Last cycle day

Strategically, I'm sure, VBT saved the most beautiful cycling scenery for the last day on purpose. Today, we biked from our Masseria hotel through Uggiano La Chiesa south to Vignacastrisi through pretty country roads with more olive groves and rolling farmland, ending at some old quarries on the coast at Castro. Then we biked back north along the coast to Santa Cesarea Terme, a resort town.



Road along the coast; if you enlarge picture by clicking on it you may be able to see Kevin and Laurie on their bikes.



Here we are at our lunch spot, waiting out a brief rainstorm under the canopy of a restaurant and indulging in an affrogato; not sure I have the spelling right, but its an unforgettable dish/drink of espresso poured over gelato! Talk about a refreshing jolt!



The ladies in their brilliant biking gear.



The most beautiful coast of all was north of our lunch spot.

Ann and I spotted a stone hut a few hundred yards off the road and took a hike to this spot:



The wind was fierce here along the rugged coast, explaining the dwarfed plants.



One of many species we were not familiar with on our hike.



And another.

After swimming in a cove at Porto Badisco, Ann, Kevin and I did an extra 10 miles or so repeating the post lunch stretch with the excuse of going to find my bike mirror which had fallen off along the way (we found it!). Then we also did an extra loop of 23 km, for a total of about 55 miles! Fantastic day. We had a nice final dinner, including an Ode to Puglia by poet laureate Laurie. Will be sad to say goodbye to our guides and our new friends from Kansas, Rochester, PA, and MD.


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Location:The Salento coast