The Ciclovia Adriatica .... a bike ride along the Adriatic coast that sometimes looks more like an obstacle course

Italians cannot be denied creativity. Neither does a sense of beauty, nor a sense of theater, grand plans and beautiful words. But the road to realizing all those beautiful plans is long and the road to it is full of bumps and bumps. In the case of the construction of the Long Distance Cycle Route along the Adriatic coast, the Ciclovia Adriatica, we are literally talking about bumps and bumps. Over blockades, over bridges that are half-finished or simply do not yet exist, sandy paths and mud so that the enthusiastic cyclist has to return to the busy Adriatica SS16 every time to rejoin the cars and freight traffic. Signage is completely lacking and so much is demanded of the adventurous nature of the cyclist. "Let's see here again if there is another path that goes further". Applications such as Outdoor Active or View Ranger are indispensable, but even then you will still be faced with surprises. If you can believe the promotional films, it is a great celebration of beautiful blue and green colored cycle paths, tunnels and bridges and of course the beautiful Adriatic Sea. That of that sea is correct. Those beautiful cycle paths are already there, but unfortunately they are short pieces. The rest will be fine too… when? That is not entirely clear yet. In the meantime cycling is becoming increasingly popular and on a beautiful Sunday in October it can still be quite busy on the cycle paths. Not to mention the high season.

The Pedaso-Grottamare section

And so we indeed went on a beautiful Sunday in October with temperatures well above 20 degrees by train to Pedaso. Cycle in the train because that is also starting to become normal in Italy. But actually things immediately go wrong outside of Pedaso. After a few hundred meters of fantastic cycle path right next to the sea, the route is blocked again: works. No other option but back and take the SS16. A terrible shame because this part of the coast is spectacularly beautiful! After a few kilometers we make another attempt and we arrive at an unpaved part of the Ciclovia Adriatica. Also beautiful but clearly not finished yet because unpaved and lots of puddles, so we regularly had to go by hand through the bushes to avoid ending up in the mud. Anyway, a little adventure never hurts and the surroundings were beautiful after all. The obstacles took on serious forms because at Villa Alwin Beach Resort the unpaved path also ended permanently. Well, then just a little bit on the beach with the bike in hand… that was also possible. Then we found an entrance to an adjacent camping area with beautiful paved paths which provided a welcome change. Although accessible via the beach, the campsite was of course already closed and there was not a living soul to be seen. No possibility to return to the Adriatica SS16 and because we did not feel like plodding all the way back along the beach past Alwin, there was only one option: back to the beach and then across a river by bike. The highlight of the obstacle course, but that also worked. We were a bit proud of ourselves for our perseverance. Once arrived in Cupramarittima, the suffering was over: beautiful cycle paths, boulevards and charming architecture. From there you can cycle without problems up to San Benedetto del Tronto and that was the original plan. Unfortunately, things went wrong for Grottamare: I didn't pay attention, got off the cycle path, fell ugly and then it was ready for this time. {module Album Ciclovia Adriatica}