Before Vasto to Fossacesia - a short day's ride

We'd originally planned a rather ambitious day today, north up the coast, then heading inland into the very hilly Majella National Park. Now that we've been forced by the snow to change our route and have decided to remain on the coast, we are under less time pressure as it is not only a shorter, but a much easier route. As a result of this conclusion we decided just to go up the coast some 30km to the last campsite before turning inland, then leave ourselves with 65 very hilly kilometers to do tomorrow. 

We started off along a wonderful cycle path weaving along the coast through pine forests. After Vasto the path came to an abrupt end and we had to rejoin the busy Ss16 coast road once more. Rather frustratingly we could see just below us towards the sea the work going on to turn a disused railway line into what will become the longest cycle path in Europe. 

My planning had shown a possible route of 7km off-road through the Punta Aderci nature reserve which we tried to follow. Fortunately for us, after 1km and just before trying to push the bikes up an incredibly steep slope, two walkers informed us that at the other end the way out of the reserve over a river was closed.  We gave up that idea and retreated to the nearby beach to eat our picnic.

Picnic time on the beach at Punta Aderci

Trabucchi 

We had a good view of some trabucchi - a sort of wooden fishing contraption for which this coast is renowned.
After lunch it was back uphill to the main road and a few more kilometres to the campsite - another very quiet off-season one. We'd set up the tent by 2pm and took advantage of the hot sunshine to get a bit of long-overdue washing done.
The next stage of this leisurely day was a visit to the campsite restaurant.  We expected the usual pizza, but were presented with a menu with no veggie options at all. They were very understanding though and brought us an interesting meal of feta with caramelised onions and aubergine and courgette fritters. We washed it down with a carafe of wine which apparently had been produced 7km back down the road we'd cycled along, then had coffee. We had no idea of the price as we were off menu and were astonished to receive a bill for €14.40 for the two of us!
Now to sleep ready for the challenging hills tomorrow.

Vasto to Fossacesia - 30km, 300m climb