Take 12,000+ cyclists. Take the most iconic mountain pass in the world, closed to traffic for the day. Take a lovely sunny, but not too hot, day in the Eastern Alps and you have a day to remember.
We breakfasted (fuelled) early then packed up our bags and cycled down to the place in the woods where we’d earlier identified as a place to stash them. We then cycled to the small town of Gomagoi, which was to be the place from where we were going to join the thousands of other cyclists who were heading for the summit of The Stelvio Pass.
Our climb started there and 48 hairpin bends later we arrived at the 2,758m peak. The nonstop climb averages around 10% and takes you, via 48 hairpin bends, to the summit.
We’ve been training for this day all year. Despite both having a modicum of trepidation and self doubt last night, I’m delighted to say that - we made it! And there were plenty of outlets at the top to ‘get the t-shirt’ - or, more accurately the (reassuringly expensive) Lycra.
The views, as expected, were amazing.
The decent was tricky, inasmuch as there were still thousands of cyclists still making their way up and it was difficult to stop one’s hands cramping due to the amount of time spent squeezing the brakes to get around the hairpins.
...
We cycled back to retrieve our stash and then cycled around 20km to the nearest train station. And the next problem - How to get, by rail, to the S of France in the shortest possible time? Probably take a couple of days..,
.
We got to the nearest train station, Silandro, just as a local short train was about to get going. There wasn’t a ticket office, just a ticket machine inside the café. I was desperately trying to work out how to buy two adult tickets and two bike tickets to the next town, Moreno. I could not work out the sodding thing. Meanwhile, out on the platform, the train driver was revving up and Jackie was doing her best to look helpless (not difficult), while balancing two heavily loaded bikes. In the event, I gave up and wandered back out onto the platform to wave the train goodbye. But the train driver took pity and waved us onto the train for a free ride.
At Moreno we managed to get a train to Bolzano and from there we got a third train to Trento where we stayed for the night. Before pizza time, we listened to a The Who tribute band in a small bar by the river. Trento’s a nice little town.
Tomorrow, we’ll endeavour to find some trains going west. Hopefully, we’ll get to the Languedoc by Monday when Jenny’s plane is due in. But there’s still a long way to go and Monday may be rather optimistic.