Monday 11 June 2007
- I'm not a road bike – it keeps saying - I'm a Mountain Bike. And then... what rotten luck… he always leaves me in the garage… come on, are we going to do something or not?
Yes, it's true, what irony. I bought it years ago intending to get a bit of exercise. At last I have fulfilled a wish I'd had in my head for a while: to cross Campo Imperatore from Fonte Vetica to the Albergo di Campo Imperatore.
Off early in the morning. It's seven o'clock and the sun is just lighting up the great open grassy slopes. Many mountains are still in shade. Nature, slowly, wakes up. In the two weeks I've been away the flowering is still at the height of its splendour; there are new species of flowers showing off their splendid colours and shapes.
From Fonte Vetica I go down to the Ristoro Mucciante in a flash. Here you turn right onto the main road that crosses Campo Imperatore. At the foot of Monte Bolza a gully passes under the road and gives rise to the Canali di Marcagli, curious erosion forms in the ground. The Mountain Bike does its job admirably, carrying me along the stony moraine right into the gullies. A visit that reveals to me a world of rocks and vegetation still partly unspoilt.
Animals move furtively about the rocks; a peregrine falcon in fine shades of brown circles in the sky looking for some prey, probably frightened by my presence in the gully.
I come out of the gully and pick up the road again, which climbs slowly towards the S. Egidio junction. Along the road I meet shepherds leading their cows to the stazzi (shepherds' stone enclosures) below Monte Prena. A few locals are gathering mushrooms in the meadows, the few that are left.
At the S. Egidio junction I turn right, and here the road slowly gets steeper. 10 kilometres to go. I don't hesitate to stop and take every possible photo. Mine is not a race against anyone; I'm here only to enjoy a special day and carry out a little project of mine.
The tarmac road is in excellent condition, you climb easily and, although I'm out of training, I manage to reach Lago Pietranzoni and beyond . In the background are the Torri del Casanova, Monte Bancastello, Monte Aquila, and behind them all towers Corno Grande, which every now and then is wrapped in white clouds. The steeper the road gets, the more I'm forced to get off the bike; the lack of training gives me a few cramps and I certainly don't feel like overdoing it…
A coming and going of lorries tells me that at the Albergo di Campo Imperatore the restoration work is in full swing, just as I'd been told. Then at last I arrive; on the big square there's the usual chaos. Tourists from Vicenza have stormed the Bar del Rifugio: Peppe is being put through quite a tour de force, everyone wants to be served at the same time. The tourist is by nature arrogant and demanding.
I wait for things to calm down, then I get myself a mortadella sandwich and take the opportunity to have a few words with Peppe. An affable, courteous person. I tell him I'm here for the traverse of Campo Imperatore. He too would like to take up some sport. He tells me he hasn't trained for a while. Now he works at the Rifugio; he left Rome to come and live in L'Aquila. His choice? To change his quality of life, and he managed it, yes, as many of us would like to do… Well done Peppe.
I say goodbye to Peppe and get back on the road. The clouds condensing on the north side of the Gran Sasso are becoming more and more threatening. From here it's all downhill to Fonte Vetica. In an hour and a half I'm at the Macellerie Giuliani. A friendly old lady welcomes me and wants to offer me a coffee for the journey back to Rome, but I'm fine as I am; I politely decline, buy a score of arrosticini and dash off. Now my muscles have gone a bit cold, so the last uphill stretch from the Macellerie to Fonte Vetica I do on foot.
Forty-six kilometres there and back. Four hours going up (photo stops included), an hour and a half coming down. What a splendid day.
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