a lot of dying olive trees

Of course, we had our share of “interesting” roads, too. RideWithGPS claimed that today’s ride was 100% paved. We would quibble with that assessment. Our lovely wide 45mm tires got a workout on some of the rougher sections.

We took a break in Cellino San Marco, ordering soft drinks in a crazy little bar and watching Sunday morning unfold around the town square and church. Then we motored on to Mesagne, where we scored some lovely sandwiches and spent some time chatting with an Italian couple - roadies out for a day ride. Communication was in broken English, broken Italian, and semi-fluent French. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!

We walked around Mesagne a bit. There was a large second-hand market that was just breaking up as we arrived. They have a lovely city park, and a pretty amazing Norman castle. This looked like a really livable city.

Castello Normanno Svevo In Mesagne. Robin wanted to show the scale of the building. It’s impressive!

OK, back on the road. The day was heating up.

We had one interesting event. We passed by this crazy looking castle. It looked to our untrained eyes like original equipment. Not something built in the 1800s or something.

It was just along the side of the road. No signs to identify it and it’s not listed on Google Maps. There was a driveway with no “do not enter” signs so we started down the driveway to investigate.

We were immediately greeted by a large pack of howling dogs. Ooops. I guess they don’t want visitors. Brandishing our pepper spray, we backed out of the situation with no one bit and no one sprayed. Honor for all was maintained.

We’d still like to know about that castle, though….

Unknown castle in the middle of nowhere. Maybe Norman? Looks to be from 16th to 17th century to our untrained eyes.

It was getting hotter and we got onto a long straight road (with good pavement) that led to San Vito dei Normanni. We started talking about a gelato stop. It seemed like a good idea for some quick energy. But it was a Sunday afternoon in the middle of nowhere. The odds seemed long.

Long, straight, great surface. Makes me think it could have been a Roman road at one time

We rode into San Vito dei Normanni and decided to stop when we got to the main crossing road. We pulled over to the curb and guess what? There was a gelato shop right across the street! And it was open!

We took advantage of our incredible luck. A great way to cool down.

We were on the home stretch now. After San Vito dei Normanni, we were riding past homes that looked like they were more expensive. More nicely kept, and a lot of them with trulli either attached or in front of them.

We approached Ostuni along a beautiful, winding road with rock walls and groves of olive trees on both sides. Many fewer dying trees here. Our first view of Ostuni was pretty stunning.

We navigated to our accommodation “Panta Rei” following the owner’s instructions that were sent via WhatsApp. Riding up through the ancient buildings was pretty fun.

“Panta Rei” has to be seen to be believed. We splurged on this place as a reward for a long, hot, dusty day and it was totally worth it. We had to haul Schnooks up a couple flights of stairs, but there was a place for bike storage on the little terrace by the front door.

After a dip in the pool, we cleaned up and went out to explore a bit. We were both pretty cooked from the ride, and it was later than usual. So we mostly just walked around a bit, then had a pre-dinner cocktail while watching the world walk by.

Dinner was at “Il Posto Affianco” and was very good in a lovely setting. Eggplant Parmigiana for Robin, Pizza Diavola for Rich. Then back to the apartment for another dip in the pool. And to bed. We slept well…

Today's ride: 80 km (50 miles)
Total: 540 km (335 miles)

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Rachael AndersonThat’s a lot of miles in the heat! I’m not looking forward to the heat but the last time we were in Great Britain we only had 2 hot days and one of them was a layover day. In addition, we were staying across the street from a great ice cream place!
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6 months ago

Rich FrasierYes, in retrospect I think I was a bit optimistic in planning this day. If I were to do it over again, I think I’d break it up into smaller days. I also should have planned a rest day somewhere in the second half of this tour. We’re pretty cooked (both from heat and exercise) at the moment.
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6 months ago