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Woke around 8:30am. Another lovely morning not a cloud in the sky. The hotel was excellent. We were the only ones in it, and the bikes had been quite safe behind the sofa! Personally, I thought L90,000 for a double room within the walls of Assisi was very good value. Went for breakfast at a bar down the street where the croissants were mouth watering (and filled with cream!). Spent the morning looking around the town. So much to see, and so quiet. I couldnt believe how few tourists were around. Id assumed (even taking into account the earthquake) that this would be one of the busier places we would visit, but that was not to be. The earthquake had certainly taken its toll. Buildings buttressed across narrow streets to other buildings. All the major buildings festooned in scaffolding and that awful orange or green netting that, let's face it, most picturesque buildings seem to be covered with (well whenever I want to take photo's of them anyway). The difference here was, it didnt seem to detract from the beauty of the place. It certainly didnt spoil it for me. So, we took lots of photos, bought a few postcards (no stamps to be had though), and finally set off for todays destination, Spoleto. We took the road for Spello out of Assisi, and the descent into the valley was wonderful. Once down, we headed for Cannara. The day was getting very hot now (mid 80s), so we pulled in at yet another roadside bar just over the River Topino at Cannara. The café is literally just by the bridge. More panninis, cappuccino and Fanta, and then off in the direction of Bevagna along lovely quiet roads. After going through the medieval town centre of Bevagna, we decided to head out on the Bastardo road, rather than going straight for Montefalco. This took us up a fairly long climb, and after about 6km, we took a left fork for Montefalco (Falcon Mountain or the Balcony of Umbria as it is known). It was really very hot now, so we stopped and had a couple of ice-creams before having a look around the old town. As usual, it was a steep climb once through the town gates to the small piazza at the top. We left Montefalco on the Spoleto road, but turned off part way down signposted Fabbri, which took us down an incredibly steep hill to Madonna del Stella. Here, we turned right, and followed the road directly to Spoleto. Although the road got busier as we neared Spoleto, it was still very pleasant riding. Certainly nothing we couldnt handle after yesterday around Perugia! We followed the Centro signs, then just before the gate to the town, noticed the 2 star Hotel Due Porte. The owner made us very welcome, and had a couple of free cappuccinos waiting almost before we were off the bikes which went down very well. The cost once again was L90,000 for a large double room. We showered, changed, and sat out in the garden getting eaten by small black things. The hotel owner (who spoke excellent English) recommended a local restaurant to us. We found out in the morning that his wife worked there :-)
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