Day 7 was eventful to say the least. Right from the outset, when Grizzly's (or Griff Lee, as he can now be known) bike failed to start. An attempted bump start failed, only serving to tear/rupture my calf muscle, leaving me in agony and struggling to walk properly. Another press of the button and it fired up. Mysterious. Maybe the side stand kill switch sticking.
Then tomtom sent us up the mountain side, down the tightest of roads/tracks to do a 4.5km circuit, that should have been about 500m. Entertaining but another tomtom head scratching moment. Then when we arrived at the fuel stop waymark, there was no fuel station, so we had to double back a few hundred metres to one we had just passed. The sun was shining, however, and was looking set for the day. Whey hey!
Fuelled up, we set out on our journey, some 240km, to Peschiera del Garda. The route would take us high into the Alps, across to a place called St Leonardo, where we stopped for comfort and coffee. The ride to get there took us along some of the twistiest roads I have ever ridden on. Mile after mile of tight hairpin bends, up one side of the mountain and down the other. Not sure what stunned me the most, the incredible views, like nothing I've seen before or the fact that buses traverse the route! It really was an incredible journey. Beautiful, beautiful country.
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| Crossing the Alps |
The stop in the middle of this biking paradise, was a brief one and we were back attacking the roads once more, making our way out of the alpine scenery. It was at this juncture that my scala headset decided to pack up. You don't realise how difficult it is to navigate with tomtom, without the lady in your ear.
As the landscape flattened out we were in wine country. Rows and rows of vines, interspersed with fields of apple trees. As we are avoiding motorways, we found ourselves zigzagging across the autoroute and on occasions, disappearing into the hillside. Not sure I've ridden a tunnel that long before either. Soon though we turned away from the valley and started another climb up the mountain side. Not sure what these are, certainly not Alps. More narrow and tight hairpins ensued, for mile after mile until we came around a bend and were greeted with the most amazing vista. Lake Garda, was glistening hundreds of feet below us. Sadly, we couldn't stop to take a photo. The view was breathtaking! We were soon at lake level and making our way along the eastern side of the lake. It is just like the seaside. Lots of watersports, paragliding and sunbathers galore. We planned a stop at a little town along the way, that had a castle. It provides a photo opportunity but you can't really go inside, as it seems set up to cater for weddings. We bought some water and had a wander round. Griff Lee got chatted up by some baloon wielding clown, who was clearly angling to have his photo taken with him. Nothing doing. Unfortunately for Griff, we had to retrace our steps, so he got a double dose of the annoying fool.
As we got ready to leave, we noticed clouds on the west side of the lake, looking less than welcoming. We soon found out, a few miles further on, that they weren't isolated to the west. With barely an introduction, it started to rain, big drops! Luckily, we were by a service station, so rode in to take cover just as the heavens opened. We donned the waterproofs and waited, with a few other two wheelers, for the downpour to subside. After 5-10 minutes, it was clear it wasn't getting any better. We weren't far from our planned fuel stop and only another five miles from the hotel and so we ventured out into the wet. At our fuel stop, we found a number of Italian bikers, sheltering. As we fiddled about trying to get the auto machine to accept our credit cards, which it wouldn't, the thunder and lightning started. Within a few moments the downpour was of waterfall proportions and Grizzly wasn't about to venture out in it. I probably would have but he was probably right to stay put. We must've stayed there for at least 45 minutes, watching as the main road transformed from road, to river. As the lightning flashed and the rain bucketed down, we were joined by more bikers and a load of cars too. Hardly anyone actually pulled in for fuel.
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| Yes, it is July! |
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| Grizzly with his new chums |
As the rain eased slightly, we decided to make the dash to the hotel, only 5 miles. However, the roads were awash in parts, so progress was slow in the traffic queue. We dived out of the queue to fuel up, then made our way back into the slow moving traffic, passing on the way, Movieland and Gardaland, whose entire clientele seemed to be streaming out, poncho clad and shivering!
Arriving at the hotel, we were a sorry sight, dripping wet. Abandoning the bikes in the car park, which was full, I ventured in, to book us in, to be told that they had no power! Great! It wasn't long though before we were in the room, had nabbed a parking space and the power was back. It was still raining hard though.
A little while back, I mentioned on Facebook that we were staying in Peschiera. It turned out, that one of the chaps on the Triumph Owners page, lives just 5km away. So, we arranged to meet up. Lorenzo and his fiance Benedetta, were moving in together this weekend and what with the storms, it seemed the meeting was destined not to happen. However, after grabbing some dinner and a beer in the hotel, we agreed to meet up in the town. Luckily, the rain had stopped by now, so we ventured out.
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| Moi, Lorenzo and Benedetta |
We spent a couple of hours with the couple, chatting bikes, Scotland, Italy, etc, and sinking some bavarian beers, 3 to be exact. As the world cup was on, we also managed to keep an eye on the Dutch beating Brazil, before they ran us back to the hotel. It was nice to have met them, they were a very nice couple and it was nice to have some company other than our own for the evening. Maybe we can repay the compliment sometime.
And that was Day 7. A bit long winded I'm afraid but it was a rather involved day.
Tomorrow we have a short 80 mile ride to Maranello, the home of Ferrari.
Till then.
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| Lake Garda, before the rains came |
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