Day 6 (20/08/2014): Pieve di Livinallongo/Buchenstein-Mezzana (156km/3,100m ascent/3 passes/drank 6.0 litres)

passes climbed:
Passo Pordoi (2,239m); Karerpass/Passo di Costalunga (1,752m); Mendelpass/Passo di Mendola (1,363m)

towns passed:
Canazei; Bolzano; Kaltern; Dimaro (near Madonna di Campiglio)

Oh bella Italia! I really enjoy my time in the country of the southern Alps. The landscape is extremely varied, the people are nice, and the cycling goes well. Only the weather is somewhat… let’s say “un-Italian”. I might sound a bit like a Brit because of talking about the weather all the time – but it’s quite a significant part of my trip. I was a bit over-optimistic when I put on sun lotion this morning. Not really necessary, but at least I reduced the weight of my luggage by a few milligrams 😉

climbing Passo Pordoi in the Dolomites:

And one other thing I don’t quite get down here in Italy (“down here” sounds somehow funny when just having crossed a 2,239m high pass road): I have the hardest time finding groceries along the way when I planned to buy some. It was the case in Cortina yesterday, and today again in Bolzano: there are a million bars along my way, but a petrol station or supermarket which sell groceries and batteries for my GPS device… tricky. Especially around Siesta time as it happened to be during the past two days.

on top of ‘Karerpass/Passo di Costalunga’ after one of many heavy rain showers of the day

Besides that it came true what I expected: very many cyclists on the way up to Passo Pordoi. But what else would one expect in that amazing area. One thing that’s obvious though is that I mainly see road cyclists without luggage or mountain bikers with day packs on some hike-and-bike-mission on the pass roads. The ones packed with luggage tend to be in the valleys only…

on my way up to ‘Mendelpass/Passo di Mendola’ with ‘Kalterer See’ in the valley on the left

And now that I have passed Bolzano (with 250m the lowest point of my trip before Nice, I think) and Passo di Mendola, I’ll only get to places I have never ever been to before (apart from Rosenheim’s partner city Briancon). So it continues to be exciting!

Lago di Santa Giustina next to Cles (view from Revò)

1,220km/26,900m ascent/20 passes to go!

accurate route details (incl. GPS track):
Vienna-Nice Transalp – day 6 (Pieve di Livinallongo-Mezzana)
Start date/time: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 9:04, distance (km): 154.83, elevation (ascent in m): 2,806

all photos of the day: