Embedded Files
Kilometers - 294
Passes - Nassfeldjoch, Gailbersattel, Stallersattel, Passo di Campolongo
So, after thee nights of having these big, heavy keychains with rubber rings around the bottom David decided this was an interesting cultural difference of Europe which should be recorded. Most of the hotel room locks require a key to open from the inside, so we tended to leave the key in the door at night, which is why the black rubber ring is needed along the bottom of the keychain, or it would really dent up the door as heavy as it is.
We're headed up to the first pass of the day after stopping at the Italian border to get some Lyra. This is the road up to the Nassfeldjock pass. We stopped for some pictures... we hadn't quite figured out yet that if we stopped at every gorgeous view to take pictures we would only cover a few Km every day. Trying to stop at the perfect place for pictures was an impossible challenge. Often we'd stop too early and couldn't afford to stop again for the better picture just around the corner. Other times we'd pass a nice picture opportunity thinking we'd find something better around a corner, only to not find anything better.
This one is looking back down toward the valley we've ridden up through.
And in this one you can see our parking job, and Paige and David taking a picture of the "gallery" (a tunnel with openings on the outside) that we're about to go through on the other side of the valley. Little did we know that the end of that gallery was a tunnel with a switch-back and slime-covered cobblestones... what an experience!!
We stopped at the restaurant at the summit looking for pass stickers, and this is where David decided that if he didn't see the word "Souvenir" he wouldn't waste time looking for pass stickers. (This ended up not being a good rule, many times the restaurants sold pass stickers but not here.)
And another picture of Paige by the cute little lake at the top of the pass.
On our way to lunch we ended up with more dreaded "Umleitung" signs. This detour was on a small 1-lane road around Kirchbach, with 2-way traffic! It was amusing to watch the trucks trying to pass each other in the fields :-) It was also a warm day, and we were very happy to get off the bikes for a short time at lunch in Lienz. Another beautiful setting for lunch (and a beautiful waitress as Brian pointed out ;-)
Only to be surprised at a very well-paved, though definitely only one lane wide road. But what a spectacular view! And there were cows grazing on the roadside from time to time! And the curves were tons of fun to ride!
Now *this* was fun! This is the Italian side of the Stallersattel pass. It is a 1-way road: the first half of every hour traffic is allowed to go down... Vehicles are allowed to enter the top from x:00 to x:15, then they have 15 minutes to get to the bottom. The second half of every hour traffic is allowed to go up... Vehicles are allowed to enter the bottom from x:30 to x:45, then have 15 minutes to get to the top. (Side note: as far as we saw there was no official enforcement of this, just signs telling you what to do!) We were advised to hang out in St. Jakob if we wouldn't make it to the pass on time, rather than hang out at the top of Stallersattel with nothing to do for 45 minutes. We stopped in St. Jakob very close to the time when we might not make it, but decided to go for it. (We'd seen several motorcycles and cars zooming that direction, so we guessed those were locals who knew they'd make it in time and we might therefore have a chance.) The ride up the Austrian side was not encouraging in terms of road conditions: in places it was really only one lane wide, and it had lots of potholes, plus we'd been warned that Italian road repair leaves a bit to be desired. So David was expecting the worst when we got to the top at 3:13 without time to stop for a pass sticker :-(.
We stopped for those pictures, then had to hussle down quickly since we entered the top so close to the end of the allowed time. I think we passed the up-going checkpoint with a few minutes to spare (the motorcyclists were still standing around waiting.) We stopped for gasoline shortly thereafter, and soon got the most lost we were the entire trip.
Somehow we got completely turned around trying to find Valdaora. We ended up in a little place called St. Martin, but when we checked the map we saw St. Martin about 30 Km south of where we thought we were. We eventually stopped in a hotel and asked directions, after calling Paige in to use her Spanish to understand the Italian. Eventually we gave up finding the road to St. Vigilio, and headed through Brunico/Bruneck. (Most of the towns and passes in this region have two names: the Italian name and the German name.)
The ride from Brunico/Bruneck to Corvara was the most intense ride of the trip. First: the road was about 1 1/2 lanes wide by US standards. Second: there was usually no center line (because the road was too narrow.) Third: it was along a river gorge with 1000 foot plus drop-offs at times. Fourth: it was along a river gorge with sheer walls so you couldn't see around most of the corners. Fifth: there was often no guard rail. Sixth, and most importantly: Italian drivers are insane! The curves came at us *very* fast. All I remember thinking was "left, right, left, right, left, right..." I'm telling you it was intense and exhilirating to be riding and feel very confident about the pace despite how quickly we were riding... we were all well within our riding limits, but it took quite a bit of concentration.
As we neared the Campolongo pass we paused in the parking lot of a vacant hotel and took this picture. It was our first view of what the Dolomite mountains are all about: stark rock peaks shooting up out from gentle green hills. It's really incredibly beautiful in it's harshness. There were a group of people harvesting hay by hand off the hill in the middle of the picture (directly below the rock peak), but it's really not possible to see them even in the enlargement.
From here it was a quick ride over the Campolongo pass to the hotel. We didn't stop for pass stickers because it was getting late and we knew we'd be back tomorrow!
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