Just to say it up front: the almost 120 kilometres between Tarvisio and Udine on Sunday, October, 2nd, again surpassed everything we had experienced so far.
We departed shortly before nine o’clock and arrived in the centre of Udine after 7 p.m. In between, we had several nice rests, ate a delicious lunch at Carnia and enjoyed some wonderful ice-cream at Vencone.
But here comes the detailed report in chronological order.
After the start at Tarvisio, we first have to ride up to Camposa Rossa. The first leg of the day is quite an incline.
On this stretch, the cyclist’s path is a former railway track. Consequently, the inclines are absolutely manageable for trains – which means they are manageable for bikers. Besides, afterwards we have the very long decline to the Mediterranean Sea ahead of us. We want to reach the ocean in two days. This is certainly some additional motivation.
Incidentally, our road is called Alpe-Adria-Cyclist’s-Road (cyclovia alpe-adria) in Italy. I believe the similarity with the bank is totally coincidental.
The Alpe-Adria-Cyclist’s-Road is really some spectacle. That is because a huge part of the road is built on the former railway tracks. All the time, we pass old tunnels and high viaducts.
It is easy to imagine how trains must have rolled on this way. Riding my bike, I almost feel like the train driver who drove up and down this line many years ago.
With very few exception, the railway track has turned cyclist’s path almost entirely until Vencone. There are plenty of signs indicating the way and it is also in very good repair.
Only one place was blocked by a stone avalanche – which necessitated a rather adventurous detour from the road. On the left side of the picture, you see the place where we had to take our bikes and luggage and climb down the bank through all the shrubbery in order to reach the lower level of the street.
The remaining road to Udine is totally different. You mostly ride on unpaved roads right through forests and meadows.
Once in a while, grit and roots make riding a bike a little hard. But to make up for it, you get the most beautiful scenery, both to the left and right, on the entire way.
I definitely cannot describe it all. You have to go and “experience“ it for yourself – and drive the experience home in the truest sense of the word.
Tonight, we will sleep in the Udine Astoria Italia. Since we were rather late, I had decided we were going to book into the first (hopefully not too expensive) hotel I was going to see in the centre of Udine – if possible.
Admittedly, the Astoria is a little on the expensive side, but still tolerable. And the gentleman at reception was so nice, I could not say no.
And since we had been particularly industrious today, we rewarded ourselves with a small pizza and a big cone of ice-cream. Another wonderful day ended!
Tomorrow, we are heading towards the ocean. We do not yet know where exactly we are going. The day after tomorrow, we want to check in at Venice – from where we have a reservation on the train to cross the Alps back to Munich on Wednesday evening..
But I really hope I will not feel anything of the Alps. I intend to spend the return trip sleeping soundly in my bed.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
Loading ...