Spring break in Ceriale in Liguria (Italy) from 8 to 15 May 2017
The publication of the new Italian mountain pass catalogue in 2016 was the impetus for a spring trip to Italy. For reasons of proximity to club members and climate, Liguria was chosen rather than Piedmont, which was still snow-covered at the time.
The dates of 8 to 15 May are unusual, due to the presidential election in France and the Easter holiday period in Italy.
Presentation
Liguria is one of the 20 regions that make up theItaly. It is a strip of land in the shape of a quarter moon, caught between the Mediterranean Sea and the Apennine mountain range.
It stretches between Menton and La Spezia (Ventimiglia, San Remo, Albenga, Savona, Genoa, Portofino and La Spezia are the main coastal towns). The Commune of Ceriale is located between Sanremo and Savona, close to the town of Albenga, which is the most important flower market in Liguria.
Tours
As the trip will take place at the beginning of May, the participants' legs will already have plenty of useful training time. The valleys run perpendicular to the coast and have little to do with each other, and the Apennines plunge steeply into the sea, resulting in considerable differences in altitude. As Velocio used to say: "There are no wrong gradients, only wrong gear ratios". Because of the configuration of Liguria, it is not possible to offer star-shaped routes. So there will be several trips between the accommodation and the starting points of the routes. This will be an opportunity to visit the Italian Riviera and the towns mentioned above, which are rich in history.
There will be 6 road routes with long and short variants over 55 passes. An extra route is available to climb the famous Poggio. Visit mule tracks are far less physically and technically demanding than those at Gilette. The 6 routes will take you over 85 passes, some of them on former military tracks on the French-Italian border.
Hosting
The main accommodation will be in the "Il Paese di Ciribi" bungalow village in the municipality of Ceriale, comprising 62 hard-built bungalows. (Via Asti 50, 17023 Ceriale SV, Italy, +39 0182 992411). The bungalows come in various sizes, sleeping between 3 and 6 people. Members can visit the website http://www.ciribi.it/it to take a virtual tour. It is located in a former olive grove close to Le Caravelle water park. We have negotiated full-board prices on the basis of 3 people per bungalow, in order to preserve a certain degree of privacy while allowing us to satisfy the many requests.
For those wishing to travel by caravan or motorhome, the site offers a few places, but it is preferable to go to the nearby "Camping Baciccia" campsite (Via Torino 19, 17023 Ceriale SV, Italy, +39 0182 990743). It is less than 500 m from the main accommodation and has 90 camping spaces, bungalows and mobile homes. The club does not take care of bookings, which must be made individually and directly with the campsite. For those who have chosen this option, we have negotiated the price of meals and picnics with the main accommodation to encourage conviviality.
Gérard Birelli, CC 5553
Registration
To register, download the PDF registration form and follow the instructions therein.
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