THE COVID DETOUR 2020-Day 10-Part 1

“DOLOMITES”
(Part 1)

Due to the gaining pandemic and the uncertain travel conditions I was now, instead of somewhere along the Trans Euro Trail on Sardinia Island, in northern Italy on my way back to Austria. Overall this change of my plans was OK for me.
I was lucky to get not trapped on one of the Mediterranean Islands. Leastwise I had the chance to ride through the famous Dolomite-Mountains, which I haven’t been for a long time.

FROM: The river bed of the Italian river Po near Ferrara; TO: Austria/Moelltal Valley; SIGHTS: Dolomite Mountain Massif

With …

The rising sun” above the river “Po” I went up and wished the …

*Good Morning my dear!*

old girl Чернотa a good morning. After strechting my limps I began with the morning procedure, which was the same like always:

1. Compressing the sleeping pad and – mat;
2. Putting all the stuff back in its place (electronics into the tankbag-roll, navigation gear onto the bike, water bottle back to the bike);
3. Jump into the protective gear and put the helmet onto the handle bar of the bike;
4. Doing the morning wash;
5. Stow the gear in the saddlebags of the bike;
6. Dismantle the tent with its footprint and pack it well in its bag and finally stow it on the bike;
7. Look if everything is with me/ well stowed; cleaning the visor of the helmet, load the daily route in the navigation app; and finally …
8. … start into the riding day and leave nothing but footprints.

The ride started sandy this morning. On a such an early hour of the day neither I nor Чернотa weren’t used to the sandy surface of the river bed, what lead into stalling the cold LC4 engine two times along the first few meters. With an uncommon wide open throttle I maneuvered the good old girl out of the wobbling sand …

right back into the flat lands along some water channels of northern Italy.

The old town of the city “Battaglia Terme”

While traversing some nice old cities, …

*a big watertower*

some interesting stuff …

has been seen alongside the route. In the late morning, after …

a few old …

buildings Чернотa and I …

One of my favorite photos of this tour was made in the village “Vallstagna” right at the entrance to the Alps 🙂

reached the entrance to the north-eastern alps of Italy. We took a rest on this bridge where underneath …

some little ducks dived around in the current covered rocks in the search for algae. The valley went …

more narrow. Some signs pointed out, that the cave right above the railway tunnel was man made in WWI. There were some shelter tunnels built and heavy artillery was hidden inside the holey mountain for defending the valley against intruders coming from the north. Just a few …

The dam wall of “Lago di Pedesalto” made an artificial rainbow with its consistent water-curtain

bends later an impressive man made rainbow-waterfall was seen on …

our ride through the valley of river Lamon northwards. Around eleven o’clock …

the first peaks of …

the dolomite mountains appeared. Чернотa and I gained height and finally …

had the first impressive views to the …

Dolomite-Mountains enthroning impressively above the little Italian villages. On …

our way upwards along the first serpentine …

I stopped for a closer look of this nicely folded rock structure. It is impressive, and I tried to make out which forces must have been raging a long time ago, for making solid rock looking alike sprayed cream.

Besides a few …

clouds caught in the peaks of the Dolomites the weather was great this day. Always following the dark line on the display …

the water dam “Lago di Panevegio”was reached, where nearby, a whole …

hillrange forest was cleared by a strong storm. What huge damage! A few …

nice …

Dolomite views …

later it was time for a …

social distant midday rest on the left-hand side bench at this little pond. While having the first bite of this day I enjoyed the calm view. Riding through this usually overcrowded part of the alps within a pandemic had also its advantages! (I was nearly alone on the roads)
When my after-lunch power nap in the sun was over…

Чернотa and I continued our ride right into the rocky heart of the Dolomite Mountains.

End Part 1.


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