Greetings from Telese Terme

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Here we are at the Aquapetra hotel in Telese Terme. A 149 mile day so we've covered 450 miles in the last three days and are now getting out of the mountains and down onto the plane around Naples.

As we descended out of the Appenines, we were struck by sheer scale of these mountains and just how far we must have climbed over the past three days. It took us all of the early afternoon, negotiating mile after mile of twists and turns to descend out of the mountains and get down onto the western side of the country. It was a ride that reminds you clearly why you do it; a clear smooth road sweeping down under the vast, brooding, green and blue grey mountains past fields of wheat and poppies and villages clinging precariously to hillsides.

In the later afternoon we were caught up by a couple of middle aged Italian cyclists looking very much the part on their expensive bikes and clad in the latest designer lycra. They spent five rather fruitless minutes trying to communicate with Chris who kept repeating "Inglese" with ever increasing volume. Our new companions then must have decided that we were mostly harmless, looked tired and would benefit from a tow so they very kindly organised us into a peloton with the four of us riding two abreast behind them all the way to Monte Cassino with its famous monastery.

The last 30 miles was fairly flat which was a relief as for my part, I was starting to detect the first signs of real tiredness. The combination of a returning cold that I thought I’d thrown off a few days before our departure combined with and inability to shovel in enough calories was making the legs feel rather heavy so the prospect of our ‘spa’ hotel was very appealing.

Once again we arrived at the hotel after 8 o’clock which is turning into a bit of a habit. The hotel is excellent, lovely rooms and pools and an excellent restaurant even though we were the only people eating there. The problem with getting to our destinations so late is there’s simply no time to enjoy these places; by the time you’ve had a shower, done you washing and eaten something it’s time for bed.

Today's stats

Miles 149
Average speed 15.3
Calories 5,900

GPX file for planned day three route