View Larger Map
Sunday, September 1st - Cortina d'Ampezzo - 10,337 km
It’s another fine morning, but a bit sad since Mathias will be leaving Jochen and I after today. It’s a bit cooler as we are in the shadow of the mountains and a bit higher in altitude than last night. We make coffee and eat the last of our fruit and bread for breakfast.
Once the sun has warmed the ground towards 11am, we set out at a leisurely pace to do an unloaded circular route north from Cortina through the Tre Croci (Three Crocuses) Pass, a climb of 600 m, and around to the west to join the road back to Cortina.
It is so liberating to be riding without our 12 kg of baggage. Well, OK, I have one or two kg counting my camera, water, snacks, maps, etc, but the whole feel of the bike is weird when I am used to driving a heavy truck.
The climb is begins right away, though very gently at first. I stop at the base of the steeper climb to snap a shot of the village of Staulin and Mt. Pomagagnon. It is a stead climb for the next six kilometres until we reach the Tre Croci Pass. At 1809 m, it is 275 m higher than the two passes we climbed over yesterday, and the highest of the trip so far. Before Austria the highest I had climbed was over the top of the Massif Central in France at 1350 m. (Day 68).
The pass itself is right below Mt Cristallo but it does not have a dramatic view. It is mostly forested. From here the road drops gently, perhaps 160 m over the next 10 km, and climbing back up to 1750 m at Lago di Misurini on the back side of Mt Pomagagnon. Then the road turns north, northwest and finally west as it rounds the back of the Mt Cristallo and Pomagagnon to join the route we used to get to Cortina d’Ampezzo yesterday.
We have taken a very leisurely pace since the circular route is only 42 km long, and beyond our first arduous climb to Tre Croci Pass, it has been most level or downhill. We rested a while at the top of the pass and again at Lago di Misurini, but it is still only 3pm when we roll back in through Cortina. We park our bikes and walk around but most of the stores are over-priced and stocked with crap for tourists. I suppose Nature always seeks a balance. The most beautiful areas attract ugly development, rampant consumerism and tasteless tourists in their gas-guzzling RVs. If these people ever found an unspoiled paradise they would complain that there were not enough “services” set up for their convenience.
We have a dinner in town, our last together. It has been another perfect day and the traffic was relatively light too. We coast back to the campground at the lower edge of town and relax for the evening. Mathias has been fun and obviously he and Jochen are best friends, but it is Jochen with his gentle, considerate nature that I feel closet to. I am happy we will have the next few days alone together. I suspect we will have an earlier start each day too.
PHOTO 1: Jochen and Mathias in Cortina d'Ampezzo
PHOTO 2: village of Staulin and Mt Pomagagnon
PHOTO 3: myself and Jochen at Tre Croci Pass
PHOTO 4: Mt Cristallo
PHOTO 5: Cadini di Misurini
PHOTO 6: Lago (Lake) Misurini
PHOTO 7: Mathias and the ramparts of the Dolomites
PHOTO 8: return to Cortina
PHOTO 9: camping at Cortina d'Ampezzo
No comments:
Post a Comment