2007 Giro di Puglia Report, Part I

The week, 3-10 June, went by so quickly it seems like a blur. What I remember best:
-the fun we had,

-eating way too much,
-640 Km (398 miles) of riding over 6 days, most along the "Litoranea" coastal road; the longest day being 192 Km (119.3 miles)
-getting lost,

-deluges,
-how different Puglia is from the Veneto
-beautiful coastline ranging from tranquil bays with sandy beaches to craggy and wild

The cycling stages were:
Castellaneta Marina to Gallipoli
Gallipoli to Santa Cesarea Terme
Santa Cesarea Terme to Otranto, interior ride and back to Santa Cesarea T.
Santa Cesarea Terme to Torre Canne
Torre Canne to Alberobello , and back along the coast to Torre Canne
Torre Canne to Castellaneta Marina, and later a visit to Matera

Participants: me, Giuseppe, Ester, Gianni, Barbara, Giuliana, Manuela, Daniela Attilio, Franco and Tricia (Antonio was taking the photograph).

The club van + 2 cars were used for the trip to Puglia. The cars remained at our first hotel while the club van


Photos: the Gruppo 1 van loaded with our bikes for the trip to Puglia, ready to start our tour from the Nicotel Hotel in Castellaneta Marina, we had rain several days and sometimes we could see it coming, warming up after getting drenched and finding shelter, the sun came back out and we could see Gallipoli in the distance