To finish up quickly on last night, we had a great dinner for next to nothing….the seared cuttlefish was a particularly fine choice by Paul, the veal Milanese was massive(!) but absolutely nothing beat the 2015 De Marie Barbaresco. Yesterday we crossed over from Lombardy into Piedmont, which is the home of the Nebbiolo grape and, in particular, Barolo wine (our destination this evening). We also crossed over, rather unexpectedly, into Switzerland…had no clue that was going to happen till we saw the border posts! Fortunately, we have more than 14 days for the Brits to avoid a quarantine on return to the UK!
Today was a gorgeous ride, weather was perfect at 75F (24C) and clear, blue skies. Lots of great scenery and plenty of flat bits to keep our speed averages up. We did have a few very steep hills; one was 20% gradient and lead to a couple of casualties (to their pride not their bodies). I won’t say who, because I’m not like that(!), but my Granny gear came into its own and Paul clearly had a good one too!
I’m trying out the carousel photo layout today, so scroll to the right (you have to click on the partial photo to the far right!) and you will see some of the lovely views, again spoilt only by us(!), you will see Richard S had half a banana for mid-morning snack and was proud enough to show it to all and sundry. You will see Richard S’s face showing his thoughts at the top of that 20% hill and you will see that it is not all glitz and glamor (it is so long since I’ve seen a real squat and drop, that I had to take a photo!….I guess they really come into their own in a Covid environment…contact-less all the way!). And tucked in the mix is the modern man’s photo of the two Richards eating a Cornetto for the first time in 30 years with cell phone and portable charger on the table along with our own obligatory hand sanitizer gel!!
Finally, we had paninis for lunch at the little cafe shown in Piorino…we saw an 80-year old doppelganger of Enzo Ferrari push start a Fiat 500 and we had a bill for 24 coffees and nothing else…the cash-only payment was suggestive of some money-laundering operation, potentially for a Colombian coffee cartel! Off to visit Barolo shortly and hoping for a lovely wine-tasting spread somewhere…will let you know tomorrow!
Tech details were: 76miles (122km), 4,432 feet of ascent (1,343m) at 16.2mph (26km/h). Cumulative: 142 miles (228km), 8,398 feet elevation (2,545m).