We get back on track with the eastbound leg of the Via Claudio Augusta at Lago di Levico, which is just southeast of Trento.
We have had no internet for 3 days -- there's no such thing in the Dolomites. Back to uncivilized things where we do have internet. So this will be a kind of a triple-day entry as we are in the high Dolomites and, as I said, they have not heard of the
internet here, yet. In a nutshell,
on Thursday we reversed our route from Riva del Garda almost all the way back
to Trento, heading over a moderate pass to end up in Lago di Levico for a night
of camping in Disneyland (more on that below). Friday a.m. very early we rode from Lago di Levico to
Sorriva, high in the Dolomites.
What a humbling ride that was!
And Saturday we rode over the famous Croce d’Aune pass to Valdobiedenne,
home of prosecco.
Before we left
Riva del Garda, we waited out the three-hour thunderstorm. Quite a show with torrential rain,
lighting and thunder. We were glad
to be tucked into our AirBnB place.
Dinner was in order so we went to the Lion D’Or, which our AirBnB guy recommended. We started with Cipressa salad, then
Lorie had pasta with pesto and I went for the risotto with mushrooms and black
truffles. Both were really
good. We had a nice local red
wine, then coffee with a fruit custard dessert.
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| Capressi salad |
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| Risotto with mushrooms and black truffles. Yumm! |
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| Lorie's Genovese pesto. Yumm Yumm! |
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| Dessert and coffee |
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| Evening at the piazza in Riva del Garda |
A few days ago
when arriving at Riva del Garda, Lorie worried about the ride out. We faced it Thursday morning, and it
was tough; Lorie’s concerned was well placed. It started at 17% but mellowed to 14% for 2 km. Ouch. At least our legs were awake!
The reverse
direction ride was great, save the nasty headwind. Still, we made good time and diverted to Roverto for
coffee. The Dutch couple that we
met the other day said that Roverto was super interesting. We must have missed the super interesting
part, but had good coffee and headed out of Dodge.
Another 35 km up
the road we diverted from the route and headed over the passo Gregorio. It is a minor pass in the big picture
of things, but it hurt our legs plenty.
It is about 12 km long with some ramps up to 17% (at least that’s what
the road signs said – our GPS gave up for the afternoon).
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| Coffee in Roverto |
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Starting up the San Gregorio pass -- I need those saints on the rooftops to help me
over the pass! |
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| It doesn't look steep but it is -- the photos never do justice to the angle of the road |
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| Looking back... |
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| Nearing one top, there were several |
Over the top and
it was a quick drop down to the Lago di Levico where we checked in to our
camping pitch. Understand that
camping in Europe is a wholly different experience than it is in the
states. As Americans, we expect
that camping at least has some element of solitude to it. Right? Being in the woods in a natural setting. Maybe even isolation. I do. And the more isolated the better. But in Europe, camping means renting 50 square meters in the
midst of hundreds of caravans (trailers) with attached big tents with fridges,
stoves, stereos, the works. People
look at us with our tiny tent and huge bike and think that we’re nuts. A curiosity maybe. But few ask or approach. And the setting is just the half of
it. There are all sorts of summer
camp type of activities all day long.
Or you can hang in the bar, shop at the market, or go to one of three
restaurants.
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| Camping, Italian style... |
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| Maybe glamping? |
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| Definitely glamping |
We sat in the
restaurant next to a wall that had outlets so that we could charge our stuff –
GPS, computer, camera, phones, etc.
We drank beer so that they wouldn’t think that all we loved them for was
the electricity (there’s no outlets in the campground unless you have a caravan
that’s set up for shore power). We
did meet our neighbor, a nice Dutch couple with 2 young kids. He is super into cycling and he
actually asked about the bike and our trip. So we went over to the bar to watch the Mt. Ventoux stage of
the tour. It is great to be able
to watch to tour live in the afternoon instead of getting up super early like I
do in the states. The stage was
the weirdest mountain finish that there ever has been – I’ve never seen the
yellow jersey running up the finishing banners. The tour has some serious work to do to get fans under
control…
We headed to the
tent early, and that’s when the Euro pop concert started. It turns out that they have a super
obnoxious entertainment show for kids that starts at 9 and runs until 11 and
features the most irritating music and DJs ever. It was absolutely horrible. Super loud.
Never ending. And this is
camping?
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