Gargano National Park

At the end of our bike tour, we explore the spur of the boot, the Gargano National Park, a coastal landscape with hills and mountains as well as steep cliffs, coves, and sandy beaches. At sea, bizarre rock formations dominate.

October 3rd: Margherita di Savoia - Manfredonia - Mattinata 60 km

40 km always goes north, along the coast. Tomato, pepper and carrot fields on both sides of the road. Shortly before Manfredonia, we pass by a farm where buffalo mozzarella is available and next door are the water buffaloes that provide the milk. We have often wondered where all the water buffaloes are that are needed for the trendy mozzarella.

Manfredonia is a coastal town on the southern edge of Gargano and goes back to the founding of Manfred, a son of Frederick II. He too had a Castello svevo built, but it is by no means as impressive as that of his father. The road continues along the coast, but now to the east into the Parco nazionale del Gargano. We pass numerous campsites that are all closed. Shortly before Mattinata we have another climb that gives us a beautiful view of the bay and countless olive trees. In Apulia there are 65 million olive trees, whose olives are almost all harvested and selected by hand. Only an electric Abbachiatore helps with shaking. The harvest is from October to January, which is ideal because many Apulians are busy in tourism during the summer months.

October 4th: Stay in Mattinata

We are staying in a beautiful resort and the beach is not far away. Today's program is for self-designation —>

Th: Beach, swimming, reading…         Ha: Bike tour to Mont Sant'Angelo

October 5th: Mattinata - Coastal Road - Vieste 50 km

Something like the queen stage, albeit not too long. We drive constantly uphill and downhill on the coastal road, with a view of the sea with its crystal-clear water, small coves, white cliffs, and rocks in the sea, beautiful. Apparently also popular with Germans and Swiss with motorhomes. Unfortunately, you cannot visit the most beautiful bays as they belong to larger hotel complexes that are already closed. In the main season, it is allowed to walk through the complex to the beach.

Soon we see our destination for today, Vieste, which is wonderfully located on a promontory of rugged limestone. In front of it you can see the landmark of the city, the Pizzomunno, a 25 m high bright limestone rock. Here too, Frederick II had a castle built at the highest point of the city.

During a tour through the beautiful old town, we pass a tower of the city fortifications, where a plaque commemorates the worst event in the city's history, the siege by the Turkish Saracens under Dragut Reis, who in 1554 practically beheaded the entire population of the town with 5,000 inhabitants.

October 6th: Stay in Vieste

With bicycles, it is no problem to ride to a bay just outside Vieste and enjoy the day at the beach there.

October 7th: Vieste - Peschici 30 km

Short stage to the next well-known coastal town in Gargano. It goes uphill and downhill, and at the top, there are beautiful views of the bays and beaches. In Peschici, we have a very nice hotel overlooking the harbor and beach. We spend another afternoon at the beach.

October 8th: Peschici - Termoli 105 km

Penultimate stage of the tour, where we also leave Apulia and briefly enter the Molise region shortly before Termoli. But until then it is still a long and difficult stretch, which we did not anticipate and expect at all in the morning. Until shortly after noon, everything goes according to plan, after a few last climbs to Rodi Garganico, we make good progress on beautiful roads and have already completed half the distance. The conclusion of the tour regarding the condition of the paths is already written in the heading - all surprisingly positive. But then we cross a small river on an old, half-ruined bridge and enter a sandy track. This is the worst thing that could still happen to us, especially for Dominique. Anyone who has never heard her curse and swear properly only needs to mention the word sand track in connection with a bicycle. Bicycle and sand definitely do not go together and are an imposition for women and bicycles! (Comment DK) In addition, mosquitoes feel particularly comfortable along the sandy path between the sea and the Lago di Lesina lagoon and such victims as us rarely pass by. After a few hundred meters, in which we try to defend ourselves by wild lashing and are hopeless, we put on pants and jackets. Dominique with rain pants and jacket, unfortunately, she did not allow me to photograph her, only at the very end from a suitable distance. One can imagine how we sweated and cursed in the best weather in the nature reserve. The first three kilometers, the sand was so deep that it took a lot of effort to make progress. After that, you could ride short distances again (2-4 meters!) until you drove into a sand heap again, positioned the front and rear wheel crosswise, and had to get off. Initially, we thought that the path would improve after 5 km, but that was a bitter misconception. In between, signs indicated the way as a bike path, which is why komoot also guided us that way. After three hours and 15 km, we finally met a drivable path again! We made it to Termoli before dark and were very happy to take a shower. By the way: In Termoli, there is also a Castello svevo, but we have had enough of that now.