Our time in Italy was all spent in South Tyrol, which is an autonomous region with more German than Italian speakers, and so wasn’t really a true Italian experience.
We crossed into Italy after a rest day in Lienz, camping out by the Lienzer Dolomites. Well, it wasn’t a total rest day, we had to cycle 33km to get there, and somehow that managed to include a little pass with a 12% gradient and a 300m altitude gain. But most of the day was spent in Lienz wandering around in town then lazing about in camp and listening to the cowbells (and a loud, friendly and slightly tipsy Texan man).
So it was the next day that we snuck into Italy, cycling along a gradual uphill by the Drau River. Gradual uphills always seem much more demoralizing than a good steep road, but this one was leading us through the Dolomites and further into the mountains, so we didn’t mind too much. Cycling through Brunico then onwards, we ended up camping in St Lorenzen, setting up just by a conker tree that kept trying to drop conkers on us. A little old lady came round selling fresh milk, eggs and cheese (in German), so we bought some cheese, then sat back and enjoyed the view. While listening to the church bell in town – it was one of the more excitable ones, that felt the need to let you know every time 15 minutes had passed.
The following morning brought another heavy dew, and the bike path we continued on was full of constant steep up and down sections. We were heading to Brixen/Bressanone for lunch – most of the towns in South Tyrol have both a German and Italian name, you would usually see both on roadsigns, but sometimes only one would be referenced, and it could get very confusing, especially with all the towns starting with B in the area. After lunch we were headed towards Bozen/Bolzano, which proved to be a hectic Italian sort of town with bikes and traffic everywhere, and hoards of tourists.
All day we’d been cycling past apple orchards and vineyards – it’s harvest time at the moment, and the smell of apples and wine is everywhere. Tiny little tractors were busy zooming around with crates of grapes on the back, and people were swarming all over apple trees filling box upon box of apples. We cycled past an apple factory outside of Brixen, with enormous stacks of apple crates, and the sweet apple smell lingers for kilometers.
We spent the night in Nals, a little town surrounded by orchards and vineyards, then continued along the bikepath, and past more apples. When we cycled past a thermometer in Meran it was already 16oC – much warmer than it has been recently! Meran was another hectic place, with lots of cobbled streets and bikes, and it took us a while to track down a grocery store and some stove fuel (we decide on unleaded petrol again). After finally escaping the city the bike path had a series of steep hair pins to gain us some elevation as we cycled up the valley. After that it seemed surprisingly flat and fast most of the day, with lots of apples and grapes to cycle past.
We get people yelling out and asking us why we’re going the wrong way (the uphill way that is) – it seems to be a bit of a theme on our trip. An Austrian couple reassured us that we can catch the bus up ahead so we don’t have to cycle over the pass. At that point we still hadn’t decided which way to go; there were three different passes to choose from to get into Switzerland. Reschen Pass would probably be the easiest and most sensible. Stilfser Joch would be the most interesting, and difficult.
Of course we ended up deciding to go for Stilfser Joch (aka Passo dello Stelvio). With a name like that, how could you not? And it has all those hairpins! It’s reported as having 15% gradients though, so we’re hoping it’s not too steep for too long. After making the decision we stopped to grab a few more groceries (as there would be a long stretch without a supermarket ahead). Turning off through Prad, and suddenly we were climbing. It was nice and constant though, and not too bad. No worse than Großglockner. There’s not a huge shoulder, but the road isn’t too busy, and it felt like there was enough space for us. We reached the first few of the hairpins (each numbered, we start at No. 48) and then Trafoi (about 1550m a.s.l.), where the campground was closed for the season, but we managed to find a spot in the forest nearby.
Distance cycled: 305km
Sleeping arrangements: Campgrounds/wild camping
Days of rain: 0/4 (wooo! the sunny spell continues)
Public toilets: Available
Bike friendliness: Pretty good, lots of signed bike trails, or roads that are fine to cycle on
Free wifi availability: Poor