On the road at 9; I'd set the GPS to take me straight across the middle of Geneva, and it worked well. I was on the Route Blanche by 9.30, heading for the Mont Blanc Tunnel at 120. Riding south from Geneva I'm heading for a row of giant jagged canines, and they really do tower over the motorway.
Couldn't stop to get the best pix.
Snowy canines further in, and the camera does not show it well. Tall viaducts and massive roadbuilding efforts too.
The last photo was taken from the memorial to the 39 people killed in the 1999 tunnel fire, and also to Pierlucio Tanuzzi who saved 10 by repeatedly riding his bike into the tunnel and back before dying himself.
My tunnel trip is 11 km long but uneventful; min. 50, max. 70, and stay 150 m apart. Down the Aosta Valley
the road goes through another 8 or so tunnels, each a kilometre long. Soon it's back to 120 and heading for Milan.
GPS quirks (and a misplaced menu selection) again caused a problem, and led to a wasted hour while I rode back and forth along motorways, through hundreds of square km. of rice paddies! Arborio rice, risotto ! said Charlotte when I mentioned it.
Then an argument with a motorway machine who wanted to charge me 69 euros for a 10 km. section, and I was relieved to eventually reach Pavia about 4, to a warm welcome from Charlotte & Dani.
Dani was just back from an 80 km ride on his mountain bike, looking wonderfully fit and athletic. Later they walked me on a tour of Pavia, which has no skyscrapers and feels a very comfortable town/city to live in.
Part of the University of Pavia; Dani works for another section.
Pavia has lots of ancient relics including the remains of the original Roman covered bridge. It was destroyed on the war, and a new one was built adjacent to the original footings.
Twelfth-Century remains.
Looking for gelato, to add to my samples from Singapore and Frankfurt, and a fruit flan to take home for dessert
Location:Pavia, Italy
No comments:
Post a Comment