Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Day 6: Valle di Codore - Conegliano

Woke up in our own apartment and got up to fog and no sunlight. Had a huge breakfast, to much for us to eat and then got packed up. The sun had not come out by the time we said goodbye to the b&b owner, so I had my long stuff on. We biked in to the town for a minute or two but then went whizzing down into the valley. Still no view of the mountain, the fog still hanging low. We got a bit confused as there was a sign warning about something in Italian, but as not the whole path had been marked we went around the warning tape. Further down the valley we found out why it was there, after going across a bridge and having a morning view of a church near to where we had stayed. The reason for the warning was, that there had been a landslide further down the valley. To get over some of the trees, dirt mounds or other things from the mountain we turned out to be rather acrobatic. It was a bit risky sometimes, but never life threatening. We travelled along the valley until we ended up at an old train line. They had ripped out the tracks and left the stones there for walkers. A few metres from where we had come out there was an old tunnel and the house of the tunnel warden or something similar. As we had some time we went exploring. A few metres into the tunnel the tracks started again and we found a sleeping bat in the house. Carried on along the train track, Nico playing the train. We reached a road a few hundred metres further along the rails and we followed that road for ages. Through old Italian mining towns we biked and the weather cleared up enough to actually see the massive mountains. For most of our journey downhill on that road we where alone, saw perhaps three or four cars on the way down as most prefer the main road a few hundred metres next to or under our road. We reached the end of the valley pretty fast and continued out in to the next large valley. Had a short break before carrying on. Biked through some orchards where I was disappointed by OpenStreetMap. No paths where it had said there where some. Turned around and biked all the way back to the main road and then further on. We turned back down to the river to bike along and in it. The tracks that where said where there, where there. Problem, they where the river. It had flooded and our tracks where submerged. Not enough to stop us biking, but enough to stop walkers. After nearly getting our feet wet a few times we went back up to the road. To get to a bridge to cross the river, as we needed to be on the other side, we had to bike through a quarry. To get there we meet our friend again, the river. This time I wasn’t so lucky and my left leg was dripping after falling in to a deep part. Whilst Nico photographed, I wrung out my sock and shoe, but still noticed the squelching. 
Crossed the river on a weird bridge, worked like traffic lights, and continued on along the river. At one part they let a lot of water come down from the mountain through a small hole under our path which caused the water to come shooting out very loudly. Continued on along more and more open fields and plains before having our lunch in the protected cover of a school. Planned moment there, as you could see a storm coming up. Sat through quiet a lot of the weather in our protected area before getting our rain clothes out and peddling in to the storm. All the way along the main road, up and down (had our lights on fortunately, you never know) seeing the imposing bridge structure which was a motorway spanning the valleys length. Arrived in Vitero Veneto and got our rain clothes off, as it was getting warmer and had stopped raining. A few minutes after we set of it started raining again and not just a storm, but a flood. The roads where under water, so we searched for a roof and found one. After the flood had receded a bit with it's weather we carried on, seeing the extend of the damage. Many local people where out taking pictures, so I think it was a very unusual storm. Carried on until Conegliano and after finding the tourist information closed where so feed up we found ourselves a cheap hotel (with Internet!). After having a shower went out for a pizza (again) before going back to the room for the blog and some rest. 
Track at GPSies and pictures at Picasa.

Time in saddle: 4 hours 59 min.
Distance: 80.13 km
Average speed: 16.06 km/h

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