Bike packing

 So for my very first foray into bike packing I decided to go from Mellame to Bressanone.  It was mostly on a bike path and there was always a "get out of jail free" card of a ride in a train if things went belly up either body or weather wise.

The plan was: 

Mellame to Levico Terme, stay 1 night

Levico to Salorno..stay 1 night

Salorno to Bressanone stay 2 nights...perhaps do a side trip on the second day

then??  nothing planned at the outset.

Day 1.

At Tezze where I join the bike path

Hotel Cristallo at Levico was good...I had stayed there on my first day in Italy at which time I was brain dead and had to ask for everything to be said twice and finally written down.  

Bit disconcerting was that the receptionist remembered me!!!...must have made a lasting impression...hmmm!  the breakfast there is, to say the least, sumptuous...just brilliant.  

However a bar in the main street had a very very weird idea of what a frappe is!

I took great delight in helping a tourist and saying, on being asked if I spoke English, yes rather well actually!!

Many Levico houses in the old part of town have these arches into their property.....limits the size of car you can have! 

Levico street art

There are so many hotels in Levico they are colour and number coded..my hotel was yellow 16!

Day 2:

The ride next day was a bit fraught..part of what I'd planned was not allowed for bikes and so I had to adapt and then I took the bike path on the wrong side of the river in Trento and ended up having to re-trace my course and got tangled up briefly in a VERY main road.....luckily I'd spent so much time working out my course on Google maps/street view that I was able to retrieve the situation fairly rapidly.

The approach to Trento via Civezzano was down a VERY steep hill which I was less than interested in doing on the way back!

This is a carpet!

to explain it better!

Salorno hotel,...apart from the carpet, was nothing special..the room wasn't ready, the receptionist told me nothing and the town had very little to look at...especially since it rained.  However, the evening meal was good and actually the cost not very high.

Day 3 and 4:

Bressanone..the hotel was probably just a bit further out of the town than I expected ..a 30 min walk but a nice place although  30 euros for an evening meal was a tad OTT since I can never eat 4 courses.    Main gripe...no fridge in the room.  My plan of doing a side trip on day 2 got well and truly canned as I was far too tired and essentially  I just did short trips around town and bought a train ticket to get back to Trento initially. 

Bressanone hotel art!

Only in Italian and English...despite it being such a multilingual town

Sooo many bikes there and not one worth stealing!

Bike pump in the main street

one of many many street statues

Day 5 

Train back to Levico via Trento

local train bike rack

couldn't get a pix of the fast train set up..not allowed anywhere near it! 

The train trip: no one could tell me where exactly in the line of carriages mine would be...#262 and my bike was to be  in place #144.   I got to the station, as usual ridiculously early and on finally walking onto the platform saw that the train was to be 15 mins late.  then 25,35,55 and finally 70 mins late!  The platform got more and more crowded but when another train arrived..going the other way, suddenly I was almost the only person waiting.....me and 2 others.  Felt a bit spooky!  

So, 70 minutes late this high speed super fast train  finally arrived and I was 3 or 4 loooong carriages out of place and so had to run in order to get to THE place where my bike had a reserved place.  Haven't run that far  for ages!   All good  though.  Had a coffee in the restaurant car and at Trento retrieved the bike and set off to buy a ticket for the local line to Levico terme where I had decided to stop for a 2 day rest.

I had again to run for the train as it was just about to leave...although I did manage to delay it as I sprawled inelegantly into the carriage cutting my leg, bruising my hand and bleeding all over the place!  Sono arrivata! I said...I have arrived!...and then told the officials not to worry about my leg...not the first time and wont be the last!!...my Italian has definitely improved!

Day 5 and 6

Hotel Cristallo was again great although the room where I was had what has to be THE worst pillows ever. 

I did a ride on the second day towards Pergine Valsugana and later saw a parade of people wearing Imperial period  clothes.  Apparently Levico was where the Imperial court used to "take the waters" and so has a strong link with the Hapsburg dynasty.  It was actually on the Austro Hungarian empire border with Italy before the post WW1 dismantling of that empire and consequently is surrounded by protective forts.

Day 7

The next day I took a final train back to Primolano...slogged up 2 nasty hills, did the washing and vowed to have a few days' rest before doing that again!  It was a Sunday, no shops open where I was and there was not much in the fridge or kitchen so I  pigged out on what I could find and realised a large shopping trip was required the next day! and that's a story for the next post.

All in all it was fun although a bit  too much for a first solo effort.  I was happy with what I'd packed although I had to beg a bandaid for my wounded leg from the receptionist at Levico...yet another reason for them to remember me next time!  I washed my clothes in the shower each day and they dried overnight. Although severely tempted I managed not to buy stuff as I really didn't want any extra weight on the bike.

The following pix are from along the way:

adopt a cow?

just outside Klausen..old vv new

have pebbles will decorate

and finally.....

Grado and Aquilea

Fleeing from the heat of Pula Croatia we headed north back into Italy via Slovenia. 

 Unlike lemming day, there were no queues at the Slovenian border but we both got a stamp in our passports with mine getting an especially long look. Which actually made me recall that this time round I haven't been checked to see if I have explosives/drugs/firearms on me!...guess they must have already sorted out their quota of granny aged people before I arrived! 

 Like Venice, Grado was very marshy and just like Venice as a result was a great hiding place against marauding hordes or escaping religious torment. 

 Having lived near The Wash in Lincolnshire, UK we were very used to the raised roads with dydke/ditch on either side, but the long raised causeway from Grado to Aquilea with water on both sides was unexpected and a treat. 

 Grado is now very very touristy and although there were possible Roman ruins to see we didn't stop. Aquilea was brilliant...fantastic well preserved ceramic tiled floors and plenty to see all within a small area. 

While going around the displays we saw that some cheeky monkey had done a bit of reverse graffiti!:

The lowlight of the trip was me leaving my phone behind at the souvenir shop. I was being served by a lady who continued chatting to her colleague while dealing with me and I distracted myself by looking at my sister and rolling my eyes! I realised about 20 minutes later and panicking hot footed it back to recover it ...phew!  I suspect the lady kept chatting and didn't see it for quite a while!

                                                 

And that was the end of the Croatia side trip.  It was to be the first of 2 side trips but with the rolling transport strikes in UK, particularly targeting the weekend of my planned visit there, I have opted to cancel...the uncertainty, plus the possibility of getting stranded/having to queue for ever made made the decision very easy.

Soooo..back to Mellame...to jigsaws and bike riding

THE worst of the 3 rickety bridges I force myself across...this one has to be crossed to get to a rather gnarly climb up to Incino...a road closed to cars on account of the large rock that protrudes out allowing only the tiniest of vehicle through.  However roadworks still abound before you get to it and I wasn't allowed through...  By not getting through to the climb I had to go back the way I came and so crossed the bridge 1 more time!  You can see from the pix that some of the planks are raised which naturally means some are not giving a very bumpy ride.  At least now they are all intact which they weren't a few years ago.....

Global warming =less rain/snow over winter which has resulted in pleas for conservation of water.  Of all the years I've been coming here, these walls have never been above water.

There are many many tunnels along the roads in this part of Italy and  in fact a bike ride through the city of Trento gets very complicated for cyclists.  But for tunnels out in country there is usually an opt out "old road" ...for cyclists only really and not very well maintained but much safer than the tunnel!

One of many garden decorations..so easy to do, simple and effective

at the base of the climb through to Croce d'Aune the back way...I didn't do it this time!

Today I'm off on a 4-6 day bike packing adventure..1 days each  at Levico Terme, Salorno,  then 2 days at Bressanone.  It's not a *real* adventure since most of it is on a bike path but riding with a loaded up bike for the first time will be a challenge.  I have an escape plan if it all gets too much or if the weather gods are unhappy since it's also on a train line.  But first I have to navigate my way successfully through Trento avoiding all tunnels!

More anon!

Pula Croatia

Pula..found at the southern end of the Istrian peninsular of Croatia and goal of every single end of school year group trip in the entire world!!!

We're here to see the ancient stuff and to avoid where possible getting suckered into buying cheap rubbishy tourist tat.

We came into Croatia from Trieste, driving briefly through Slovenia on Saturday and although our journey was on clear roads the queue of lemmings at the Slovenian/Croatian border going out of Croatia was at least 3km long.  Memo to self avoid crossing borders on a Saturday whenever possible!

We have prepared for our return trip by stocking up on water and munchies....just in case.  

nothing quite like discovering a VERY well stocked fridge and pantry in your apartment

Colisseum/Arena arches

Fishing net decor..the fishing fleet is alive and well here

getting up early is the only way to avoid all those school parties

Temple of Augustus.  This was bombed heavily at the end of WW2 but restored  in 1947

Tourists catered for!

Much smoking going on here still

fishing and leisure fleets in great numbers

 Next stop Grado and Aquileia for more historical sites

Riding towards and along the Valsugana Bike Path from Veneto and into neighbouring Trentino

Found along the roadside after descending the Primolano Scale and a clear sign there was to be a road race here today....this is the sign that tells the racers they can chuck rubbish/drink bottles onto the side of the road  for the next Km and not be fined.  

On my return I saw all the signs of a race about to pass by, so I stopped for lunch and watched stage 2 of the under 23 Giro d'Italia pass through...very very quickly!  Since then I've been following the rest of the stages on TV...currently a Brit is in the lead by 5 minutes(!)

What can I say about this ..apart from that Leo is situated at the junction of two bike paths alongside a red bench and a sign full of local info.  Bike paths here are really well set out.

These mini rest stops give you an idea of exactly where you are on the bike path since they are away from houses/villages etc and really there's no other way to tell.

This was just outside of Borgo Valsugana, a town I've visited at least 3 times now and have got lost every time.  Directional bike path signs are put up for those who already know the way.  Anyway I presume this might have been the result of a lightening strike, but it's fan like spread of fallen branches  is very arty!
 

Living 3km uphill from a very small town and with only a bike for transport adds another dimension to life.  Yesterday I needed to buy  quite alot of food and drink so using the bike was not an option.....so I walked down, shopped and then walked back up again much much more slowly!  I've done this walk 3 times now and each time I've been offered a lift ...this time it was on the way down so I declined saying it was my training..ie 10,000 steps. And despite what I was told all those years ago  I did accept 1 offer and that was 'cos it was on the way up and it was raining.

Well better get going..just a medium length ride today with no mega climbs as I don't want to fall in a heap fitness wise from over doing the long hard rides.

Italy 2022 version

 My home from now till mid August....Mellame...about 3km uphill (6-9% climb)from  the delightfully named Arsie' and a further 15km from the nearest big town, Feltre. 

view from my house...taken at about 5am!

The house is big so I rattle around in it somewhat and as it's for sale I have to keep it tidy in case someone wants to view it.  The walls are very thick so my wifi hotspot has to be outside on the window ledge in order to work!

I've been riding most days..temp in high20sC up to 30....not that I'm gloating of course!  I don't have a car all the time so I have to decide whether to walk or cycle the 3km hill when loaded up with groceries....yesterday with 2  x 1 litre milk and juice cartons on my back I have to confess I struggled...mind you it was at the end of a 70km ride.

Re prices petrol is about 1.98 euros, diesel 1.85 euros and coffee 1.20 euros (read that last one and weep!) 1Aus dollar was 61 euro cents when I left a week ago so I'll let you do the maths.

Scenes from recent rides:

lago di Corlo

Ponte della vittoria, lago di Corlo

this is the third really rickety bridge I've crossed and every time I'm reminded that I can't swim!

bridge end

I take a photo of this place every year..no idea what it is

I'm off to Croatia with my sister for a 4 day quick trip in a week's time.  Originally it was to use up some days outside of the Schengen area as I was in Europe for 3 days over the 90 allowable non visa days.  Now with my holiday cut back by 2 weeks, it's just a welcome break not a neccessity.

More anon.

the final post from 2019..disocvered today 22nd May 2022italy, Hungary and Austria

devastation from  really bad weather

no keeping your age secret if you live near Hartberg!

TT podium..I was 4th

Poignant depiction  of WW2 atrocities

these 2 from our groovy apartment in Budapest

look what I found waiting to be posted!!!