Corey’s first day on the bike!
And we were leaving the Dolomites today….so we took a wee detour….to climb one last Dolomites pass. Passo Sella!
Another beautiful ride…..on a fresh morning….
More stunning landscapes…
….as we climbed up to 2,240 metres to the pass. We had now ridden two of the three highest passes in the Dolomites…but Passo Fedaia on Andrew’s last day was significantly tougher!
It was odd to see a busload of Chinese tourists taking peace-sign photos at the top!! (…the absolute obligation to use the two finger salute in photos…peace…or victory…is always perplexing!)
Then it was a lovely fast ride down….through Ortisei…..a full 1,000m of downhill!!
…and on down to the small village of Klausen/Chiusa….for breakfast!
It was odd that the menu was in German. In fact…everyone was speaking German! But we were certainly still in Italy!! So I looked it up. We are now in South Tyrol…part of Italy only since the first world war really…with a majority of German speakers still. An autonomous part of Italy though…with a fairly chequered history…with arguments with Austria etc which were only formally sorted out as recently as 1992! Who knew?
Their autonomy allows them to keep 90% of the taxes raised…rather than passing them in to central government. And…..really surprisingly….think Milan or Turin…South Tyrol is the wealthiest province of Italy!
After breakfast….the downhill continued…albeit at a slower rate….as we followed a beautiful riverside bike path for 70kms or more….
Simply exceptional……..
It was downhill to Bolzano…and then a very slow easy ascent to Merano….
……and on to our beautiful apartment at Plaus.
The ride looks somewhat easier that it was…but not a difficult day really…!
Thunderstorms had been forecast for today……and we had been keeping a weather eye…on the…..weather! The day just got hotter…and hotter….and by the end it was a bit of a struggle! The hottest day of the ride thus far! By far! With hugely high humidity. Feels like 40 degrees my weather app advised! It did!
Corey was well knackered. Was I giggling about protein powder? Too right I was!!
Funny though…we had been in our apartment for less than five minutes…and the rain started!!!
Light at first…allowing us to find our way to the local restaurant….but then it pelted down. Thunder…and hailstones…..full on!! We were thanking our lucky stars that we had finished the ride…just in time!!
The lady of the house came out as the storm started…and spoke to us quite abruptly in German…which of course we did not understand. Looking perplexed…we asked the waiter what she was saying…..the reply was hilarious really: “we do not speak English here…we speak German!”. I know we are in Italy…and the language was a surprise…but that reply could have been made by every single person in every country we have been in. It seemed simply unnecessary!!
She had simply been saying that we needed to move tables….for they were closing the shade thing…and we were going to get wet!!! Funny though!!
After the heat…and a long first day….the beers felt well deserved!
