Edolo – Valtellina 46.88km 🚴♀️ 3.20.31 ⏱14km/hr ⬆️ 760m ⬇️ 1000m 🌡14-27C
It rained all night, pretty heavily, but we were nice and dry in our cabin. Smart decision because wrapping up a wet tent ⛺️sucks. And also adds weight so it double sucks. We had breakfast, yoghurt with cookies 🍪, since we left the cruesli at the campground a day before. We also had one juicy grapefruit each so it wasn’t all that bad. We had planned on leaving a little later since the predicted rain 🌧 would be least between 10-12 , but since it was actually dry we left around 8.20am anyway. Long sleeves and rain jackets on so we wouldn’t get cold, but we got cold 🥶 anyway. We had to cycle back up to the road on a super steep incline and ride back in the direction of Edolo for a bit in order to leave the main road and get on a secondary road we had decided to take to avoid traffic.
Well the secondary road started out great. But then it went up. Not smooth and easy, but at an insane incline. So ten meters in Mas took off her rain jacket and Suuz followed a little later. After a torturously long and steep climb we stopped for coffee in Corteno Golgi, great name, good espresso, reasonable muffin, but very happy lady who runs the place. We decided to stay on the secondary road a little longer, so there was even more insane climbing 🧗♀️waiting. It was like the Keutenberg, but then three right after each other. We cycled less than four km p/hr and pulled so hard on our handle bars we were surprised our front wheels did not come off the ground. But we made it all the way up, so it was very good for our ego after all. Just after Fucine-Les we got back on the main road that wasn’t as busy as we expected. The view was nice, all green mountains around us and a small road with rocky walls. Apparently we were climbing the Paprika 🌶pass (okay it’s the Passo Aprica, but that’s just no fun), maybe we should have a better look at the map since all these passes keep surprising us.
Aprica was definitely not as touristy as Tonale the day before. It was time to put on the rain jacket again since it was only 14 degrees and we expected a good long and foggy downhill. And what a downhill it was. If it wasn’t for the wet roads, low hanging clouds and our reluctance to kiss 💋 the asphalt, it could have been a fast one. We stopped a few times for pictures, but we couldn’t stop for the most amazing view because there was no space on the road, but believe us, amazing it was.
Once we were all the way down in Tresenda we had to go to a coffee ☕️ place to warm up. Suuz even put on her long tights. We ordered two espressos and two tosti’s and had to pay ten euros 💶, not that we sit on our money, well not anymore since I met Suuz, but this was a little ridiculous given that it was pretty much the grossest tosti we’ve ever had. And they did not even have Heinz ketchup to cover it in. But on a positive note, we were warm, had food in our bellies and caffeine in our bloodstream, so good to go!
After Tresenda it was all bike path. The North of Italy 🇮🇹 is awesome for cyclists. We cycled along the river, crossed it a few times and all of a sudden we saw shade. Shade!!!! Shade means sun, sun means hot, hot means strip. And so we did. We cycled into the gorgeous Sondrio valley with the sun on our backs and on the many many vineyards. It was an absolute treat. We did have to climb all the way up to this amazing wine hotel in Valtellina but it was worth every meter. We were really excited since we would get to see Mas her sister and boyfriend over there. And also because of the great wine and food we are most likely gonna enjoy.
We were still a little early for check-in so about 2km before the hotel we stopped for a lemon 🍋soda 🥤. As we were enjoying our drinks on a small patio, we saw Mas her sister pass by in her car. We cycled the last little bit to the hotel, checked in, took a shower 🚿and happily hugged the family. Afterwards, we lazily stepped in the car 🚙, jeej, to go into Sondrio. We walked around for a bit and Lotte and Lars took us to have the best gelato 🍧in town. A cioccolato, pistacchio and lemone later, we shopped for the beautiful local produce at a few specialty stores. Lotte and Lars picked up some tasty wine 🍷and we bought apples 🍎🍏 and savory snacks from the valley. Later that evening we went out for dinner at restaurant Tripi. It was really delicious and we had this insanely beautiful cheese 🧀 platter as dessert, including the famous Bitto cheese from the region. And this was only the beginning of our two and a half days here, looking forward to more culinary pleasures!
