Euro Trip 2018: Day 4 - Trafoi to Trento

What day is it? It's Stelvio day! 😃 I know there's a lot of hype, but this was a big deal for all of the group. If I'm honest I was a bit anxious about heading up through the hairpins. Yesterday on the Silvretta I had struggled on the hairpins and had run wide on the exit of some of the uphill right-handers. That's all fine when there's nothing coming down the hill, but I wasn't looking forward to having to make an unexpected stop halfway round a bend and finding nothing under my feet due to the camber from hell! But to ride up the Stelvio pass was a biker's dream and something I had been looking forward to for so long. So it just wasn't right that I was now filled with trepidation at the idea. So I decided to knuckle down, figure out what needed to be done and enjoy myself - after all there were going to be many, many more hairpin climbs on this trip.

Day 4's route which included Stelvio, Gavia and Tonale passes

As planned we were all up early and once breakfast was consumed, we loaded up the bikes and set off. Jim made sure we were all on our best behaviour!

The Jim Reaper!

There's quite a way to go before you hit the famous hairpin sections on the mountainside, but it's still a lovely bit of road...

Then you eventually come to the section that everyone knows from photos and video clips...

I'd gotten my head around the hairpin issue - I wasn't pulling out wide enough before approaching the corner and this had me running wide on the exit. Once I corrected this everything fell nicely into place. Woo hoo! Another help was a tip from Wayne, get Pauline to look over her shoulder at the road ahead and call if it was clear or not. So thanks to both for the help - was much appreciated! 👍

I can see my house from here!

Now that's just showing off :-)

After many, many hairpins we finally reached the top of Stelvio. We were so early that the stalls were still closed with a few beginning to setup. We took the time to wander about with 'I'm on top of Stelvio' repeating inside our heads. I know some reading this will say 'meh', but this was a big bucket list thing for all of us, and it was cool that we all did it together.

Miles of smiles! :-)

The shops began to open and we started to browse for mementos to bring home. One owner insisted that her goods were unique and better than everyone elses. Her hard sell technique had me walking away in no time. Next door was a gorgeous Huskie type dog called Cookie. He was all cuddles, so this was definitely where I was going to pick something up. A few stickers and a fridge magnet later (and one last Cookie cuddle) and it was off for a cup of coffee.

Jim can barely contain himself with excitement!

As we sat with our coffees Derek came over and presented each of us with a Stelvio medal. A really top notch gesture that I'll not forget.

Felt like getting an Olympic gold!

So it was time to move on - we had plenty more miles to cover and at least two more passes to cross. This was going to be a most excellent day!

Stelvio Baby, Yeeaahh!!!

The descent on the Bormio side was just as much fun as coming up from Trafoi. The scenery was amazing - checkout the background in the following videos. Plenty of tunnels on the way down and plenty of rich folk in their sportscars (bet they were dead jealous of us bikers!).

Check out the waterfall and mountains in this clip...

Laugh of the day was the look on Jim's face when he saw his first uphill skier - check out his double-take at 1:35! Have to say it was pretty impressive watching them ski up that hill - doubt I'd even manage to walk it.

Our next stop was the Gavia Pass which couldn't have been more different than Stelvio. Much more technical with very narrow sections and plenty of dropoffs with no barrier whatsoever. Loved it! Not so sure about Pauline and Aynsley who may not have gotten a single breath the whole way over! Again, the scenery was amazing - mountains rolling away into the distance, their tips reaching right into the clouds.

We pulled over at the monument to get a few pics - was nice to be away from the more crowded stopping point that we'd just passed...

Obligatory Duucaati shot

Great views in every direction

Jim's hands were cold...so was Brian's head. Derek was fine.

Shells on the memorial site

We stayed to take a few pics and then got back on the bikes for the descent on the far side. Gavia is like four passes in one it changes so much as you cross it. As we started to descend the landscape opened right up - it was nothing short of breathtaking.

The unlit tunnels were a force to be reckoned with - when you first went in, you couldn't see a thing! Once you're eyes adjusted it became a little easier.

As we headed down, the landscape changed completely with trees and vegetation gradually reappearing on both sides...Road gets pretty narrow too, so we encountered a couple of mexican standoffs between cars. We just hung back and waited for them to sort it out. Best solution by far.

Just before the Passo de Tonale we spotted Wayne and Brian (who had gone on ahead of us earlier on) parked up at La Roccia hotel and restaurant just outside of Ponte di Legno. We pulled in to join them but when the lady of the house told us there were just three items on the menu, we settled for a Coke and decided to look elsewhere for lunch. So we headed off leaving the two lads to polish off their Spag Bol.

Next up was the Passo de Tonale - what a great bit of road! Lovely sweeping bends that you could see out the far side of. Perfect for getting a nice rhythm going. Pretty little villages dotted along the way divided the sections of fun roads.

Coming down the far side of the pass, the road just got better. This was turning out to be a great day of biking. We'd had it all, hairpins, passes, views, sweepers and it just kept coming! Little did I know what was coming next...

Just after Vermiglio on the SS42 a wasp flew into my lid, planted his sting right into my nose and proceeded to do Riverdance on my face. I flicked him away with my gloved hand and pulled over as the front of my face started to pump and throb. Right in my near vision I could see his sting still hanging out of my snozzer. So off the bike, off with the lid and prised the sting out with two fingers. Then it was time to hop about the place effing and blinding to my heart's content. Derek kindly nipped back up to Vermiglio to see if a chemist was open but it was lunchtime and everything was closed. So on we went once my tirade of expletives had run its course. I'd already been stung on the arm, and if that swelling was anything to go by, I was gonna look like Quasimodo in no time.

We pulled into a lovely pizza place, Ristorante Pizzeria Dolomiti just as we came in Dimario. The heat was pretty intense, over 30degC, and we needed both a break and some food. This place delivered on all counts. We sat outside, and in the shade, even at that it was toasty. Only thing Derek didn't like were the buff half naked men coming back from white water rafting sessions...Think they made him feel old! :-) In the interests of equality I thought the women should be doing the same too, but no joy. Food was top notch, I opted for pizza and Pauline's salad was tasty too...

Started munching before I remembered to take a pic

Pauline keeps it healthy!

Whilst letting our lunch settle we decided to take the shorter option to Trento. Instead of going via Madonna Di Campiglio on the SS239, we would stay on the SS42 and then head south on the SS43. According to Google Maps this would shorten the journey by an hour or so. At this stage we were all getting pretty frazzled by the heat, and my face was beating a nice regular tattoo as well.

One of the things we'd learned to do was soak our inner gear in water - it really helped to stay cool when back on the bike. To this end, Derek and Aynsley climbed over a wall to a stream to soak off. Little did Derek know but he ripped the arse out of his biker trousers in the process. It was only after walking around the hotel in Trento that he realised his trousers looked like this... :-)

Few too many baked beans the day before!!

As we made our way towards Trento it got hotter. I'd made the mistake of not popping the actual hotel into Google Maps so we needed to pull over to sort it out. What a time for the data connection to drop! Eventually sorted, we moved off again. As we got to within metres of the hotel I asked Pauline how she was doing. She replied that she was very tempted to just hop into the fountain beside us bike gear and all. Anything to cool off.

I think this was when we got hit by the heat the most on the whole trip. Moving slowly through traffic in a city while dressed in gear is tough going. But we finally arrived at our hotel, the Grand Hotel Trento...and what a welcome sight it was.

Quite a high brow establishment for the likes of a few scruffy Irish bikers. We didn't mind - all we knew was that we had two nights here and that meant a day without gear just wandering around. Champion! :-)