To Tortona

October 10, 2021

So perhaps featureless terrain is something like fish and house guests and starts going bad after three days. Today is the fourth day, and it’s starting to go stale for both of us.

The ride begins with us bicycling southeast along the Ticino toward its confluence with the Po along the narrow, sandy footpath beside the bank. It was tricky getting down here on the steep, gravelly footpath that RideWithGPS chose for us, forgetting that we’re riding bicycles instead of goats. We’ve come this way thinking it might be a more attractive option than biking back through the middle of town; and perhaps it is. In places it feels a little insecure though, too narrow and sandy to feel quite comfortable.

Along the Ticino, approaching Pavia’s new old bridge. No cobblestones and crowds, so that’s good.

We’re back on pavement after a couple of miles but continue biking southeast along the Ticino for another six miles. Today’s destination, Tortona, is back behind us to the west; so we’re starting the day by going quite far out of the way. If we took the direct route to Tortona from Pavia it would only be 30 miles, so we’re adding over ten miles with this detour to the southeast. So why?

If you look at the map here, you’ll see that there are very few crossings of the Po River along this stretch; and none of the branded bicycle routes crosses the Po anywhere near here. In particular, there are two parallel routings of EV8 here, one along both banks of the Po; but there are no listed crossings for nearly a hundred mile stretch - all the way from Casale Monferrato to Piacenza.

So here’s another strike against Pavia - if you’re biking this way with the intent of heading southwest, you’re biking your way into a giant cul de sac. If I’d noticed this when planning this route I wouldn’t have come this way at all. I’d stay on the north bank all the way to Casale Monferrato, as we did three years ago. I wanted to see something different this time, but it was a logistical error.

Anyway, we ended up deciding to cross over at the Ponte Della Becca at the confluence of the Ticino and Po because in my map reading it looked safer than the more direct Ponte Girola. I couldn’t find anything about biking over either of them, so it was more or less an educated guess. Who knows if this was the right choice, but I can report that Ponte della Becca is manageable by bike, barely. And we aren’t the only cyclists crossing it, so that probably says something. We see about a dozen bikers crossing in the other direction, all moving as fast as they can and taking the lane with a queue of cars backed up behind them looking for a gap in oncoming traffic so they can ease past.

It’s a two lane road, and totally without shoulder or walkway. On the plus side it is closes to trucks, so that definitely helps. And it’s arrow straight, so there are no visibility problems making things worse. But it’s long! It seems like you’re biking this thing forever when you finally cross the river; but then you realize that was only the mouth of the Ticino you just crossed, and the Po itself is still ahead.

So, probably not even Type 2 Fun.

The bridge. There was no place at all to stop on the bridge for a shot of the river, so this is all you get. I’d say perhaps 20% of the total length is visible in this photo.

So, we’re across, and still in one piece each. Finally we can turn west and upriver along the east bank of the Po. And it’s a pleasant ride, on quiet roads elevated above the flood plain by about fifteen feet so you get some nice views of the flat, flat, flat surroundings. Pretty empty country, without enough shelter anywhere for even a respectable nature break. It’s a good thing that there’s no one around so you don’t actually need privacy.

But, as I said at the outset, we’re on day four and this look is starting to get old. We note with approval that there are hills rising just to the south of Tortona when we arrive. Tomorrow’s experience should be quite different.

Riding west along the Po, which is nearby but almost never visible.

There’s not much contour here, but we get the lions share of it by biking along the top of the dikes.

We’re up high enough that with this flat and open land we enjoy broad views.

Along the Po, which I think is hidden behind the furthest trees.

This is weird. We saw this convoy of ATVers back in Pavia two hours ago when they were roaring through town, deafening everyone around. They have the feeling of a caravan of Trumpistas, and perhaps they are. Note that one of the vehicles has two American flags flying behind it.

When I first saw this tower in the distance it looked like it was fractured and crumbling; but I see now that it’s just a very unusual design.

I’d like to get a closer look at that tower, but it didn’t seem quite right to venture down this long driveway to get one.

This perfectly symmetrical tree counts as a colorful sight in this nondescript land.

There are a few things to be said for little Tortona and our curious lodgings here. One of them though is that the WiFi here is awful, so I think I’ll stop for now and save the rest for tomorrow.

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Ride stats today: 41 miles, 600’; for the tour: 1,915 miles, 64,600‘

Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 1,915 miles (3,082 km)

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Suzanne GibsonWe have had a pretty scary crossing of the Po, too, but not so long as what you described. Sounded awful. But you survived.
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3 years ago

Tricia GrahamI understand exactly what you are saying about cycling in the Po valley - great at first then it wears thin which was the very reason we pulled the plug at Piacensa in 2019 and took the train to Genoa. As far as the bridges are concerned on our first trip in about 2000 we rode from London to Rome We were absolutely clueless at the time and crossing the Po valley had to ride over a massive scary bridge - Ken says the only way he knew I was still alive was that the trucks kept coming NEVER AGAIN
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonIt was bad, but not awful - not the worst bridge crossing of our lives. It makes so much difference that trucks are banned from this one, and oddly enough it probably helps that it’s so narrow and busy - there’s no real temptation to pass in a crazy situation. The drivers were surprisingly patient about queueing up behind the bikes.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Tricia GrahamThat’s such a scary situation, trapped like that. I was anxious about Rachael behind me also. I could seldom see her back there, and really couldn’t afford to look in the mirror very often. Nothing to do but ride it out and trust to fate.

It’s surprising that I’ve never noticed before how completely the river splits the north for cyclists for such a wide swath. We’ve crossed it three time before this - near Brescello, at Ferrara, and down on the delta. None of them were bad at all, so I didn’t give it much thought thinking about this one.
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3 years ago