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