Pescara to Penne  (55 kms)

An uneventful flight and we arrived at Pescara airport on time.  The airport is very small and no doubt because of the time of year was very quiet.  The tandem appeared, unscathed, so we made a quick dash to the loo, got changed, sorted the panniers out, pumped the tyres up and we were off - well sort of.

Outside it was very humid and looking ominously grey.  We tried to work out which way we should be heading and agreed that we were heading towards 'that very big black cloud over there'. 

Getting out of the airport proved difficult.  We asked the guy on the car-park barrier which road we should take for Penne.  This seemed to cause a lot of confusion and as usual several people weighed in with various routes.  As most of the discussion was in Italian, we nodded knowingly, and decided to head for a road we could see just beyond the car park.  We set off down the road, which got busier and busier, lots of road works, no signs that meant anything to us and, after a while, decided to retrace our steps to the airport!  I'm sure the guy in the parking booth had a quiet chuckle to himself as we rode past in what he presumably thought was the wrong direction.

After a few minutes more riding (and around 1 hour now since we first left the airport), we were headed back - to the car park.  However, we then saw a sign which looked promising and after consulting the map we were sure we knew where we were.  After another bit of back tracking and a ride through an industrial complex that resulted in a dead end, we eventually found our way out.  All I can remember (for anyone else arriving at this airport) is that when you leave the airport building, turn right, and that's about as much help as I can be!

Once we got on the right road, it was all obvious of course ;-)  The road was good with moderate traffic, but the weather ahead looked ominous.  We passed through Pianella, climbing steadily.  Just before Penne, the rain started and it went very dark as the cloud dropped - along with the temperature.  Entering Penne, we were now in thick fog with visibility down to about 20 metres.  It was only 3pm, but it was almost dark.  So dark in fact that we put the lights on the tandem at this point.  We looked around for a hotel as the rain was now lashing down.  We followed a sign from the main road (Hotel Vestina) but due to the fog we rode past the hotel twice (couldn't see the sign on its roof!)  I've hardly been more pleased to get into a hotel.  The double room with breakfast cost us 60 euros.

Due to the bad weather, we stayed in the hotel to eat and had a good meal of ravioli and omelette washed down with plenty of red wine, and prayed the weather would improve tomorrow.