Advertisement
Published: June 10th 2011
Edit Blog Post
7th June 2011.
Felt great to get the gruelling ride through Britain over with.......but the first 200 miles in France were nothing great! Two thunder storms put paid to any romantic ideas of camping in Champagne country. Discretion being the better part of valour I pulled in at Motel Du Bois with clouds straight from Haides pocket looming large ahead. Turned out to be not a moment too soon as the first thunder clap shook the windows as I was shown my room :-) Don't know where all the French came from from but somehow I had a conversation?? Dry out, dinner then sleep.
8th June 2011.
Up with the larks to blue skies and warmth sneaking in the window. Usual breakfast of Champions...3 strong coffee's and a couple of cigarettes...and I was on the road by 6:30. Clear morning riding through rolling hills of farming land awash with a thousand shades of green and gold. I could smell it was farming land, not the manure! but just like you can smell recent rain in warm air. I passed 3 British bikes who caught up with me and followed me for an hour, tested them a
bit cause they kept falling behind on the twisties and catching up on the straights hehehehe.
The road to Verdun follows canals full of activity, from pleasure boats to guys fishing shopping trolley's out, the activity is constant. Verdun was soon a memory as headed South East toward the German border. Was totally in the zone and missed my planned route, but not to worry the alternate, decided by the side of the road, was great! Belfort then Mulhouse then Switzerland!
Arrived at the Swiss border and got snaffled for 40 euros motorway tax???? Then it started raining....heavily.... Ah well since I paid for it I'll use it. I didn't look at the speedo cause I was concentrating that hard on not aquaplaning off into metal barriers, tunnel walls and masses of traffic, but I did notice that I was passing everything? Hit Zurich at rush hour and thought about giving up and finding a bed for the night but the lure of Lake Como kept me going. On to Chur where I noticed I had a puncture?? It was still raining! Not a blow out but annoying, put air in the tyre and hoped for the best? Finally the
rain stopped as I left the motorway at Splugen. Decision time......... kicked the tyre....bit flat.......sod it.....I'll cross the Spluga Pass and get to sunny Italy. Plus I was hungry and I prefer Italian food to Swiss.
The Spluga Pass has made it into my top ten favourite Alpine Passes....WOW....extra wow cause I was drifting it a bit round the hairpins on the now very flat looking back tyre!
The Spluga Pass climbs quickly out of a classic Heidiland valley. Within 15 minutes I was above the snow line and into the clouds. A helpfull car driver stopped me and told me I had a flat back tyre....cheers. The peak was reached and I couldn't help but smile at the Welcome to Italy sign barely visible through the clouds I was riding in...hahaha. But soon all was clear......stunning stunning stunning!!!!!! The clouds burst open and what you see is one of those awsome views in the real sense of the word.....when you feel humbled and a little scared by the magnitude of nature...I stopped and looked around in awe, the last 11 hrs on the bike forgotten in an instant...I also forgot about the flat tyre, but was reminded at the
next hairpin when despite my best efforts I had to skid the bike to get it to turn!!! Ooopppsss...... The temperature climbed as I descended, I started to air dry and got my second wind. Not far now surely? Another 59 hairpins later I was riding toward lake Como through stone villages as hard as the mountains they were built from. Finally I arrived at Camping Ponsionne and was met by my old friend Cosimo. After pointing out I had a flat tyre he told me not to pitch my tent but sleep in one of the chalets as it looked like rain....I doubt he's ever had such a heartfelt thankyou in his life!? I walked the kilometre into Sorico and sat down at Restaurant "Biffi" at 8:15 starving!
9th June 2011.
Don't know what's going on but I was up at 4?? Good time to text my mate...hahahaha.
First things first, get the puncture sorted! Found a garage only 200 metres from the camp site, result!! 15 minutes later I rode away on a repaired back tyre, fingers crossed it stays fixed!
Rest day by the lake. A quick clean and service of the bike then a
wander around Sorico. Lovely wee village with houses dotted around the steep mountains. There's a brilliant white church perched high up on the mountainside which looks over the village and lake Como, only the most intrepid devotes for Friday Mass I think?
Finally the sun came out in the afternoon woohooo! Lay basking in the intense heat and thought about freedom and why people say that riding a bike is appealing because of the sense of freedom? I've been riding bikes continuously for25 years and the freedom they talk about is simply freedom from distractions. When I put my helmet on it's just me, my thoughts, my ego and my lack of talent, that's the freedom of bike riding, better than any analysts sofa!
Dinner at Biffi again....went for it with a four course banquet of the Chef's finest dishes :-) As my fromaggio arrived a big table of 8 next to me asked me to join them......Carnage ensued as somehow I held my end up in Italian and German??? Grappa flowed and the arms were waving more and more with every peel of laughter. It's one of the pluses of solo travel, people wonder about you and feel it's
ok to intrude, which it is.
10th June 2011.
Another early start? Waved Ciao Cosimo at 6:30 and disappeared into the rain! Riding a bike in Italy is great! I was trying to think how to best describe Italian driving and came up with accurate. They have to be accurate or they'd be in a pile-up within a mile of home. But for me I love it.....there also seems to be a different set of road rules for bikes which suits me to a T! Pretty much anything goes and all the other road users expect it so it's not as dangerous as it first seems :-)
I love the Alps but I have a destination so can't spend my time criss crossing Alpine Passes as usual :-(
The rain that has been a feature of the trip so far finally gave up the chase at Ferrara!!!! YeeHaa!! The miles from Bergamo to Ferrara are flat and busy, it's Italy's answer to England's Norfolk, flat as an ironing board full of crops and just as interesting?
After Ferrara things start to look up, everywhere has the tinge of sunny money. Houses get bigger, cars flashier and people start
dripping with fashion labels. The Ducati fits right in and loves the sunshine as much as me!
Riding though Rimini was nuts....loads of bikes showing me all the various ways you can weave through traffic without ever hitting the brakes or slowing down anywhere near the speed limit. Needless to say I had a laugh, at one point I waved a bike past me, he pulled alongside and asked "Problemo?" to which I shouted "Multo Grosso" as my bike is quite wide with all the gear on it.......he laughed and shouted "andiamo" and proceeded to toot his horn wildly and clear a path through all the traffic....nutter!!!! Thank god he eventually turned off???
Lastnights fromaggio and Grappa led to me being told to stay with the family's cousin near Rimini. I arrived at Casa Paradiso, run by Matteo and Marta, this afternoon. It lives up to its heady name and I'm writing this blog sitting on the terrace sipping Vino Blanco while looking out over the Adriatic :-D
Total miles so far? About 1600......smiles so far? about a thousand a day :-D
Advertisement
Tot: 0.064s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0366s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb