50km Pretoro to Ortona
The first snows of the season on the Maiell
Route Overview
Day 6
From Pretoro you can see the sea. The route looks to be all down hill all the way, but do not be deceived! There are many hills to climb on the way. The route is excellent cycling through an agricultural landscape of vines, olives and woodlands. Along the way, you pass Crecchio castle to where the last Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III fled, as he escaped the country having surrendered to the allies in 1943. Uniquely, a few kilometres before the end of the route, there is free wine flowing from a fountain for the thirsty pilgrim at the Cantina Sora Sarchese. It is apparently, an ancient tradition and it makes for a wonderful stop as you drink the local red (Montepulciano d’Abruzzo) whilst gazing back at the monumental mountains over which you’ve ridden.
Ortona suffered dreadfully in WWII and Churchill referred to it as the allies’ Stalingrad. In the town, the CST finishes at the rebuilt church of Basilica of San Tommaso Apostolo, where inside you are greeted by the warm smile of St. Thomas. Not for the first time on this ride, the sacred and the most modern architecture blend in a very inspiring manner. Unlike the shrines at the end of other major pilgrimages, you’ll probably have some good reflection time along, whilst you look back on all the mule-tracking, climbing and wilderness riding over the last few days.
A few metres on from the church, there is the sea. You prop your bike against the medieval battlements of the still fearsome Aragonese castle, and stare out across the Adriatic sea. Perhaps you’ll wonder if you should continue in St. Thomas’s tracks, across to India. But then, perhaps not, since he was murdered there and it was a good few hundred years before his body was returned. Whatever, your thoughts, you know that there is no more pedalling, and no more hills; only the reflection that you have crossed the peninsula on one of the wildest and most beautiful of all Europe’s long distance cycling routes and that now you must find the station for the train home.
Ride practicalities;
START/FINISH: Pretoro/Ortona. DISTANCE: 50km. TOTAL ASCENT: 800m TERRAIN AND SURFACES: Farm tracks which are a mix of mud and stones and back-country lanes. CST signage is again very patchy. FOOD/STAY: There are plentiful hotel/restaurant options in Ortona and along the coast. Restaurants and cafe’s are few, with Cantina Ducale and Sapori di Crecchio being the best options. Plentiful choice of restaurants and pizzerias in Ortona RETURN HOME: Local trains run from Ortona back to Pescara where there are connections to Rome and the rest of Italy.