On Wednesday morning I met the British guy in the washroom. He was heading south over some pass that had taken him seven hours the last time. But conditions were better today, so he thought he could do it in four.
The day started with a fun descent to Edolo. From there it was gradual climbing until noon, when we arrived in Ponte di Legno. We rode into town, because Ursula wanted to go to a pharmacy to find something for the heat rash on her legs. It was a very quaint town. We wandered around, bought some food. Got information on the campground from the tourist office. A local guy saw the Canadian flag I was flying, and came to talk to us. He said it was 15 degrees warmer than usual in town. Usually you have to wear a sweater, even in the middle of summer. We headed out of town to a shady spot by the river, and had lunch and a nap. And got in the stinging nettles again when we went to the bathroom.
Finally
we headed up Passo del Tonale. Again it was stinking hot. Half way up it started
to spit, but it didn't last. It took two and a half hours, but we made it to
the top, with lots of stops along the way. At 1883 metres, it was the highest
pass of our trip. Tonale looked like a ski/party town, but we didn't have time
to check it out.
It was actually chilly as we descended on the other side. And it was looking threatening ahead. We had 15 km of downhill to get to our campground. At one point I saw a little park, with a loaded tourist sitting on a bench, so I stopped to wait for Ursula. The guy was just a kid. He said if we saw his dad and brother, to let them know he was ahead. We descended a fair bit more, when I saw the brother, who was quite young, followed by the father, who was pushing his extremely loaded bike up the hill. I let him know his son was ahead.
Just a couple of kilometres short of Fucine we saw a wall of rain ahead. We stopped and put our tent and sleeping bags in plastic, and put on our goretex. We rode to the campground, but the rain never arrived. Our campsite was beside a raging river, which drowned out all other sounds. A castle overlooked the campground.
There was a sign for a pizzeria pointing away from town, but we decided to walk to town. But there was nothing in town. Meanwhile the rain was threatening again. We headed back to the pizzeria. It started raining big heavy drops just before we got there. I had pasta with pheasant. When we walked back the rain had stopped, and the castle was all lit up.
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2003 paul Stockton. All rights reserved.
Last updated: January 11, 2006