| Day # |
23 |
State of Legs |
:-) |
|
Distance (miles) |
Distance (km) |
Ascent (feet) |
Ascent (metres) |
Punctures |
| Today |
62 miles |
km |
4508 feet |
metres |
0 |
| Trip Totals |
1091 miles |
km |
43227 feet |
metres |
0 |
Travelogue
Yesterday, things were not looking especially tickety-boo and in truth, I was not the happiest of cycling bunnies. During a chat with Anna, the co-owner of the farm/campsite I was staying at, I'd discovered that my next section of Eurovelo EV8 was impassable due to a tunnel through the mountains having collapsed during a storm a couple of years ago. I'd then spent ages researching and planning a new route that would take me around the blocked EV8 mountain route.
Anna's husband, Peio later reviewed my route and proposed a new and much improved version, ending in the same place on the coast (Imperia) but with quieter roads and better scenery. I enthusiastically accepted his proposal and plotted a new GPS route for me to follow on my phone. Local knowledge wins every time and should never be ignored. To emphasise that point, consider this: Google Maps didn't know the EV8 route was impassable and my navigation app, Organic Maps which uses open street map data was showing that a new tunnel which an alternative cycling route I was considering would go through was still under construction. I learned from Anna that this is not the case and assume the open street map data to be out of date. Again, you can't beat local knowledge and I now make it a point to discuss my plans with people I meet to see what they think.
I knew today's route would have some climbing in it and the forecast suggested it would be another hot day. There's only one course of action I can take to mitigate high temperatures and that's to start cycling as early as possible. So, I was up at 4:00 a.m. and on the road by 5:00, about an hour before sunrise.
About 2 hours and 25 miles into my ride, I was thinking about coffee. And about food. I'd eaten nothing so far that day and just drunk some water. I really needed to find somewhere that could at least sell me a coffee. And I probably ought to install some liquid cooling for my annoying, over-heating phone.
No sooner had these thoughts passed through my head than I stopped at a junction and to my right on the corner, in the glow of a ray of light from above was.... a pasticceria! I parked The Mule, went inside and ordered a tomato bruschetta, a pistachio brioche, a coffee and a cold can of coke for.... well, it wasn't for me, was it?
The lady serving me spoke no English and we had a good-humoured laugh at my pathetic attempts to use sign language and then Google Translate to communicate with her!
 |
| The tomato bruschetta in particular was delicious |
Feeling reinvigorated, I jumped back on the bike and continued. The route at this stage was mostly flat but the countryside had already started to differ from the irrigated farmland that had dominated much of the ride since Milano. There were some minor hills but these were mere hints at what was to come.
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| Plotaroute chose a couple of off-road sections |
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| This was in the town of Vicoforte |
Soon, things changed and I started to climb. The gradient was gentle to start with but probably averaged about 8% after that, with a short 14% section higher up, according to Strava. The climb involved ascending a long pass / valley which I believe is the
Colla di Casotto though I'm not sure the entire climb falls within that mountain pass.
It looks like the main climb was about 15 miles long, as you can see from the profile.
Colla di Casotto is in the
Ligurian Alps, by the way. Yep, another mountain range!
In total, it took about 3 hours to get to the top of the climb, minus about 30 minutes when I stopped for a break and refreshments in Pamparato. It was just beautiful. The pass is a long valley with fairly steep and high sides entirely covered with trees. It was quiet with very little traffic overall and the trees created shade and so this, coupled with a welcome breeze kept me relatively cool as I pedalled and pedalled.
Given the current high temperatues, I'm now carrying an extra 1.25 litre bottle of water, strapped to The Mule, just in case. At every opportunity to fill my bottles, they all get filled. I'd rather have the extra weight but be able to drink all that I need. Many of the villages have fountains and these are perfect for topping up with fresh, cool water.
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| As always it's impossible to get a sense of gradient from a photo! |
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| Look how different the landscape is compared with my previous days in Italy |
 |
| One of the public fountains on the route |
 |
| The village of Pamparato is on the left over the stone bridge |
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| Higher up, the road into Pamparato became brutally steep! |
 |
| No cans of coke available so this small bottle was used for cooling |
 |
| I stopped here for drinks and some food |
After Pamparato, I rejoined the main road and continued the climb. There was little traffic, but there was some. In particular, I saw about six large trucks carrying logs come down the mountain in the opposite direction to me. Just before one of them reached me, a log fell off the back of the lorry and landed in the road! It wasn't a massive,
bike and cyclist crushing tree trunk but it was big enough and if it had hit me could easily have given me a nasty bruise. Or even a
hurty knee! But luckily it didn't and I am bruiseless and my knees mostly pain free. The driver screeched to a halt, jumped out and ran back to deal with the fallen log. I laughed with him and carried on. Now wasn't that a great story? About
the time I wasn't hit by a not particularly enormous log. You couldn't make this stuff up, you know!
I carried on and began to wonder, more out of curiosity than anything else, just when I might reach the top of this seemingly never-ending climb? I felt great and was really enjoying the cycling, but this was turning out to be one enormous climb. It did end eventually, as all of them do, but my word it was a big one!
 |
| At the top of Colle di Casotto |
 |
| Garessio! That's today's destination! |
I felt quite thrilled when I reached the top, which to add to the sense of achievement and substance, is a ski resort complete with chair lifts. Ski resort - that's something you only get in mountains! Oh my.
The descent was of course amazing. I was careful but still enjoyed getting up to a pretty good speed and enjoying the cooling affect of the wind whistling by. I took a couple of photos of the view as I descended. Naturally the photos don't come near to giving a true sense of what I saw.
All too soon (I was so enjoying this ride!) I reached the outskirts of Garessio. The bed and breakfast I'd booked was only half a mile further on down the road. On reaching it, I stopped GPS recording and continued a short way down into the town centre to buy a few provisions, returned, checked in and settled into my room.
What a magnificent day of cycling. And all because of a problem with the original route which was recognised by Anna, whose husband, Peio then gave up far too much of his personal time (after a day at work it must be said) to help me out with a fantastic detour of which today was the first of two parts.
Magnifico! Grazie mille!
I can't wait for part 2 of the detour tomorrow!
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