San Giminano being plonked somewhere in the middle of Italy gave us way too much choice as to cities to visit, there was Rome, Florence, Pisa, Siena, Modena and Bologna to choose from but we couldn't possibly do all of them (we preffer the countryside to the cities anyways) and unable to do them all we opted for Pisa and Florence.
Pisa, what can I say, I'm glad I have seen the falling over tower, from a structural point of view it's fascinating but trying to evade the clutches of the pushy street vendors with cases full of dodgy watches and the crowds soon wore thin and Pisa was exited once we had marvelled at it's tower a while.
Florence on the other hand was beautiful and given the opportunity we will go back but on this trip we had to limit ourselves to an afternoon there marvelling at the architecture and particularly the Ponte Vecchio...though the fact that every building on it had long since been turned into a tourist trap jewellery outlet was a little miffing. From the banks of the Arno river however it was still amazing.....
......and the sight of the whole city from the top of a hill as we left was unbelievable.
The beauty and bank aggravation behind us now we hit the road again headed north for Laas in the Italian Alps, to find a new pitch and to ride the long awaited Stevilo Pass.
The ride was somewhat trying, another 350 or so miles but this time in high heat. One of the features of this kind of leather clad traveling is that one is never satisfied. When it's cold all you wish for is a little heat and when the sun shines and the heat saps you of all energy all you wish for is a nice cold glacier again!
Most amusingly, given that we suffered in the name of 'all the gear all the time' for the sake of safety we noticed the Carabinerie on their bikes sporting only shirt sleeves and a big weapon! Some example that is! Oh, and they also seemed to spend most of their day hanging out drinking coffee!
But on we rode, back accompanied on all sides past more amazing vistas, it seemed for most of our holiday that just when you thought you could see nothing more stunning, around the next corner was just that, something even more stunning! We stopped here and there along our way for much needed water, caffeine and nicotine and mostly remained very upbeat despite the soaring temperature.....Ok, I had one, 'I'm toooo hot can't we stop now' moment but I regained my composure quickly, fortified by lots of marzipan chocolate....this stuff became part of my staple diet incidentally, along with various form of 'pasta a la Fletch', which meant pasta made on one ring with various sauces and usually frankfurters! I did try the frankfurters but mostly I picked them out and launched them at his plate.....hey, a lifetime as a veggie isn't easily overcome! heh.
Eventually we made it in early evening to Laas, we found a lovely little campsite bordered on all sides by mountains and offering toilet, laundry and shower facilities, more befitting of a five star hotel than a grass pitch, what luxury. More cheering than that even though I soon discovered the site had a resident, particularly friendly and cuddly kitten to adopt temporarily! Life was perfect....aside from one small issue....we had forgotten to get any supplies en-route, the site was lacking in a shop and the tiny village was firmly closed for the night so 'dinner' consisted of our emergency ration food, pepparami noodles. It's amazing how good plastic food can taste in emergency!
Having been fed we settled down for the night, believing that the beautiful church that overlooked the site must surely cease ringing it's bells every 15 minutes at some point in the evening.....wrong, it carried on all night long and to add insult to injury was joined by an even more prolifically chiming church bell a few meters away on the hour, every hour! We woke early! I think it was only our extreme tiredness that allowed us even a few hours sleep for the following evening, the following evening whilst Fletch managed a few hours I, despite earplugs, spent most of the night wandering around in the dark smoking or reading trying to alleviate the lack of sleep frustration.
But finally it was morning and Stelvio Pass called. We took the luggage off the bike, made sure we only had a half tank of petrol (a full tank is very heavy) and set off for what promised to be a stunning but very 'hairy' ride. It was everything we had looked forward too, magnificent, wonderful, very challenging to ride and a massive buzz.
Much of it I only saw through the back of a video screen, this was one of my spells trying to video it all over Fletch's shoulder, which forced me to look over the edge way more than I would have liked but it all added to the fun factor. Oh, and for those of you amused by the principle, yes I slept for a short while on the way down....more on the bike sleeping thing another time.
For whoever it was who asked if Fletch let me ride the bike....the above picture might illustrate why not....... note the size of me in comparison, she is a massive machine, Fletch is a big guy and she's hard work for him, I wouldn't stand a chance, much less even get her off the stand! ;o)
We left Laas on the following day heading north again, this time onto Grimsel in Switzerland via St. Moritz which is very nice if one has piles of money and wants to ski or play polo but it's public toilets were about the worst I encountered and instead of an overpriced restaurant we partook of a superb lunch of fresh bread, salami (there goes the veggie in me again) emmental and coffee rustled up on the banks of the lake and provided by Fletch miraculously from a hidden compartment somewhere on the bike!
Unnecpectedly this turned out to be the most fantastic journey, if slow. We only managed to cover approx. 250 miles but the small scale map we were using for that hadn't made it clear to us that we would be riding seven mountain passes, one after another, that adds up to a vast number of hairpin bends and sheer drops which in turn added up to maybe nine hours of intense concentration for the guy on the front. Again he deserves a medal, I couldn't maintain that level of concentration for a few hours, let alone all day long and if one was in any doubt as to just how challenging these roads were, dotted along them here and there were great iron crosses bearing photographs of unfortunate bikers who had in some way 'overcooked' it! :o/
That reminder aside it was truly incredible, every few moments there was a new breathtaking sight, everything from riding above the glaciers to herds of beautifully coloured Alpine cows tinkling with their bells
and great dams in the middle of the mountains, in places one couldn't imagine the earth moving equipment needed for such construction could even get too. What stick in my memory most though was the colour of the glacial lakes and rivers, the brightest milky turquoise blue, like massive opals set into the rocks. Sadly stopping a bike, or any vehicle on these roads is not easy and as a consequence I didn't get a picture that really illustrates the colour, but I doubt my camera could have reproduced in any convincing way quite how unbelievably beautiful it was.
*Part four coming up....really, i'll try and make that the final one!
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