Day 389 – EU – Italy [Ippocampo to Mattinata]

28/04/21

32km

  From Ippocampo (Italy) to Mattinata (Italy)

Europe

A foggy run, entering the Gargano region and natural park, and an unexpected shortcut

The fog slowly lifted

It was surprisingly warm, humid and foggy as I left this morning. I could barely see 50m ahead. I was hoping it would lift soon enough as today was going to be quite scenic. Being in the Puglia region, I am entering now a sub region, that of Gargano, which hosts a wonderful natural park as well as an amazing coastline.

It was not to be! The fog became thinner in place and I was able to see the surrounding mountains and endless fields of olive trees. But I did not manage to see the coastline on the run. I will be running around the region for the next 3 days and hope to get to see the magnificent vistas this region is well known for.

Running through the tunnel to Mattinata

I had planned for a 40km run today. But as I approached a junction, I spotted a tunnel that seemed to cross the mountains in the direction of Mattinata. I checked the map and asked a couple of cyclists who confirmed there was a sidewalk in the tunnel. These 2km of tunnel would cut 8km of my run today. It did not take me long to opt to go through the tunnel. Given I was running in the fog anyway, I would not miss much of my environment!

Between the mountains and the olive trees, Mattinata

Mattinata appeared in front of my eyes as I exited the tunnel. All white, surrounded by the green mountains, olive trees everywhere – this is an olive oil region too. And in the background, I spotted the blue line, the Adriatic sea was there, finally a glimpse of it. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, which promises to be a longer and more demanding run.

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: