On the Road...day24
Sure enough…the morning’s wet, but still not too cold for fresh snow to have blocked our exit…
Across the Passo Falzarego again, this time with a lot more care, into Cortina d’Ampezzo and up the Passo Tre Croci
Auronzo is still wet and my hopes of cutting east via some tiny single-laners towards Comeglians are drowning…
A coffee-stop along the Passo di Mauri, a shallow affair east of Lozzo di Cadore shows a few surprises, the owner of the place makes Schnapps from just about anything.
I’d really looked forward to those little backroads, the “Panoramica” and Mt. Paularo (both dirt,) in particular. The way the weather is though, it’d be all risk for no gain.
We keep going east to Moggio, then cut north into the Aupa Valley.
The first 5km turn out to be one continuous roadwork-section, after that the road narrows drastically, climbing up the Sella di Cereschiatis. NOICE !!
This feels better…the drop into Pontebba is just as tight and scenic as the climb.
With most of the distance for the day under our belts and only the Nassfeld Pass across into Austria to go, it’s time for a break, the slowly lifting clouds might even break open a little. Central Plaza/ Pontebba...things aren't exactly rockin around here
The Nassfeld Pass is the one, Goodie and I have vivid memories of…. there’s a tunnel on this, the Italian side, which is all cobblestones, rough-hewn walls, pitch-dark, water continuously dripping from the ceilings and walls….and it’s a HAIRPIN.There’s the sign at the side of the plaza, let’s go….
Hey…over there!!! See the FAAAAT guy on the Vespa?
OMG…looks like he’s got a skateboard wedged up his crack…
That poor, little scooter…
Not far and the first “CLOSED” sign appears….road works !
SHITE!!
It’s 60-70k’s of detour via “boring” main roads…
But since the barrier is next to the road and not blocking the road…let’s give it a whirl!
Piles of materials and the odd digger/ Bobcat grace the sides of the narrow band of asphalt…a construction worker stops us at the tunnel entrance…they’ve ripped up a 20m section of cobblestones, the sand is loose and deep, there’s also a backhoe inside the tunnel….
He waves us through after a minute…not wanting to spray the backhoe-operator by roostertailing through the narrow gap, it’s sloooow…and therefore wobbly. The bikes wanna go everywhere but straight…this is the wrong thing for a fully-packed touring-bike.
A few near misses, Tim nearly decking the RT in the pile of super-deep stuff before climbing onto the remaining cobbles…and we make it all through.
The rest is a piece of cake…while the clouds are closing in again, slowly dropping their bellies.
Still good enough for a bit of fun, though…
Herfried’s place is an easy find, signs to the Biker-Gasthof Winkler are everywhere in the little town of Tropolach.
Anyone for “one for the road?”
There’s some slaloming around the fresh cow-pies on the main road while walking to the pub for dinner…
Once more, we've found a place that's “home” instantly!
This is about as far east as we'll go...(only the "Slovenia-loop" will get us a little further "out", but not overnight).
From here we'll loop towards the north-west, through Austria into Southern Germany and on from there, depending on weather and conditions.
Sure enough…the morning’s wet, but still not too cold for fresh snow to have blocked our exit…
Across the Passo Falzarego again, this time with a lot more care, into Cortina d’Ampezzo and up the Passo Tre Croci
Auronzo is still wet and my hopes of cutting east via some tiny single-laners towards Comeglians are drowning…
A coffee-stop along the Passo di Mauri, a shallow affair east of Lozzo di Cadore shows a few surprises, the owner of the place makes Schnapps from just about anything.
I’d really looked forward to those little backroads, the “Panoramica” and Mt. Paularo (both dirt,) in particular. The way the weather is though, it’d be all risk for no gain.
We keep going east to Moggio, then cut north into the Aupa Valley.
The first 5km turn out to be one continuous roadwork-section, after that the road narrows drastically, climbing up the Sella di Cereschiatis. NOICE !!
This feels better…the drop into Pontebba is just as tight and scenic as the climb.
With most of the distance for the day under our belts and only the Nassfeld Pass across into Austria to go, it’s time for a break, the slowly lifting clouds might even break open a little. Central Plaza/ Pontebba...things aren't exactly rockin around here
The Nassfeld Pass is the one, Goodie and I have vivid memories of…. there’s a tunnel on this, the Italian side, which is all cobblestones, rough-hewn walls, pitch-dark, water continuously dripping from the ceilings and walls….and it’s a HAIRPIN.There’s the sign at the side of the plaza, let’s go….
Hey…over there!!! See the FAAAAT guy on the Vespa?
OMG…looks like he’s got a skateboard wedged up his crack…
That poor, little scooter…
Not far and the first “CLOSED” sign appears….road works !
SHITE!!
It’s 60-70k’s of detour via “boring” main roads…
But since the barrier is next to the road and not blocking the road…let’s give it a whirl!
Piles of materials and the odd digger/ Bobcat grace the sides of the narrow band of asphalt…a construction worker stops us at the tunnel entrance…they’ve ripped up a 20m section of cobblestones, the sand is loose and deep, there’s also a backhoe inside the tunnel….
He waves us through after a minute…not wanting to spray the backhoe-operator by roostertailing through the narrow gap, it’s sloooow…and therefore wobbly. The bikes wanna go everywhere but straight…this is the wrong thing for a fully-packed touring-bike.
A few near misses, Tim nearly decking the RT in the pile of super-deep stuff before climbing onto the remaining cobbles…and we make it all through.
The rest is a piece of cake…while the clouds are closing in again, slowly dropping their bellies.
Still good enough for a bit of fun, though…
Herfried’s place is an easy find, signs to the Biker-Gasthof Winkler are everywhere in the little town of Tropolach.
Anyone for “one for the road?”
There’s some slaloming around the fresh cow-pies on the main road while walking to the pub for dinner…
Once more, we've found a place that's “home” instantly!
This is about as far east as we'll go...(only the "Slovenia-loop" will get us a little further "out", but not overnight).
From here we'll loop towards the north-west, through Austria into Southern Germany and on from there, depending on weather and conditions.
