An important decision was taken at the start of day three, when we awoke after a sound night's sleep amid the corn (and constant rapping of the ghost in the abandoned house), to bright sunshine and stunning views. We'd had enough of trundling through the valley, traffic or no traffic, and were now hungry for hills. Our first opportunity was a turn-off for the town of Cles, in the Italian Dolomites and not far from South Tyrol. Our intention was to shorten 100km of valley riding, around the mountains and via Bolzano, to take our first pass - Palade (1518m) - into the German speaking part of Italy (much to the delight of Torsten).
The first half of the climb was in no way difficult, but a joyous application of our anticipation energy, stored up and ready to be used for climbing mountain roads. Halfway to Palade we took our early leave for a restful evening and uncomfortable camp in a forest with literally no level ground (we ended up perched on a mound of grass the tent sinking on both sides, where Torsten and I ended up having to sleep).
Yes, that camping spot was even less comfortable than sitting on those notorious bike saddles. Nevermind, there was a pass to be conquered ...Photos by William Dunn and Geert Luteijn
All rights reserved, William Dunn 2011
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