46 miles ridden – 1126m climbed – Temperature 28C (most of the time!)

Today was a ride of two halves – the first climb and the second climb.

The first climb started about 1 mile from the hotel high is always hard as it takes me about 20 minutes to get warmed up but nevertheless I plugged on. We didn’t go that high it was long (10 miles) and had a very nasty surprise about halfway in.

Views were stunning – it’s always fun to look back from near the top to where you’ve cycled from.

Our surprise was a section of road with warning signs suggesting (thanks to James who I am riding with who speaks/reads Italian) that it’s best not to cycle along this stretch. There was lots of evidence of subsidence, land slips, and then a 22% climb over the worst broken surface so far. It was so steep that near to the summit you could see where attempts had been made to resurface but the materials had slipped before it could set. The picture doesn’t show the vehicles coming the other way!

We had a lumpy 8 or 9 miles back down at sea level before we started the next climb which saw us climb up to 500m/1600ft over 6 miles so of course we had to stop for a coffee break.

The road surface was generally good and the gradient averaged about 3/4% with a few kicks especially on the hairpin turns. Views were stunning and it was interesting to see the switchbacks from above.

Within 2 miles of these pictures we found ourselves in a completely different microclimate and above the tree line.

We continued another mile or so at this altitude before alone descent down to Scario where we had a refuelling stop and joined the coastal road for the run into Sapri. Again very pretty and not too busy.

Tonight we are in the centre of a town – we have a choice of restaurants for dinner and there are shops. What a treat.