We had second thoughts based on some messages that Dennis received – advising not to ride the Brenner Pass. Apparently, the road is narrow and busy. Today is Saturday, so the traffic could be anything.
Brenner / Brennero was our train stop, had a cafe over the road and the downhill started immediately. The traffic coming the other way was horrendous and stretched for kilometres.
Our path was a gentle descent so I assume it was the old railway line. The MV trail went through a town, so we stopped for a second breakfast of pastries and hot chocolate, and sat outside and passive smoked as always here.
The bike paths continued for the rest of the day, through beautiful valleys lined with snow capped mountains.
There were lots of strenuous little uphills which definitely weren’t part of the bargain but as usual here, the scenery made up for it.
There were lots of cyclists – it’s Saturday after all – but the difference was that most either said hello or acknowledged me. This is a total change. Through Germany and Austria, we rarely got any acknowledgement at all.
I’m not referring to the old fart tourists on eBikes. While it’s great that they are out there doing this – really – they are a different breed entirely and seem to ride and stare. What’s in common with their counterparts in Aus and NZ, is the look of terror on the faces of the unconfident ones as they try to avoid hitting you on the way past. It’s that look that scares me the most on a bike. Not trucks, not even kiwi drivers 😁
Brunico is a large town that looks great, so we were looking forward to dinner in town after we pitched our tents (for the first time this trip) at the ‘local’ campground. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The campsite is fine, and run by lovely people, but it’s up a hill that overlooks the town and only accessibly by major roads, so I didn’t feel like going back.
Dinner wasn’t in town, but a couple of kms up the road at Koriander pizzeria which made the best pizzas so far – there’ve been a few.
We raced back to the campground before the rain arrived and boy did it rain. It justified my recent purchase of a new tent which is currently sitting in the UK at Jen and Lewis’ place. My roof leaked in a couple of places, the zipper jammed and the floor was wet in the morning – time for a new tent indeed.
However, camping once hardly justifies lugging a tent and associated paraphernalia all this way, so I’ll make up for that in a couple of weeks.
