Euro Tour Day 8

 

I got up just after 06:30, did my things, ate breakfast and just before 07:30 my host was ready to take me to my bike. There is no movement at the place, the garage is open, I grab my bike and start pedalling. The first 10 km was tar. Initially it was fairly flat, but then I start climbing. Being tar it is not a problem, but my average speed very quickly reduced from 18 kph to 10 kph due to the climb.

After the initial tar, I had to turn left onto a track through the woods.

It started off quite well, but then the "trouble" started. I was in a forest again and the initial riding was quite beautiful, but every now and then the progress was slowed by the terain.  It took me 35 minutes to do 2.86 km, an averge speed of 4.9 kph. The view was spectacular!

That took onto a tar road, but once again I had to go up a hill, so progress was also fairly slow. 27 minutes for 3.3 km. At the top of the hill I took a left turn.

I now was on the ridgeline. The actual track consisted mostly of moving along a washed out rut. Going up and going down was equally slow. Most of the time I was moving along at between 1-2 kph. I aldo got to a point where Ridewith GPS took me left and Garmin right! I decided to follow Ride with GPS. This took me up a very steep hill, only anout 50 meters, with a monument dTing back to the First World War. Everything was in Italian, but dates are universal.

The view from here was absolutely stunning. When I tried to continue, there was nothing but bush where Ride with GPS indicated I should go. I could see that the Garmin route was reflected as a line on the app. So I made my way down the hill towards the Garmin track. A little further on the two converged. I now had to go down the hill and progress was painfully slow. Every now and then I could ride a piece, but then had to dismount again as it just too rough. 1:22 to cover 4.7 km, an average of 3.4 kph! I was thankful when this ended and so could go onto a tar road. 

This took me to Scoffera, one of the places I identified as a possible stopover, but not today! It also is a very one horse town with no coffee shop or accommodation. I typed in Ponterosso on Google Maps and it showed me a route of 30 km which should take me anout 2 hours by bike. I decided to accept this option. I stopped all navigation on Ride with GPS and Garmin. Typed in Ponterosso on Ride with GPS's route planner and I was on  way. Down the road I stopped to have the bread and jam I made for myself from my breakfast supplies for the morning at ladt might's accommdation. Round the corner was a coffee shop where I washed it down with a cuppacino.

What interested me here were the number of road cyclists and motorbikes on these back roads. The condition of the road was very smooth with lots of corners and some nice climbs. Ideal territory for road bikes and motorbikes! 

The ride to Ponterosso on the tar road was much easier than what I encountered this morning. It was also quite beautiful, but no to the same extend as my original planned route. During the next couple of days we will employ that option when the going get too much.

I sent Danie a WhatsApp message and realised that he was on the otherside of another, 3 km away. So I first had to get over this before we got re-united. That took about half an hour. Once over, I fiund him pretty quickly. 

We had a drink, booked a place on Booking.com and then cycled the 5 km there. Quite a nice place and we are settled for the night. Tomorrow we start again!