2006 - MTB Orvieto - Trasimeno

Mountain biking between Orvieto and lago di Trasimeno

Jim and Jacques

September 11- 18, 2006

Planning

After last year’s trip in the Cevennes (France) Jim, Mike and I had suggested a trip in the Ventoux (a.k.a. « le géant de Provence ») area for 2006. Mike had done some reconnaissance (though Jim and I have some reservations after a particular stage had been « reconnaissanced » by Mike last year!) and gotten the adequate maps. A few months before the departure date he became worried about the hills and our level of training and decided instead to go climb some Himalayan mountains (why bike up a 2000 meters hill when you can climb 8000 m mountains?). To demonstrate our forgiveness and esprit de corps Jim and I agreed to re-schedule Mont Ventoux for 2007, thus negating all the scheming Mike had developed to save himself an ascent up the Ventoux! Consequently Jim and I re-planned our trip to visit a not-too-touristy area very close to Torraccia: Orvieto-lake Trasimeno.


Participants

- Famous downhill biker Ian Jim B. from Auckland, New Zealand, still completely dependant on "Mars" bars and longing for crazily dangerous rocky down hills, was leading the way on the down side of the slopes.
- Local biker Jacques L. resident in Colpetrazzo (population 35!) was assigned the task of charting the trip, reading the map (and mostly avoiding making dumb mistakes while doing so!) and leading the up sections of the hills.
We figured out that we could win any races with Jim on the downs and Jacques on the ups!




Colpetrazzo – Corbara (56 km, 30% dirt trail):

Equipped with « carta dei sentieri Orvietano-Tuderte e Trasimeno » published by
Communita montana monte peglia e selva di meana (via principe Umberto 17, 05010 San Venanzo, Tel 075 875 323 peglia@orvienet.it ) and with a Lee Cougan (made in USA assembled in Italy) rented bike for Jim, we started from Torraccia, stopped in Todi to try (unsuccessfully) to adjust the handlebar on Jim’s bike, then a pit (read drink) stop at the bar near la Consolazione where we met a New Zealander (Mike) married to an Irish (Catherine), both living in Vancouver and visiting Umbria by car (smart people !). A fast downhill to Ponte Cutti over the Tiber river was the easy part of the trip. After crossing the river we faced a long grinding uphill under a fierce sun to reach Prodo. We passed the houses of various friends near la Canonica, all away since the summer vacations are over.

Prodo is a very small village with an impressive castle belonging to two brothers who exploit the land and use the castle as the main farm and office building.

Views of Prodo

Shortly thereafter we left the asphalt road and plunged (this is the right word!) toward lago di Corbara, loosing something like 250 meters on 3-4 km, going in the other direction would have been a challenge. Disk brakes are a significant improvement on bikes!

Going along the lake we found Corbara and the “tenuta di Corbara” an agriturismo (tel: 0763 304003). They gave us 2 rooms and told us the restaurant was 2 km away and uphill from our rooms. We hesitated about having dinner in the village of Corbara but decided to try the restaurant of the tenuta. It was not 2 but 4 km away and on a mean hard uphill road, we arrived sweat soaked, cooled down with beers and had an adequate dinner. Fortunately they gave us our breakfast to take back with us saving an early morning repeat of a hard ride. The ride down without headlights, or moonlight was "interesting". We slept well!



Corbara – La Casella (39 km, 80% dirt trail):

Following the trail to Ciconia (just north of Orvieto) up and down across valleys we ended up completely out of the trail and took an easy flat road to Ciconia, where I decided it was a good precaution to buy some repair material in case of punctures.

Ciconia, a no-town, offered us the chance to get a beer and buy some picnic ingredients. We followed, as shown on our map, torrente Chiani until the gate to a private property. There the guide book suggested going through trees for 2-300 meters to join the road on the other side of the property. Tough luck, no way to go across through the trees, a new fence had obviously been put up since the book was written! We had no alternative but to back-track, take a traficky uphill asphalt road to reach the trail again.

The hot weather turned stormy with threatening clouds. After an easy beginning the trail became a foot path absolutely impossible to ride and we had to push the bikes over rocks, stumps, the works! Fortunately it was cloudy with a light drizzle, just right to keep us cool, if not in a good mood ! After the bosco dell’Elmo, we had some "navigation difficulties" finding the right place to ford the river. Jim fortunately spotted the track and put us back where we were supposed to be.

Once done it was a pleasant ride to la Casella (tel: 0763 86588, lacasella@tin.it) an agriturismo oriented towards horse-riders, but very adequate with hot showers, pool table, and a fine restaurant, where all guests, the majority of them American, sat together at the same table, English was definitely the language most spoken. Interestingly they had art pieces on the walls, one of them, looking exactly like one of Betsy’s compositions based on locks.

Familiar looking piece in “la Casella”

La Casella – Montegabbione (38 km, 70% dirt trail):

Nice sunny morning, the map called for following the river until Parrano which we did with minor mistakes passing some immaculate properties with green lawns flowers, etc. obviously maintained by gardeners ! We got ice cream, Mars bars and food in Parrano and spent a solid hour trying to find the trail. An arduous hill brought us to Poggio Rosso and we somehow managed to loose the trail and ended up on the wrong side of Montegiove.

It is time to comment on our apparent inability to read the map: the map and its accompanying guide book were published by a local “Communita Montana”, their job is not maps but mostly the promotion of tourism. Furthermore it is mostly intended for pedestrians who use footpaths, and trails are maintained by volunteers and thus can be left unkempt for many years meaning that signs disappear. In many instances we did not see markers for a long time, they were sometimes completely covered by vegetation, they were put in places where a cyclist would not see them and the map is often wrong, showing bridges, fords or roads which simply do not exist anymore. We only got lost once in France, where we were using the 1/25,000 maps prepared by the national geographic institute, so maps are definitely to blame; “yeah right!” would say our New-Zealanders.  Of course we, the riders, are not to blame under any circumstances!!!!

Naturally we had to pedal up to go to Montegiove to have a beer and search for accommodations. In the local bar we met Franco the porchetta man who informed us that the closest possible accommodations were in Montegabbione, 7 km away on a more or less level road. We learned from him that pigs have a high yield: a 110-120 kg pig will produce upwards of 80-90 Kg of porchetta, he was preparing two of those and invited us in his shop to see the proceedings; 2 weeks later I met friends living near Montegiove and they confirmed that Franco is THE porchetta man in the area!

We stayed at the “gattogiallo agriturismo" where after a brief swim we had a nice dinner with wine and a good night rest. The agriturismo is on the high price side but is quite new having just reopened under the ownership of a Bergamo (a town in northern Italy) family.

Gattogiallo agriturismo

Montegabbione – San Venanzo (52 km, 65% dirt trail):

This morning the program is to climb Montarale (854 m) and start going eastwards. We decided to scrap lago di Trasimeno and continue in the hills towards San Venanzo. Climbing to Montarale was not too bad on a road with a regular slope and good traction, not a single car passed us. Temperature at the top was brisk and we had to put on jackets for our picnic, the exact elevation of the mountain will remain a mystery as all information was different, the tourist panel said 826, the marker said 846 and the map 854, take your pick!

A fun downhill track had Jim smiling and jumping from rock to rock and brought us back to Montegiove. The trail was marked from there to san Vito in Monte, but a farmer told us the track did not exist anymore and suggested we take the asphalt road. We followed his advice and found the trail a little further. The road was being redone, with bulldozer, gravel and trees all across but quite practicable. When we met the bulldozer operator he told us that from then on the road would be much worse. He was right, but we could still manage to bike and saw some landscapes looking somewhat like “le Crete Senese” near Siena, nice!

As previously the track was going down to cross a river and then up again on the crest, and repeating the process for each river, good training for the legs but a bit tiring…… When we joined the asphalt road to San Vito, it was raining and rather than biking for nothing we started calling agriturismos, all closed or no rooms, a bit strange considering it was a week day in late September!

We decided to try our luck in San Venanzo, the road was going down as well as the rain! At a bar-restaurant we asked for lodging and the man suggested agriturismo “Santa Croce” run by a Frenchman and his Italian wife 2 km south of the city. We stopped in the city asking for directions and Santa Croce was way out. We decided to try another agriturismo we had seen on the way. We arrived there, barking dogs, keys on the door, but absolutely nobody, we went in the building, in the office, searched for phone number etc. everything was opened, nothing locked and no one around. After a 15 minutes wait we decided to try the only hotel in the city. Full!

It was getting dark, late and we were getting tired and wet. The hotel suggested agriturismo Santa Maria (075 875331, info@agrisantamaria.it ) 2 km down the road. Not much light but we saw some people in a room and got the owner’s phone number, who said she could accommodate us and even feed us supper. Ouf!

A welcome sight!

We ended up sharing a room and had a “family” dinner with the other guests and the owner family, father, mother and a son. It turned out that this was the agriturismo run by the Frenchman we were first told about as santa croce!!!!! It was so nice to be inside and hear the rain falling and falling during all night.


San Venanzo – Agrincontri near Doglio (40 km, 50% dirt trail):

Next morning was clear and cheerful. Back to San Venanzo for breakfast and some foodstuff. We started on the trail passing a property called “santa croce” and never figured out if that was the agriturismo or another private place, saw some very nice houses, and saw the mail delivery car, we noticed again that the postina (the mail lady) is always a nice looking young thing; it is certainly true in Colpetrazzo!

After another of those downhill to cross a river, we found ourselves in a clay area where the bikes got completely messed up, mud got stuck between wheels and frame and brakes and it became absolutely impossible to even push them. Had to stop and clean up with branches; a few meters later the trail was under water, not good for dry feet but great occasion to complete the clean-up of the bikes.Not the best though for wheel bearings!

 

Cleaning bikes!

We noticed the trail was getting less and less used and narrower and narrower without any markers. We ended up roughing it up, through riverbed, slush, branches and a 45 degrees hill (OK I may exaggerate a little bit!) until we joined a decent track. Sure enough we had lost the trail! The map maker must have heard our adjectives towards him……. so loud were we in damning him!

Anyway the gravel road was pleasant, with more traffic than we had seen in the last two hours, and going in the direction of Monte Paglia (we could see the huge antennas nearby). We finally arrived at Ospedaletto for a beer and followed the asphalt road to Monte Paglia (alt. 812 m). Beautiful views on both sides of the mountain in spite of the ugly towers and antennas. From Sette Fratti a well marked trail in the direction of Lago di Corbara. The landscape was different from what we had seen before, much less austere and closer to Monte Martana landscapes.

Near Sette Fratti park

We were above the tree line and had great vistas all around. Jim had so much fun on the technical trail that he decided to compound it with a flat! We were glad to have bought the repair kit; it took a while to fix the tire properly, in fact there were two punctures. We took the asphalt road towards Todi and could not stay at Titignano (tel: 0763 308022) but they suggested a place 10 km further called Agrincontri (tel: 075 8749610) near Doglio, which could accommodate us. Individual rooms, huge bathrooms (they were designed to accommodate handicapped people) and nice owner.

While enjoying our pre-dinner drink, another guest showed up whom we invited to share our bottle of wine. He was Giancarlo Signore, a hunter from Rome, soon joined by his friend Camillo. They were hunting on the grounds of the agriturismo, in fact a hunting club, and had gotten a young boar that very afternoon. They ordered a second bottle of wine. Two bottles for four is quite plenty! Dinner was a pleasant affair with another two hunters joining in as well as the agriturismo manager (Carletto) and his wife (from Massa Martana who knows the Torraccia; small world!). Excellent pasta with truffles! Useless to say that grappa appeared from some secret shelf and we all happily downed the liquid! When we were told that the menu for to-morrow’s dinner would be wild boar, we decided to spend another night there! No problem finding sleep, finding the keyhole was more difficult!



Agrincontri – Montecastello de Vibio – Agrincontri (42 km, 100% asphalt):

Cloudy, cool and rain threatening, raincoats seem like a good idea; since we do not have to carry bags, it feels like vacation. Down to Doglio, a small village with rain drops appearing. Then to Montecastello di Vibio where Jim stayed with his friend Frances and her brother’s family a few years ago. A quick tour of the village under rain, we saw the smallest theater in the world which was used to-day for a civil wedding, with lots of people seeking shelter under the stairway while waiting for the main missing element: the bride! There was also an inauguration for an art school that took over from the international school run by some friends of Betsy. I though I recognized Nick Carone but that was someone looking quite like him, in fact he had left the school altogether a few year earlier, and it was under “new management”.

Someone suggested to have lunch at “la Pescheria” near the Tiber down the valley, so we enjoyed an easy, if wet, ride down to that restaurant. No clients but open for business, they served us good pasta and salad. We took the asphalt road back to Pian di Porto, Pian san Martino and up on the same road we had taken at the beginning of our trip from Ponte Cutti to Prodo. The rain decided to intensify its efforts and we biked under a deluge to arrive thoroughly soaked in the agriturismo. The hot shower and the dry clothes were pure bliss.

Many people, most of them hunters, started to appear for dinner, soaking wet from walking the few meters from their room to the dinning room! We recognized the hunters from the previous night, Giancarlo, Camillo, Carletto etc; and joined their table. Good choice since Camillo had brought a good bottle of red wine (Agliatto I think) and Carletto kept bringing some better wine than what was offered at the other tables! It made up for all the rain we had soaked in the afternoon, evidently a few grappas were necessary before bed time.



Agrincontri – Colpetrazzo (31 km, 100% asphalt):

Easy day since we are only going as far as Torraccia and we know that the road is not too daunting. Same road as yesterday to Doglio and onwards to La Canonica, Ponte Cutti with a stop over for Mars bars in the same bar we had stopped on our way out, up hill to Todi and a pleasant ride to Torraccia following the crest line. Shower, lunch and laundry. Bike cleanup and Jim treated us to dinner at "Le Scalette" in Todi.



Final words:

A good trip with certainly better weather than on our trip to San Marino and a higher percentage of dirt roads, which I preferred, I hope Jim liked it as much as I did. Distances were low but the profile of the area is hilly, or so it felt to our aging legs! With a bit more training we should be able to reach at least 50 km a day.


Topography: