204km; 2,100m ascent; 1 pass (Passo del Ballino: 750m); drank 8.5 litres
town passed:
Salo; Riva del Garda; Trento; Lavis; Mezzolombardo; Bolzano
You wanna know what my day was like? This is what my day was like! ALL DAY LONG!!!
And consider two points: the thing with water is Lago di Garda, i.e. a lake and not the sea (which would be supposed to have big waves). And this wind is coming from the north – and I was cycling to the north…
Apart from this unlucky “wind timing” it all was very scenic: along the western shores of beautiful ‘Lago di Garda’ – as a friend said: “best lake ever”; and I think I agree with him.
Lago di Garda in the north (near Riva)
Past Lago di Tenno with very intense colours and through the mountains, across a little pass, to Trento. And from there along ‘Adige’ river to Bolzano – the only junction point of my “double-Transalp” from the east to the west and then the south to the north.
through the mountains towards Trento and the valley of Adige river
Due to a lack of accommodation along the route, I didn’t stay in Bolzano as planned but continued along ‘Eisack’ river towards Brennero and finished my day in Klausen/Chiusa. That last bit actually went quite well and it probably was the only time ever to be on the road towards Brennero pretty much on my own: due to a landslide, the road was completely blocked and traffic diverted via the motorway. As it didn’t seem to be particularly appealing to me to take the diversion along the motorway (which obviously would not have been possible, i.e. it would have meant returning to Bolzano), I tried it anyway, and despite some angry faces of road workers, it all went well 😊
Best bit of the day: I’m back in “Johannisbeerschorlen”-country (red current juice mixed with sparkling water – THE refreshing drink on such a trip)!
accurate route details (incl. GPS track):
Vienna-Nice Transalp – ride home part 3 (Desenzano-Klausen)
Start date/time: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 9:17, distance (km): 203.28, elevation (ascent in m): 1,737
all photos of the day: