Uly to Abruzzo (Italy) April 2023

[dolomoto]

As soon it warmed up, I secured a kitchen pass a pointed Buell-ah south to the Abruzzo region.



the first stop was in Chieti a nice little town in the foothills of the Apennines and home to Luca and Custom Buell Service.

https://buellservice.com/



Luca has some cool projects ongoing including this trellis frame for XB's.



this nice XB was out front, lots of nice pieces on it.



there's a whole garage full of Buell's.



I picked up a few parts (new turn signals, some stickers), shot the breeze with Luca and hit the road over the mountain to my campsite.

https://kokopellicamping.co.uk/

Once I got set up, there was a nice view of some snow lefter over...it was just late april and the highest point of the Apennines is in Abruzzo.



I made some time to admire the scenery and have a beer prior to getting into dinner.

 

[dolomoto]

I awoke to a nice sunrise and the temps were in the high 40's, not too bad for April.



the morning route was to go over Passo Lanciano (the snow capped mountain in the pic above). the turn for the Pass was interesting.



there was still lots of snow at the top and even one lift was open for the late season skiers. roads were clear...so far.



after the ski lift, the road wasn't quite clear. the snowplow was in the distance clearing the road but this meant I had quite a detour to get on with my riding plan.



Nice view on the way down.



I eventually made my way around Passo Lanciano "the long way" and got a nice view of the mountain from the other side.



the day was spectacular, very little traffic, clean pavement and nice views.





I made my way north towards Gran Sasso, a relatively famous part of Abruzzo.

 

[dolomoto]

The Gran Sasso National Park can be busy in the spring and summer with hikers and in the late fall and winter with skiers...i was right in the slot in late april between the groups.

https://www.gransassolagapark.it/Eindex.php



after passing the town above, the road went over the mountain and I got above 6000' and much closer to the snow (again).



I was just me and the song of the v-twin on the pass.



It was getting on to lunch time so I looked for a spot with a view.



this area is know for grilled meat skewers called "arrostincini". they're usually about a buck each and if you find the right place, you can grill them yourself.





not a bad view for lunch. https://www.ristoromucciante.com/

 

[dolomoto]

the daylight was getting short and I continued on with my modified plan to make a loop.



Nope! another road closure due to not being cleared.

I rerouted and got back to camp just as the sun set.



the next day, I rode south and west into some more obscure passes. along the way, there were some nice towns.



i had imagined that food may be hard to find outside of towns so i ate an apple and some salami at this spot.





I rode on thru some other passes and found a nice high valley, must be windy!



I kept looking for the tiny roads, just squiggles on the map.



I found this high valley with nary a soul in site...no food, no fuel, no water and i was low on all three.





can't complain about the views though.



i made it back to camp at sundown again and got together the plan for a ride back...likely in the rain.

 

[dolomoto]

I packed up dry for the ride home but the rain was moving in quickly.



I rode over one nearby minor pass and found this old shepherds hut. Notice that it's just stacked stones with no mortar and on the right side is a staircase built into the structure...and i can hardly get the Uly battery back into it's compartment. lol.



I was in and out of the rain most of the way but once I got into the Po river plain, I hit some backroads.





Once arrived home, I started planning the next trip....Slovenia!

 

[Cooter]

Hot dang! Wonderful pics, thanks so much for posting. Love your sense of adventure, please keep sharing

 

[c3powil]

Thanks for posting these. It makes me miss my Uly! I want to do more moto camping soon. How do you like that tent?

 

[miatamarty]

Fantastic trip report. I never see any threads like this on my Mazda MX5 website. It seems only riders are so enthusiastic about sharing their adventures.

 

[dolomoto]

Thanks for posting these. It makes me miss my Uly! I want to do more moto camping soon. How do you like that tent?

i've had a few tents and i'll never own another PU coated tent as I've had the PU coating fail. The hilleberg is miles ahead of even my Mountain Hardware tent and second only to our Springbar Traveler canvas tent (wholly unsuited to moto camping). this hilleberg is not free standing but I prefer the tunnel shape and i've spent a few evenings in my low profile camp chair in the vestibule where there's lots of room to put my stuff.

 

[njloco]

Great trip nice pictures, thanks for posting.

 

[c3powil]

I will consider it for my own camping adventures, then. Thanks for your advice.