800 km of paved cycling highways! Anyone can do this.
Bolzano - Brixen/Bressonone - 65 km
We left Bolzano - lovely city - after another trip to our favourite camping store, decathlon, I was looking for a sunhat but came out with a yoga mat instead! Wraps nicely around the tent carried on the back of Trevors bike... Best 3 euro puchase.
All of a sudden it seems like we are not in Italy anymore but Germany or Austria. It is bilingual up here. All the signs have German and Italian - we have enough trouble finding our way and are now more confused by the additional German name which sometimes looks nothing like the Italian name at all. The houses are bigger and have lots of flower boxes around the windows growing red geraniums. Many ski fields near by and plenty of accommodation. Stunning scenery and amazing paved bike paths. Lots of day bikers. E- bikes everywhere. Tours, families, groups, couples, bunches of road riders. It is definitely the leisure centre up here. We cycled up the river valley & stayed just north of Brixen in Varna. A nice campground with a pool.
Brixen - San Lorenzo - 75 km
We had trouble finding the track today. It seemed to be going completely in the wrong direction. We went up and down a hill then up again - thinking we had it wrong until a cyclist confirmed we were on the right route. It wound up and around and connected with another route. We are now on the Munich - Venice route. Lesson learned, trust the signs. Plus it was really demoralising seeing the road signs. We had done 41km and the sign to Brixen said 14km! Then later in the day we passed a campground and headed to the one 12 km on only to find it still closed after winter and had to back track through Brunico. So a bigger day than planned. Too late for a swim. The nights and mornings are a bit chilly up here.
San Lorenzo - Toblach/Dobbiaco 70 km
Back through Brunico and up this gorgeous valley, houses way up the hillside - it is really difficult to see the road that leads up to them. Lots of old castles. Hay making time. Every bit of grass, even the front lawn is turned into hay. Lots of people racking the hay. No animals to be seen. After 17 km we stopped at a bridge thinking we might head to the village for lunch. There are information boards near the villages showing the bike trails and attractions. I had a look and checked the map to discover we were not in the valley we had intended to be! So we turned around, back to Brunico for the 4th time and up the river towards Toblach. So what was to be a short 36km day turned into 70. But it was a lovely ride. A big campground with lots of campers and a few cyclists with little tents. The small tent sites tend to be down the back under the trees about 500 metres walk to the toilet block! 2 restaurants so we had pizza again as the local shop had not much of anything. So cold in the morning & a long wait for the sun to hit the tent.
Toblach - Cortina d Amprezzo - 45 km
A little bit of a climb on an unpaved track then finally it was the start of the descent - fast down whizzing through the trees overtaking all the e bikes. The dolomites are all around us. Stunning. We were here 6 years ago doing some via ferrata climbing - so cool to be back - and I remembered how to get to the supermarket! But everything except restaurants were closed until 3.30 so we had a long leisurely lunch break with a lovely German couple cycling Munich to Venice. Then a big shop up as nothing is open on Sundays - and often not on Saturday afternoon. Only 1 of the 3 campgrounds was open, down by the river. Was a nice easy day.
Cortina d Amprezzo - Calalzo 45km
A bad start as we took the wrong rd from the campground which headed straight up a steep hill. After 2 km in low gear we figured it was not the track, back down and after a small mtn bike track we then had 40 km of paved downhill - just incredible. Tagged the last couple of days with 2 Norwegian guys heading to Venice, a bit quicker than us but we caught up everytime they had a break. Great to chat about Norway. We left the bike path (as we want to go east to Slovenia) and camped just over the dam in Calalzo. Another pretty easy day.
Calalzo to Tolmezzo 77km
A big day today over the passo d Mario. A little bit on a highway then turned off onto a mountain road and up we went - pretty hot - seems it is unusually hot at the moment. Highs of 31 and dry. Gradient not too bad , we pedalled slowly for 1.5 hours to the pass. Lots of 'bravo and respect' calls today. Passed little winter cottages and cross country ski trails. Lots of tornants - switchbacks. No fanfare at the top, too early for the cafe and no toilets - although that is unsurprising - I could count on one hand the number of public toilets we've come across in 2 weeks! Then an exhilarating speedy downhill to a small village. Just in time to join the locals at the bar - yes they were drinking wine before 12! One old guy wandered over to practice his English. A Large pizza and 2 capuccinos and then it was up & down for the next 40km. Not much traffic but a 2213 metre tunnel straight through a mountain. Well lit. But I still bolted through. The engineering in this country is amazing. Motorways up high around cliffs for 100s of kms, tunnels & bridges everywhere. Huge monstrosities. We have been on a lot of old railway lines. They seem to have built new lines for the fast trains! Made it to Tolmezzo and the tourist office ladies booked us into a lovely bnb right in town. Had a gelato stop and a look around town until the lady arrived home. A fully self contained loft with a nice deck. 55 Euro. And great breakfast. The internet was down so we couldn't check our route to Slovenia so she phoned a cycling buddy and sorted the best way. So lovely.
Tolmezzo - Travisio 77km
A few kms on the rd then a bike track all the way up the river valley. Amazing old rail tunnels. Breath catching cold in some of them. Like going into a freezer. The LED lights come on as you enter. Some tunnels are a km long. A long day slightly up all day. I think my legs were a bit tired from yesterdays pass. Cheap basic hotel in Travisio. Only 10 km from Austria and 8 km from Slovenia!
Can't believe how tired we were after the first week. Feeling a lot more alive this week with a bit of energy left at the end of the day to sight see or get a meal. Feeling fitter...
Observations from Italy. So many people on the flat lands. So much rubbish to deal with - so many skip bins on every street. Pretty monocultural. Seems every restaurant is Italian cooking pizza & pasta. Not big on takeaways - eat in for the same price. And nice to go to local places - no big franchise takeaways anywhere. Most people politely ignore each other. Seems they are very used to living on top of one another. But friendly if you engage them. The pedestrian rules - must be the law to stop. Ciao from Italy. Slovenia beckons. 🌹
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