by bike
     Marche

by Allan Nelson & Konrad Orlowski 

San Ginesio to Sassoferrato
	San Ginesio - Caldarola - Serrapetrona - San Sevrino in Marche - Castelraimondo - Matelica - Borgo Tufico - Valtreara - Frasassi Gorge - Sassoferrato
Kilometres: 95

A lovely cool room in the Hotel Centrale meant a good nights sleep.  We were up fairly early, and out at the cafe next door for breakfast at around 8:30am (well that's early for us!).  Oh, and a good healthy cyclists breakfast it was too with several Cafe Latte, 2 large sugary doughnuts and a jam tart.

We left San Ginesio headed for Caldarola.  I love these hill towns, you always get such a civilised start to the day, in this case a great descent of around 8kms.  We reached the end of Lago di Pievefavera where we intended to carry on to Serrapetrona, but the signs disappeared and we did about a kilometre alongside the busy S77 before turning back and finding the right road (it is signed - but only further up the hill!).

We climbed up through Serrapetrona, then down to San Severino Marche.  The roads to this point had been idyllic.  Little or no traffic and meandering through lovely countryside.  At San Severino, that changed.  The stretch between San Severino and Castelraimondo was busy, with lots of large trucks.  We were both very glad when those 11 km's were over.

At Castelraimondo we stopped for a drink, and then set off for Matelica.  This road wasn't quite as busy, but it was really hot now and the road climbed a bit in places.  We soon made Matelica which didn't look to be anything special, and we pressed on for the junction with the Fabriano/Ancona road at Borgo Tufico. We carried straight on here taking a road which runs parallel to the busy S76 and passing through Valtreara and following signs for Sassoferrato.  This stretch of road took us through the impressive Frasassi gorge, home of the legendary Frasassi caves. Some children were swimming in the river below, and it looked oh so tempting.

The road from here was fairly flat all the way to Sassoferrato.   Once there, we rode up into the old town (quite steep), but found it to be a rare 'non event'.  We rode back down again, and booked a room in the Hotel Fortuna on the main street (it looks rough from the outside, but the room was fine).  It had been a long, hot, but surprisingly easy day.  The evening sky was overcast, and it was very humid.  Could be in for some rain tonight we thought.  We had a good meal in what seemed to be the only restaurant (near the bank), and went to bed early.  Oh, and it didn't rain.