To Bobbio and big surprise on the way!!

I woke in Gavi and showed myself out since the Inn where I slept was mostly a restaurant and I was the only guest. No breakfast but I had a coffee and a croissant and bought some things for lunch since I expected to be off the beaten track today.

The men at breakfast who were my send off crew.

At this point I had moved beyond the coverage of my good detailed map and only had my large map of all Italy with no detail. I had been trying to find a better local map for a few days, but in Italy such things are more difficult to find.

So today I was sort of flying blind with only a general sense of where I was headed ........ east. I made a short descent crossed a river and a big Federal north/south highway but even there ..... no mapa. So I headed off and for a while had no problem.

There were some nice vineyards and I rode east with confidence and a good general sense of direction ....... and started to climb ....

...... and climb some more .....

 ...... and the climbing never stopped. Then I hit some really steep and long continuous up's. I thought I was finished with the Alps. At a water stop I chatted up a cyclist heading down who said the top of the pass ahead was 1450 meters. 

 

That is less than what I had done in the Alps, but there I was pumped up and ready for the challenge. Today it was hot and I was not ready for this!!!! I struggled to the top with a bad attitude.

....... not stopping for photos until the top. After an extended rest to recover and lunch I enjoyed a really nice gradual afternoon descent. 

Central Italy is more mountainous than I thought. This chain of mountains running all of the way south down the middle of the peninsula really was a surprise.

I had finished the climb with a local guy who races triathlons. He was really nice and stayed with me over the top. Without a map he gave me good and explicit directions down to Bobbio so I could descend without fear of having to repeat this unexpected climb that almost did me in.

As I went down in spots along the river cars were pulled along side of the road and people were swimming. I joined in for a quick dip, but forgot the iPad for pictures.

I staggered into Bobbio a lively little town and over a beer at a busy spot in the main square I got a recommendation to a B&B just around the corner.

I had a big salad and pasta with pesto for dinner and crashed.

The hard earned and much welcomed ride down to Bibbio.