Salzburg monday 30 june

Salzburg is a beautiful city with many treasures. A fine lunch with good friends. The bike not ridden once., resting in the hotel. Rain abating with 30 degree days prognosed ahead.

Big booming bronze bells greeted me sensibly just before the garbage trucks arrived to clean the street insensibly already being flushed with meaningful rain. Downed a couple of the Golden Krone's free machine coffees, borrowed the hotel's brolly and went off in search of well wrought narrative artworks.

Found aplenty in the panorama museum where I saw a 15 meter diameter by 3 high superbly detailed backlit panorama of 1800's Salzburg and environs. Absolute marvel and then to be told t'was travelled by its maker and shown in a tent in 20 odd european capitals over a 10 year sojourn in which it was almost lost at sea in a shipwreck. Still in great condition and an amazing thing made by Johann Sattler and Joseph Schindler.

Then a small part of an archbishop kings huge and wealthy palatial complex. A very interesting set of plaster ceilings with hats and cockerals flung by chubby cherubs towards the viewer....again precise detailed work. Whacky but mannerism in all its forms can be.

Then a bus out to my old colleague (I can say that cause I'm old too now) and his partner's place for a very lovely lunch, which I fear I delayed by my tardy arrival as I showed my feet to a car park operator thinking him a bus ticket seller.

After which Mozart's balls were consumed with much pleasure. Then a tour of a verdant and  lovely garden with a bee friendly lawn of blue flowers, and an alpine rivulet with its own squirrel planted orchard covering of nut trees. So green and peaceful its hosts today made me very relaxed and happy in the post storm mists.

My hosts also enlightened me as to an ominous very straight line right through the Tauern mountain illustrated in the Alpe Adria manual..... Turned out to be a tunnel for trains onto which cars simply drive and are bourne every hour at 20 mins past. And bikes in a carriage.  Very relieving information. Thank you M and H for a peaceful arvo chatting and my first home cooking in 5 weeks.

I'm constantly on the lookout for pedicab operators seeking tips, and Salzburg has no lack. There in Mozartplatz (he's everywhere here) in the rain, a young woman running a training session for no less than five others in the subtle art of Salzburg Hautnah where "you always get the front seat with plenty of legroom". Front loaders with a transparent roll back hood. Very well spoken and friendly operator. I've promised my Salzburg friends a free tour in my pedicab, when they return to Canberra to visit family.

Another thing they interested me in today is an impossible set of steps which scale a serious alpine cliff immediately outside my hotel window.  I mean immediately too, I shall attempt to scale it tomorrow before 11 when we lads will seek out castles together for my last day in this surprisingly interesting and restful place.

A bus driver on the way home told me of 24 years working as a Salzburg bussie with only another 20 to go before retirement. We aussies have it good especially single employer types like me. I'm really appreciating this cycling vacation accordingly and having the fitness to be vulnerable to the world on my bike is something I certainly don't take for granted and thank my lucky stars for everyday.

I've had a great rest day today with friends.

Salzburg sun 29 june

A soft and rainy 79 ks into Salzburg and more clearing predicted for tomorrow. The day made for some beautiful moments in my solo adventure. A quietly dripping deep green forest lunchstop. A sharp rocky  precipiced valley and clouds so low they filled it like a vast white pillow. Alpine weather for the high mountains humbling me and my preference for dryness.

The dawn, clear skyed, arrived over enormous mountain sides prompting a impromptu sleep- in enclosed in my little tent.  I walked barefoot past two docile hungarian hunting hounds, into the washroom, past floor to ceiling shoe cupboards (filled with flip flpps) and an incomprehensible injunction on a large yelliw board. I felt guilty then got over it, happily not suffering from mould infections. Touch me wooden leg. If only they'd been with me in municipal camping Toury....

Set off along a beautiful riverbank path with lots of sunday morning exercisers. By 11's the rain was wind bourne. I battened down. Ortliebs are reliably waterproof. My mapbook has its cover. Kitchen on the back, less rainproof but mostly stainless steel. And its great mudass prevention. I change into my raincoat and really with my new Stelvio cap I'm riding waterproof. I decide to try for Salzburg after tossing a coin in Hallein with 15ks to go. No sense in getting wet twice.

I misread the map and plough through 11ks of wet gravel. I arrive in the many gold topped zentrum of Salzburg a complete red faced mudball. And this is a well dressed city. Was pretty forest nonetheless and will become more so in memory.

In the rain induced early evening  light, I  seek out a hotel in which to clean up, prior to wifiing hullo to my friends who live nearby. I'm two days ahead of schedule and don't want to put them out.. It is going to be great to meet up with a work colleague of 20 years at the gallery. I'm beginning to understand the attraction of proud Austria, with its profound strong landscape and ancient grandeur.

St.Viet im Pongau sat 28 june

Woke to rain and my dry aunt laying on my grand old Mittersill gasthaus floor. Then the tv turned itself on to predict rain while playing cheery Austrian tunes. This is at 6am mind you. Yoga was a bit truncated as the ceiling was too low but frukesteke? was fulsome with eis too hot to handle let along pocket and 3 different blue cheese.

I feel like I've been riding through Cooma for the last little while.....With a fabulous Alpine backdrop which really is profoundly beautiful. The many and varied towns are long: laid out by the valley forming rushing river, made of the sharp smelling firs that cling to every mighty cliff face and populated with a serious crew proud of their work and surrounded by their history. Its quiet and many many people are into the forest calmly rejuvenating amongst the ever present and unspoiled thick forest of tall trees. And then the glorious Zell am see. Almost Swiss in its tranquility. A lovely inland sea with 5star otels and a pretty lakeside walk. Nice lunch time viewing and a calm and beautiful place.

Or cycling. Today so many many cyclists compared to 'ome. Yesterday I was told that up to 6000 in a weekend do the 42ks drop into Lienz from San Candido along the Drau catching the train back. Who can blame them? I found those ks remarkably beautiful too. There is a lovely community on the pista cyclable. Rare not to get a return Bonjour or Morrrgen or Gottt....men and women in almost equal nos. too.

Todays ride while unspoiled by art was hilly some parts walking steep (14+%) mostly tarred with pungent pig swill aromas and 99% off highway.

Hey guess what? As my darling partner has taught me to say.

I've to return this way in a few days as it is part of the Alpe Adria radweg. So those poor sweating hollandais that I raced down hill past after lunch while they ground their way up grunting allos ....haha....for me.... I've their red face soon too.

I will have also by then a better understanding of historical Salzburg and my friends' reasons for choosing it over Canberra to which to retire.

Vienna or Wien, was my first port of call as a cyclist and the Donnau radweg my first bike path OS, now 15 years ago, on an entry level mountain bike with leaky panniers. I still remember vividly my complete lack of lingo, the stunning scenery, the sheer power of the Danube and the way everything reinforced one's own inner literature, art, and musically formed images of civilization....

The route guide: in all cases EV6, Swiss nord south 3..the Via Val di Pustalet and now Bikeline Tauernradweg and Alpe Adria radweg, takes some figuring out....the scale, the symbols, accuracy, alternate routes, accompanying signage....these details contribute greatly to my holiday at the mo. They're akin to the tour guide for me. Moving quicker than expected through the little german radweg guides as they facilitated today's 80 odd ks.

Mittersill Fri 27 June

A beautiful if slightly Kafka-ish day. Lovely radweg Lienz to Matrei 30 odd ks beside the Isel. Up 200 meters a gradual ascent mixed with the odd paved but very steep forest diversion. Signed without fail. Cloudy with a foggy start after rain in the night.

Then reaching Matrei the path ends and I must catch a bus through a 3k tunnel. I'm told to catch it at the tunnel mouth or that there is a number to ring for a shuttle bus. I ride up 900 meters over as many ks and no one at the top. Simply to prove I'm healthy again after Brixensnott.

After some inward debate (90 minutes ride up is to my mind a slog I was a sweatball with the traffic up my butt)  I speedily return down to Matrei.

Not speedily enough . Tourism info is closed for lunch so I try to find the postbus which I miss by 5 minutes because I'm searching for the bus station. The streets in this town are very steep and I'm at the bottom of the town in granny gears only to see three buses zoom by on a road a half k above me. Finally I find the bus station only to have to wait 3 hours for the next.

So blog gets written before the end of the day for a change at a friendly cafe "kuckuck" where my faith in it all is restored with a free powerpoint and wifi being  provided in very good english. That's holidays in Thailand for you...I gave em €5 for treating me so well and we parted laughing.

After a cold buspark wait I'm treated to a very friendly driver who chats the whole way explaining an avalanche has  reduced the only road to Mittersill to single lane meaning delays in the tunnel bike shuttle bus attendance.

I'm actually glad because I know I rode the mountain all but the 3.7ks tunnell and the 14ks down to Mittersill don't really count. With full baggage I'm too slow for real roads and hence my passion for the radweg which greatly enhances my  cycling joy and safety.

Todays sojourn was  brought about by a 26k joining stretch of real road  over an enormius mountain pass between the Drau and Isel radwegs and the Tauern radweg which will become the Salzach and thence take me comfortably 160 odd ks mostly down to Salzburg.

The rivers, mountains and roaring rivers are the main  attraction along with the art. In 5 weeks I've had to train or bus it for max 80ks  to link up the paths . Not bad when the pista cyclable have bourne me so gloriously for  many more hundreds.

For the next section I've a bikeline book which will mean I just can't get lost. For very long...and pleasantly so in the spirit of the unplanned adventure.

Lienz thursday 26 June

Today's 82k welcome into Austria was a top 5 in my life bikeride. Simply marvelous. Huge mountains perfect asphelt bikepath glorious forest dramatic waterfalls into the Drau running beside...medieval architecture at every turn.....all in 25 degree sunshine and mostly downwards.....

Woke early in wildbeng said goodbye to the couple who suggested the Alpe Adria route from Salzburg to Venice via Udine base camp for Zoncolan.....

The radweg was great today. Must have been 200 cyclists (not a biker to be seen all day) the train the loudest noise.

Families with quite little children out on a thursday ride, couples on fancy mountain bikes and 4 or 5 of me like snails with full baggage.

I so enjoyed the radweg today. Beautifilly signed, surfaced with almost as many benches and tables than cyclistes. All finely made with wooden joints. Pride in workmanship is everywhere.

Natural wonders all day. Full throated talkative birds, stupendous ranges peeping over profound forest from high above, rushing waters green and white over smoothed rock rapids, large leafed tropical rhubarb like greenery....just too good.

Started rising and had 400 meters up by 12 in San Candido followed by 42ks well surfaced down into Lienz. Came within 10ks of the Furka pass (route 2 Swiss) which Cameron Meyer zoomed off to conquer when he won stage 2 TdS. I came the long way as unsure of my ability to durmount the Furka, but it has been great cycling.

Camping again 2ks out of Lienz in Amlach. Set up the aunt in the face of the arvo storm and shot off to tourist info in town to work out how to gain the Tauern radweg.

Directed to a very helpful woman up the back of Geiger Paperie....who sold me bikeline route guides for the Tauern and Alpe Adria radwegs in German but that's ok. Yay feel like my unreal radweg expectations are coming true replete with the little riding books sported by so many German cyclists.

Tomorrow there is a tunnel which requires a bus trip. I looked at this road from australia and saw it simply stopped and then started again on the tauern and now I know why.

Im eating  schlipfkrapfen a kind of homemade Austrian potato tortalinni  I'm told (surprisingly tasty ) in the shadow of an ..unpronouncable but very striking Alpine clifface. Spitzkofel..its name means maybe  "sharp riverstones' in anglais ...everyone is smoking and I'm getting ready to chase wifi at my aunt's place.

Salzburg is soon. How soon I will know tomorrow after my tunnel trip and a chance to read the route book.

St. Lorenzo di Sebato wed 25 June

Woke in light rain not feeling 100% surrounded by loud bikers cooking sausage. Great that Italy and Germany won their games. Took to the path back to check out the befrescoed church in Brixen.

Met two very efficient German cyclists with full kit who told me about Eurovelo 7 having just returned from Palermo. They were much quicker than me....last seen whizzing down a superstrada (illegal). I ended up in the forest doing 2ks of single track again and realised why they'd stuck to the highway.

The rest of today's ride was lovely. Rolling hills some 12% were taxing but 20* sunshine and beautiful scenery were well worth it. Met some aussie paragliders who fed me coffee on the radweg rest stop.

Trees and lovely mountains filled my day. And now camping for the 3 night in a row I hear of a path from Salzburg to Grado near Venice which goes close to the base of the Zoncolan. The Alpe Adria railtrail sounds wonderful and will ease my way into Italy's wild south.

Am very glad to have decided to visit friends near Salzburg as the riding has been very beautiful.

Brixen Tues 24 June

50 odd ks of beautiful asphelt radweg after through and in light rain. Beside the Isarco through 1300s church towns, past radweg rest stations, under immense throbbing auto strada made for simply great riding today.

My aunt was equal to last nights heavy downpours and breakfasting with a german walking couple (politely asking to use their trangia (metho stove) in the salle de relais) was amiable and informative.

Then lining up to an ICOM gratis entry to the 10,000 year old man exhibition which I thought well done. Three floors after a little window into his minus 6 freezer all done in ice blues and whites. I still find it amazing that his shoes replicated by a modern researcher proved comfortable at first wearing over a day's alpine walking. He was probably dragged by crows over the Italian border contributing tremendously to Bolzano's evident wealth. Had a good experience and said hullo again to dr Francine and engineer Philippe from Ales with a beautiful old pompiers van and tremendous enthusiasm for alpine bushwalking, for flowers, stone formations and a gentle sensibility. They knew Florac and understood why my brakes overheated la roue and ended my last sojourn 4 years ago. Genuine freindly and lively Francaise.

Then after buying a €2 bracelet from the local African outside the Spar ....set off to the Brenner pass on a beautiful wide tarred bike path beside a wild river and an immense motorway with enormous architecture far off up above.

Todays ride while uphill all day and with an ugly and unfriendly detour (for work on the pista and so worthy) was made on a simply beautiful path.

I nearly auberged it in the rain but true to form found camping 4* with a 4* hotel attached. The weather is clearing and my washing drying amongst the ever present motor bikers while I am having a beer watching Italian soccor players singing their anthem prior to playing Uruguay.  The 4* chef knows I'm vegetarian and I feel that tonight's retirement to my aunt will be peaceful, full and dry. Will Italy win? I hope so for all my brilliant and hardworking Italian friends back 'ome. Lucky it's on telly cause the German commentary to me is incomprehensible.  People here are so good lingually I'm put to shame...

Bolzano mon 23 June

Rest day in Bolzano who'd a thought. Rained overnight but my aunt kept me dry through it all. Then a 26 degree day with more warm rain in the arvo.

The barber was efficient and managed to do me while foiling another patient Senora.
Across a very big room with lots of mirrors.

Maps bought in the huge bookshop and again I will be trying to figure out the guide in a different lingo.. Could be signed effectively judging by the Bolzano paths which are very well set up with literally hundreds of patrons.

I think I may attempt the Zoncolan on the way south from Salzburg as it is closer to the Veneto and it is backtracking at the moment from San Candido.

Im hearing the paths are very good in Austria and the Sud Tyrol guides today are easily as good as the suisse.

Returned in the hot sun to my aunt with the mskings of cheese and tomato sangers prior to a dip in the pool....quickly showering off the bleach after and then concrete table tennis in the afternoon with a biker from Sweden almost undercover from the surprisingly heavy storm.

Ungortunately being a monday the 10000 year old man was safe from my prying eyes. Might try tomorrow depending on the weather. He is pretty amazing and I was talking to s french couple from Ales near Florac in the Tarn river area of France who'd come specially  to se him and his broken stick.

So all in all a peaceful resting day and possibly Brixen tomorrow. It is great to be on the path network  again.

Bolzano Sun 22 june

59ks of delightfull pista cyclable and camping 4 etoile. Bikepaths abound in Bolzano so many indeed that today I zoomed uphill through very beautiful foret for an hour only to find myself on the wrong path and back tracking 8ks. Ironically I took a photo of the camping ground cathedral from the false hilltop only to find myself there later in the hot arvo.

Merano's youth hostel was friendly and provided a good breakfast after a noisy night of German fussball cheers. The Ghanains took it right up to the world  famous Beyer Munich  team and much crying resulted.

Slept in expecting to only have 30 easy ks. I've resolved not too ride without a bikepath map where possible. The bikepath was very good with the etch adige on one side and thr railway line on the other.

Bolzano tourist bureau just caught before sunday arvo closure gave me an outline of a path to Lienz via San Candido. Built for ordinary bikes I was told and mostly paved.

4star camping proved to be  5ks out of town and a bit shadeless with hard ground. Popped up my minimal aunt, showered and hand washed.

Then zoomed back into town to check out the  Museion a lovely glass building with 4 levels of contemporary art. Minimalist Goetz collection and Tatiana Trouve were on year long display. They also had a Zitell. Unlike the NGA one this was small and  japanese in theme. She apparently hurt her back when first occupying it and did not live in it again. I could understand why.

Looks like an arvo storm so I'm makin my way back to the 4star camping ground restaurant run by a Bangladeshi who's promised me pesto pasta my favourite.

Tomorrow will rest day here. Perhaps find the magic bike route book...get my hair cut and explore some more of thi rather bicycle friendly place.

Merano solstice sat 21 june

8ks today on a sumptuous pista cycable into Merano after 3 buses a huge tunnel and an uber  friendly cycle train. Back to Suisse and then back to Italia. Quite different.

Why not simply ride as planned to Prato del Stelvio? A cinch at 48ks. Well yesterday at 14% I resolved to recognise my limitations and  not struggle up with an extra 30kgs only to stress all the way down with the heavy braking. So today was a determined to be safe day.

A farewell to the very nice people at the Dante, post cards posted and then the first bus which was simply pop on board in the handicap position. An hour to Livigno.

Then one of those surreal moments where trust is required. The very helpful Bormio tourist office had given me a complete itinerary so I was not all together out in the cold. Anyway bus driver in Italian tells me to get of in the wonderful clear sunshine of Livigno centro bus stop....alpine hills all around...no - one to pay for a ticket to the next stage....no one to ask...simply beautiful surroundings....so wait and trust.....
Then a very friendly english speaking bus driver arrives....knows where I'm to go tells me to de-valise the bike and hangs it by the front wheel (remember she's tender there with the loose wheel bearing) so I hastily  remove her tool sac, brand new odometer, bottles (still carrying Stelvio water) and assist. He's a bandaged forefinger. Friendly soul he waits while I pile 5 bags into the bus bowel.

He then drives me through a very long bicycle verboten tunnel....3.6 ks after a very lovely alpine lake. As we emerge we are in Suisse. He dumps me again alone unceremoniously besides a suisse bike route sign...so familiar....saying wait 10 minutes. ...

As told a Swiss bus driver appears and with a cruel schnell schnell orders me to de- baggage again and rehangs my steed at the back of the bus this time donning gloves and waving away any assistance binding her with a very tight velcro strap.

I join a swiss filled bus who frown as I board. We drive for 60 minutes  and then encounter a troop of antique tractors who in groups of three try valiantly to let the bus pass by. Our bus takes ridiculous risks at one stage I was white knuckled and adopting the brace position. All only to stop in multiple small villages and thence only to see the tractor brigade grind past in their Swiss hats. Again the stupidly close passing.....finally the first tractor is passed at which the driver lets off an obscenely loud  foghorn honking after which the passengers all laugh uproariously. .

The driver then explained we'd be late but not so much as the week before with 5000 veloistes...again laughing and clapping...so glad to be off that crazy bus and regretting  observing my limitations.....

Then the super cool train with an automatic ticket dispenser that required s a uniformed human to make head or tail of it....I'm sitting there for an hour and then start to see cyclists whizzing along on the other side of the crashingly fast river.....I wait for the next stop with a bridge and junp off with the bike to join for 8ks a perfect bike path to pretty tree lined Merano.

Planning to camp I wend my way into the centro tourist informstion only to miss by 5 minutes...loo stop....

Return to a youth hostel passed along the way and get given a group room for the price of a camping site...plus 10% off dinner ....as well as breakfast included from 7.30. Very friendly.

Am served by a mother of four who has spent nearly a year travelling australia far more extensively than I. A reminder to examine home options. I just love the ever present European history over here.....

Bormio Stelvio fri 20 june

Stelvio day. Forever in my memory. 22ks of roughly 1700 meters up some 14%...even buses can't do it from the Bormio side. Average 7% just under our own Col Noir. The cycling peak for cyclists and makes the Giro now tougher in my estimation than the TdF having slowly gained the Alp dHuez sister city to Bormio..

Starting in cool forest straight up out of Bormio unforgiving up is the only option. No river in sight just increasingly huge, and these are by far the biggest I've ever been amongst, alpine raw mountains.. Sheer and rocky with streams just bouncing out of cliff faces to fall hundreds of meters. Very dramatic.

The bike is wonerfully light de-valised and yet I soon find myself deep in granny as some of the longer slopes hit 12%. I come across a goat family snd take them to be totemic benefice. 

There are many cyclists perhaps one a minute passing either way. Motor bikers too perhaps 3 a minute roaring and insistent. In the short tunnels 150 meters or so with rushing water above and through them they are loud and emphatic. I've lights and take my lane which seems to work.

There are Hollandais here racing too...amazingly tough...one guy passed, slowed up and explained he was racing his work colleagues...where were my nga mates today then?...come and join me for some Stelvio hell and then heaven.

After two and a half  hours we reach a snow bound grey skyed fastness populated by literally 100's of motor bikes. Roaring maelstrom they take up the entire street parked and moving. Everything is brightly coloured with mementos. I purchase a shirt and gifts while getting the compulsory postcard stamped. Fausto Coppi's memorial statue is covered with snow today so I record a famous photo of him in the Stelvio snow winning actually inside the very hotel in the picture. Italy lasts forever. And treasures its cycling heros. Man they were tough. To do all today on dirt carrying one's spares with no support team on a simple steel bike makes them forever great in my mind.

Then a 300 ft clamber on foot to the refugio Garribaldi...perched above, it commands views of both sides of the pass. The highest I've ever experienced on earth. Wonderful to have asked and received such a glorious experience.

After an omelette and petit noir by a real fire along wuth Fausto I descend. Max speed 47ks keepin it safe with lots a stops to rim cool. And photograph a fast vanishing experience. Hope the phone doesn't lose it all.

Arriving back in Bormio seems trite but after a brief rest I take my earnest steed to a local Trek  bike shop and pay 5€ to clean her with degreasers and hot water. I'm here told the bike path from Merano to Bolzano is part gravel but well signed. I resolve tomorrow to catch a bus to Livigno and then another to Males and then a train to Merano. Here I can try to determine the path to Bolzano.

I've had a great day today with a dream come true, a friendly hotel in an equally generous to cycling town. From here I shall try to achieve a way to Zoncolan and thence the Tauern radweg.

Bormio Thurs 19 June

The bike path finally ran out today so I'm in Bormio after 54ks riding to Sondrio, a train to Tirano and then an hour on the bus to Bormio. I'm told  I can ride over Stelvio to Prato del Stelvio and that there is a signed bikepath  to Merano and then Bolzano. From where I can catch the Eurovelo again.

So today feels like cheating but without a path off the main roads the natural holiday cycling experience is lost completely and I'm here to have a good experience.

So today's ride was a bit Arthur or Martha.  The Risi hotel in Colico was fab. Old, hearty and grand everyone was friendly and the handpainted ceilings were great. Gravel start followed by 15ks of tarred  towpath up the Adda fiume called the Sentieri Valtellina route. Great while it lasted. I had no dedicated map to be fair. Again the little half heard words at the Como tourist office..."may not be complete yet".....such hubris on my behalf to imagine I'd be able to work it out riding...

At one stage after a k up of easily 12% (I was forced to walk for the first time this trip)......the paved road turns into "brutale" single track downhill made up of large stones. I trusted the emphatic instructions and another 2ks later over a fantastic stainless steel bike bridge I'm back with signs etc...then another 5ks on farmers lanes next to the railway..just too varied without warning and mud is not my thing. All the while snowcaps are looming into view.and the river Adda's rushing back down the hill to its rendezvous in Lago di Como.  A nice tree shaded lunch by an expensive golfcourse then path completely lost again. And I also spend time on the highway. I resolve to take the train. Not so easy only goes to Tirano..then bus. Bus was going 5 mins after train arrives I run ride, stress, down ramps up ramps to the busticket  (bustass morelike) office buy tickets and pop the bike fully loaded into the wheelchair space in the middle. We wind and bump our way up to the fabled Bormio.

It really is full of cyclists and motor bikers. The lady Fosey managing the Ufficio di Touristiche is extremely helpful with maps of every pista cyclable in the region including the one I needed today. The camping was 6k out of town and the alternative is bike friendly hotel Dante for 40€ a night mit breakfast. I was undone in my camping resolve by their cycling friendliness.  Very comfortable and even has the footpump ready. There must be 20 cyclists here. The madame insisted on taking my washing. I had to give it her.... honest... in return for my passport back. She told me she used only 40 degrees hot water. I will try to recompense her somehow. Obviously the hotel basin handwash was too much for the owner's sensibilities.

So the cyclepath thing is not quite as efficient here in Italia and once lost the day gets crushed by fast traffic and loud noisy roads. Am I spoilt by the off road paths? Emphatically yes. It's the only way to be safe and able to enjoy the scenery even if it is blau elephant free. I cover a lot more ground guided by the little panneau I can tell you.

Anyway a big part of this trip is Passo del Stelvio and Bormio is packed with other adherents of the crazy dream. So I decided to attempt a dry run tomorrow, with empty bike and stay an extra night before attempting it bevalised so to speak.

Missing home a bit. Had a dream where Jaz ran across a field and jumped into my arms licking my face.....just like the movies....this 2700 meter mountain is a goal of this adventure so will have a go at it tomorrow feeling lighter.

Colico wed 18 june

46ks of busy road leaves me high and dry in Como. With news of a bike path to Sondrio which is not far from Bormio.
So now I'm catching a boat to Colico past Bellagio where I shall attempt to camp even in the face of the building arvo storm.
This morning was interesting with a romanesque park sempere...and then traffic traffic and I lost my swiss route three for ever....

The Lago is just as pretty as it was 4 years ago when Sheila and I first laid eyes on it....recalling those days....all very touristy too with lots of anglais and francais......spent the 4 hour boat trip talking to a young lithuanian man with an ankle injury about all things infinite...chess mathematics and relaxing the mind...
I will get to colico at 7.30 hopefully with enough time to find camping and get my tent up....looks like rain again in the afternoon hope it misses...

Rain is falling on the most beautiful lago in the world (george says so) and I'm looking at big mountains catching it from behind an enormous arched window in an old world cheap otel....the taps took some workin out....all is well in the world.

Agno Tues 17 June

71ks to across the fiume from Lugano at Agno. Tired to start with and perhaps should have heeded the "medium" rating. I am also doubling the suggested stage length of 40 odd ks. It is raining so I've invoked my hotel in the rain rule despite investigating various camping options.

Bellinzona (becastled with 3 no less) made for a pretty 11's (expresso and mineral water con gas) and I made my mind up not to ride to Bormio as there is no established veloroute and the roads are busy. Looking for maps took up 90 minutes.

So will ride to Como tomorrow and see about a ferry to Lecco just for fun. It will remind me of the time Sheila and I stayed in Bellagio. Then a train to Bormio to camp for a while to try and achieve Stelvio pass (empty bike) or if need cross over to Merano and then Bolzano. Once there I can access a Eurovelo route (7?) To Salzburg.

The signed velo route really does make a difference I found today. While very often roundabout and gravel enhanced they are often forested or canalpath or the old way....all of which are far more pleasurable to ride. Today in 6ks I had to ride a major road (mostly with an onroad bike lane) up nearly 400 meters. Going up two fleshetts with a truck or two up one's butt makes for hasty peddling I can tell you. I was in granny for the first time this trip.  It did not help that for nearly a k my  bikelane was taken over by road reparation. Otherwise it would have been fine.

The day lacked joy despite rivalling the Adige bike path for scenery. I was safe all day and only fell off the signs once which enabled a wonderful soft dirt 2ks by a river covered with trees.

Two friendly cyclists pointed out the bridge turn off to Agno in the rain and now I've a trip advisor recommended auberge garni molinazzo with a green garden  to look out into from the verandah. The bike is dry also with its own garage.

Really the Gotthard descent to Como is a very very beautiful ride and worthy of the north south swiss route 3 status. I would reccomend it to anyone as a really comprehensive tour de suisse.

The bike is going well. A bit grubby but I can tell she's looking forward to a valise free run over the stelvio. I'm very lucky to have such a sturdy steed. I still remember the day I carried her home from Florac on the Tarn river years ago and how impossible it all becomes when we change roles.

Biasca monday 16 june

Today was one of the best days on the bike ever. 1100 meters up over 9ks (3 cobbled and ancient)  like the historic prints in the Casa Italiano of last night.

I filled my bottles at an ice fed cloud stream and had not an exhausting ascent. Le gotthard is Hannibal's ancient route and is profoundly beautiful.

At the top a weird musee to st gotthard. Awful. I sense the church will be again in my face through the Italian summits. Everyone lays claim in the face of the humbling utterly huge untamrable vast mountains that are the alps.

There are two descents as described by andy rivett of days passed. I choose the cobbled car free and singularly beautifil descent. Yesterday Cameron Meyer ( I was wrong about Simon Clarke) ascended on the 12ks of cobbles known as la tremolo.  Winning stage 2 of the TdS  after 3 other ascents no doubt equally awe inspiring. What an athlete.

Then 50ks of beautiful descent. After the cobbles forest afain rushing streams and always my little signs guide me down and  down...to Bascia and a shower down the landing auberge. Nearly 70ks of brilliant riding.

Thanks to my dear parents for giving me the legs and the will to accomplish the Gotthard. For years I used to expound this dream to my colleagues at the nga and now the dream has come true.

Andermatt sun 15 june

Today the swiss railways stole 6ks of beautiful mountains off my ride. Tunnel works. Anyway the train ride was free so thats a benefice. Tommorrow sunnier conditions are prognosed.

So the morning starts with lovely family love and encouragement while demounting the tent beside a glorious lake surrounded by steep mountains.

Such a dramatic path winding in between huge cliffs complete with waterfalls and fast rivers...a railway line and a super highway share the valley floor with our old road now used by many many motorbikes and thankfully less campingcars.

Glorious scenery, tremendous transport architecture, only two fleschett hills ie -/= 10%, profound forest and dizzying cascades of oxygenated water.
Just the amount of green is overwhelming.

In passing a mountain biker mentions 2 things having to catch a train at Goschenen and the Gotthard is closed for Fabian Canchellara. Of course the Tour de Suisse started yesterday in Bellinzona but I knew not that they this way came. Would the accommodation in Andermatt be chocas? Would the weather permit camping au sauvage? Concepts can be finely explored at 8ks an hour.
Anyway always listen to the little stuff cause sure enough get to the station and have to scurry up stairs onto the train just in time to have 6 beautiful ks removed from my trip but not in time to pay. Haha.
Suddenly 10 degrees cooler too in alpine Andermatt where a swedish passerby tells me information is closed, here is the best hotel (very nice for just under $100 italian brekkie inclusif) how to avoid the 6 star hotel and where to see the TdS at 2.30pm.

I plonk my stuff and take my now baggage lean superfast bike 3ks up tomorrow's road to await the passage of two wheeled gods. The poor beasts have not only the Gotthard but the Furka and Grimsel and finish 180ks in Samen after the Bruningpass as well. 4 in one day. And starting in Bellinzona at 11am (3 days yet away for me) to finish around 4.30pm. They fly.

So dutifully lining up at a roundabout chatting with a swiss couple and their kids who translate for me as the skoda roars past farting loud swiss. Then the militia with paddlepops to slow everyone down as they will zip through the corner rather than circuit the whole round-about. Then comes a heap of motor bikes then at last far off up the hill the bike helmets flash into view. Much whistling and oop oop oops and three cyclists are round and gone. The lead is I think Simon Clarke orica greenedge...I've a photo but no other info as it is not widely televised and even then will be subhumed by fussball as the swisse play I think croatia tonight. Anyway then 2 minutes later along comes the pack noisily welcomed and I get to nearly touch Cadell and Fabian as they hurtle past. Brilliant absolutely brilliant.

Return home anti-climacticly to my hotel (no camping in Andermatt) to the promise of a nice pasta made by the Italian chef.

Fluelen sat 14 june

Wow such beautiful riding today circuiting the Vierwald which Herman Hesse described as the greatest and most beautiful lake en Suisse. My swiss tour guide is francais.

A quick chat in the morning with lively Sheila made me happy.

Starting out with great wealth around me ( and a mountain cow cheese from the friendly camping restaurateur) near Luzern by chance encountered a Richard Wagner musee. Aparently he lived in the house for 7 years and the Seigfried idyll was first performed in its hall. Closed today but grand in exterior and still beforested. I was technically lost at this point also but switzerlandmobility came to the rescue. It knew I'm on route 3.

Then the grand alpine mountains engage me as they float cload be-turbanned at every turn. It is so fantastic here. Not very hard to ride either. Slow long off highway paths and even separate tunnels although today I mounted my light in preparation. There are a lot of motor cyclists off my path fortunately.

Then a ferry trip with a conversation with an extremely rich swiss gent and his Italian wife. Very urbane with a nice car and interested in art. Had been to the nga although were reticent to chat about themselves.

Amazing tunnels and now I'm early in Fluelen with the camp owners front garden in which to pitch my tent. Windy with threatening clouds but generally good weather prediction for tomorrows 1000 meter haul over 39ks. Have oats will travel. (Hopefully half way up the Gotthard to Andelmatt). Perfect pace so far.

Luzern friday 13 june

After last night's flood in which most of  my things got quite damp I have stayed another night to wash and dry.
The mountains around me are catching the clouds again so I hope that Thor has another place to stomp in mind tonight.
It is very peaceful and everything is drying out nicely. When my shoes are wearable I shall visit the musee of technology. There is a sign in the laundry here suggesting one dress properly before leaving the campsite for town illustrated with an old barefoot man, shirtless dodging flies....haha. Note to self bring flipflops.
Cycling Italy my Italian tour leader is wet so I used the dryer provided for my toilette to disaster recover. Nuff aleau aleau.
The museum of technology was amazingly huge, swiss and completely unexpected. I enjoyed the train innards and the aeroplanes suspended upside down. I used my arms raised like wings to land a jumbo at Zurich on a huge 3d screen.
Afterwards I lay on the lakeside verge and was reminded of Lac Leman's circuit with Sheila years before. The ferry tootling under the huge mountains bejewelled with 5 star otels and the incomprehensible ness of it all.
Spoke with an older german woman who had a dilapidated looking tent drying out after the storm who proved to be an opera buff from Berlin booking concert seats all over europe and camping to reach them within her means.
The clouds are building again so I'm battening down ready for tomorrow's stage 3 of the north south swisscycling route no 3.

Luzern thursday 12 june

Writing this in my tent during a full on summer thunderstorm which has threatened all arvo and just now has unleashed a deluge  complete with hail to test the good character of my aunt. So far it is a bonny watertight boat under its big oak tree and against my birch emplacement hedge.. Bikes getting a good clean. Steady hail thunder and full on rain now  for half an hour and still dry inside.. its really quite exciting. In such a dramatic landscape also. Enormous mist shrouded mountains pouring down to a classic swiss lake.

So much has happened since that last sentence  an hour ago. The whole lane of tents has gone under to 750 mm of water. The inside of my tent stayed dry but outside was 100 mm of water and getting deeper at one end. A dozen french schoolkids tents are under to much screaming and mirth. I decide to abandon ship and rescue my bed in a slight letting up. What a good tent it is. We are all invited to relocate to higher ground. Which is reasonably painless. I've dried the inside out with a towell, replaced my dry mattress and doona, changed into warm dry clothes and am now enjoying writing about it inside my pluckly little aunt.. Ortlieb bags are really really waterproof.

As I awake to a moist but rainfree dawn. I realise I should have attempted to keep my shoes dry in the storm. It means I may have to stay here until they dry enough to be worn to continue on. I'm reluctant to climb 1000 meters soggy. Perhaps there is a shoe shop nearby. Note to self .....bare feet dry a lot quicker than cycling shoes. There is a lot to see here in Luzern and also washing machines at the campsite so perhaps not so bad an enforced restday. No whiffy unfortunately.

Aarau wed 11 june

At last a good go with the grannie of granny gears over a hot 58 ks. According to my elegant swiss book chart up 780 meters in the day 360 odd  in 9ks. Above 10% hills which is worse than I can expect on the Gotthard smaller roads steeper gradient. The new speedo is working beautifully.
Started the day posting home my unnecessaries....lightening up. 1.2kgs takes the slowboat home. Then a well signed drift through Basel burbs. Got free gonflage and a hosing on my way through. There are road sections in this path . It is very different from EV6.  Not nearly as many veloistes.
Getting lost is now less fun with hour long hills to be re- negotiated so the swiss have a phone app (which I downloaded in Aus) that shows me where I'm on the route. Pinpoint  and tremendously reassuring.  No mobile data required either just gps all free Gotta  love it

Then some absolutely beautiful forest...tall, cooling, bird filled green running streams.... and of course the slow grind.  Bike performed well, didn't seem much lighter but. Haha.
A great test today short bursts of really  steep hills accomplished  reassure me about the longer less steep grinds to come.
A great way to experience the well kept natural swiss world.

Then bursting out of the trees to get my first glimpse of the alps. Serenely distant on a hot morning.

Dirt road descent through forest into Aarau big expensive and friendly. No camping. No tourist info. Steep cobbles. Ended up at the banhoff again. Met two aussies riding without gear (transported separately) just retired and riding to Luzern which is lakeside tomorrow. Chance encounters make for momentary conversations. Interesting the different methods used to ride in this continent.
Ive gone the irish pub this time for its pennyfarthings (one titanium no less). I'm getting a marguerita to go with my end of the day beer treat.
Today lots of thoughts of home missing everyone and imagining those cool frosty mornings. A great antidote to a hot 10 days. Finally the alps are within sight.