I just love Italy ....to Canelli

I started the day by exploring the town of Cenelli which was a really nice little town ....

Always there is a nice church ....

View from my room in a very nice hotel ....

........ and a view at the garden from my other window......

....... a quiet Sunday morning down town......

Now down out of the mountains and heading due east, I crossed some flat land with a nice mix of agricultural, rows and rows of peach trees filled with ripe fruit that i could smell and light industrial.

I even recognized some of the same companies I work with in the US like Alstom above and Saint Gobain ........

I passed through some nice towns .... Alba and Bra down on the river before I started up into some nice rolling hills and into some vineyards.

I was surprised how high I had to climb, but it was worth it for the views, the small very lightly travelled roads and the much cooler air with a nice breeze. In the valley it was remarkably hotter as I was reminded when I made the descent into Canelli a decent sized town around 6:00 to look for a room.

Now what happened next reinforces my Buddhist belief In having good karma. In another blog I will talk about how I have gone about collecting good karma but tonight I certainly had some come back....... You see for about the past week I had stopped visiting the Information offices and getting a room reserved in parts of France where things had been booked up. Since Grenoble, the Alps and now Italy there always seemed to be reasonable places to stay. 

So I went back to the relaxed style I had in Spain where I would just ride into town and ask around and see what showed up each night. Tonight I rode into Canelli and did my usual cruse about town to check it out. Usually I look for the center of town with a plaza or square with a fountain and look for where people were out and about. I have gotten pretty good at this, having scoped out many towns looking for a room, lunch, afternoon coffee, something sweet or a gelato. ........ but Canelli was different ........ there was no action anywhere ..... nothing, zilch, nada. It felt like Pittsfield 10 years ago when GE first left. Some old people and a few derelicts but no one young or no lively bar with tourists.

Finally after a few circles through town I went to an ATM because I was low on cash with the thought in desperation to head out to a bigger town down the river forced in a direction I really didn't want to go. While at the ATM a young guy on a bicycle pulled up to also get some cash. It turns out he lived outside of town, spoke excellent English, was an avid cyclist and knew a great place for a room and dinner a little down the road. Not only that but he was out for a ride and would show me where it was. 

He then took me on a round about ride on some beautiful small roads I never would have found to a driveway that lead up to a chalet and wine producer....... very fancy.

Federico my savior for today ..... in typical Italian style he had gotten the phone number, called the Chalet and made a reservation for me all on his cell phone while riding at top speed.

A very handsome single guy who I gave Hannah's blog and email.

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Then as if this wasn't enough good karma for the afternoon ...... needing every gear I had to climb the very steep driveway about 1 KM up to the Chalet I never would have found ....... this is who I met as I rode in ......

......... my twin with the same hair and beard. And he spoke no Italian, only English. We struck up an instant friendship. It turns out he was from South Africa, a real character and had been living in this part of Italy for about 10 years. He was a very successful architect who had worked all over Europe.

He had tried but failed to learn Italian and survived with a close circle of English speakers and I was invited to join them for dinner.

It was a lively and well healed group of locals and we had a lot of fun. They decided to celebrate the 4th of July one month late in my honor. They also told the entire staff, who they all knew very well that I was the son he never knew he had, who just showed up from America.

These are a few pictures of the place ......... pretty nice ....... it reminded me of places i stayed in on the Back Roads trip I took to Sonoma, CA. 

I went to bed without posting a blog because the Internet went down.

First day in Italy

The day began leaving the very nice little hotel in Claviere, sort of a Swiss village in the Mountains.

An outside look at the hotel

Inside with their motto "Home and Love" which they lived up to.

View from my room.

First thing, right away was my least favorite and biggest fear on a bicycle; a steep descent on a busy road traversing through several tunnels!!!!

I

I survived and then had my last big climb up through several ski areas to the trendy ski resort of Sestriere which claimed be the highest town in Italy.

After a nice bowl of pasta for lunch at the top, I began what was my final farewell to the Alps with about a 20 mile long descent.

Sometimes shrouded in clouds there was a slight shower at one point. I had made the big climb this morning so that I could come down from the mountains on a much less busy road into the smaller town of Pinerolo rather than into the big city of Torino which no one had anything good to say about. And I have learned that on a bicycle going into and out of cities is not good.

Pinerolo was a nice little town and grateful to be in Italy I stopped at the busiest spot on town; a place serving coffee and gelato. I met a group of 4 local cyclists and got some good route advice and had some laughs.

I rode a bit south toward Cuno with some great views of the Alps I had just left as the sun was setting.

I found a nice little hotel in the cute little town of Saluzzo for the night. 

A last climb to Italy

I woke after the col du Gabiler feeling rested and recovered with no ill effects. The other guests all off road mountain bikers were staying a week and were off early. Anthony the mountain man was up and made me coffee to go with the toast, corn flakes, fruit and granola. 

I had a slight problem in that I was low on cash. I hadn't seen an ATM in a few days. But Anthony said he was going into town about 10 km down the valley and we headed off in his old 4 wheel drive small European SUV. His English was very good.

He talked about growing up a little north in a nearby valley and how when younger he was on the ski patrol and would set off avalanches to protect the ski runs with dynamite. He had some books showing how people would make technical climbs up into the high peaks and glaciers and showed me some he had climbed.

And this one that he was going to climb this fall.

He told me about meeting his wife from Belgium who had been a ski instructor and how he stopped the party life to run the jete. 

...... a man who loved his work...

He had shown me a small parallel road down the valley 

This water was ice cold ......

....... and I had a great morning ride down and into Briacon, an old mid-evil city with a walled castle and moat.

....... and a most incredible old bridge built by Louis XV around 1720.

After that I had a big (about 600 meter) climb to a ski resort town and ......

.... goodby to France ....

........ hello to Italy.....

I found a nice little hotel and had a fabulous dinner. Things I has really missed since Spain ..... olive oil, tomatoes and tomato sauce, and pasta al-dente not mushy over cooked noodles like in France.

More on Italy tomorrow 

Bon journo .... Ariva derchi

The Col du Galbier ......

I am totally cooked but alive and elated to have climbed what I am told is the 2nd highest pass in the Alps @ 2642 meters. Yes I did take the more difficult route. 

I am too wasted to blog and am now going to have dinner and crash. Maybe tomorrow I will write about a most incredible day ......

........ when I hope to have recovered and should be into Italy.

It is now Friday night and I am just over the border in Italy, but before I write about today I will record some of the incredible day yesterday.

Yesterday started ironically with my departure from the "Voyager" hotel in St. Jean de Maurienne ......          

...... my room was with one with the open shutter ......

..... still debating which route to take today, I made a strategic decision to lighten my load. I am traveling incredible light compared to most other touring cyclists. I have no tent or cooking gear but I certainly have much more gear and weight than most of the cyclists climbing the high passes here and  more weight than what I usually ride at home, Nellie, a very light carbon fiber bike that weighs less than 20 pounds. When climbing, every ounce let alone pound means a lot.

On this trip I have a relatively heavy steel frame with fenders and disc breaks and fatter tires with heavier stronger rims, although to compensate lots more low gears. But weight is still a big factor, especially when going up and I have often debated in my mind my heaviest, but least used item ...... weighing in at almost 3 pounds, an air mattress. On 2 or 3 nights and also for Hannah on the day in Madrid when we got thrown off the train, it has saved the day and provided needed comfort when I was in a pinch. But 3 pounds when I am carrying less than 20 total in gear and clothes is a lot. So I visited the local Post Office and mailed off to Julian in Flourie about 4 pounds ....... the air mattress and 5 or 6 maps that I had used, marked up and dog-eared but wanted to keep.

Then I headed toward the east and St. Michel de Mauriene my decision point ....... where I headed up toward the passes and the more difficult road less travelled.

 

........as I went up I looked back at the path not taken ....... an easier but clearly more heavily travelled route. And looking back I went up .............

......... and up .........

I had my baggett and cheese and water and felt pretty good at the first col, telegraph hill.

...... and at this point there was even another couple from Italy who, although slightly younger than I am  had more gear. Then a descent to Vailorie at about 1200 meters alt. where I had thought to spend the night. But it was only about 2 PM and I was feeling pretty frisky.

So thought to give it a go and continued on.

....... and headed up .....

..... and up some more .....

...... near to the top it just got ridiculous, until I was ready to drop. At this point there was a tunnel that I could take to avoid the last few hairpin turns to the top.

....... and I was tempted but at this point how could I stop. The last 2 kilometers were a real bitch at a 10% or better grade.

......... looking back to the tunnel. All along while I was passed by many, I always kept spinning or at least peddling with my low gears, except for several rests for photos (always a good excuse). And I was never hurting or in trouble or thought of turning back and over the last 5 or so kilometers even passed a few pour, really hurting souls.

At the top for all who reached by their own power there was a real feeling of comradery and elation combined with exhaustion and for some pain.

At this point I could have climbed higher by foot, but decided I had had enough. 

And in another bit of incredible, small world coincidence, while recovering at the top a young guy came over to me to say hello like he knew me. I was baffled because who could I know at the top of a pass in France!?!?? But it was the guy from Barcelona I had met at dinner with his wife and small boy. He had ridden to the top leaving early in the morning and was now there by car with his family.

The little boy was much more rested than the night before when I had taken his picture.

I was so happy to see him, so that I could thank him for his encouragement because he had been one who thought I should go for it!!!! And to do the climb in one and not 2 days.

Then the descent by now in the late afternoon.

The view east toward Italy.

 At this point I was desperately tired and needing a place to stay to recover and refuel ......... then as my good karma would have it, as if by design, a refuge about half of the way down.

Le refuge du Lautaret and an unbelievable real mountain man and his wife dogs and 16 month old child.    

It was a bunk house type jete mostly for skiers, but doing a scaled down business for bikers and hikers in the summer run by a man who really enjoyed his work.

This was the crowd I joined in with for dinner along with mountain mans wife the chef.

Still half of the way up the mountain, needless to say I slept very soundly.

More tomorrow on my incredible hosts for the night.