Day 13 - Gorizia to Gemona del Friuli: Very nice thank you - It's Italy not Macedonia. Oh well. (2015)

September 30, 2015

Day 13 - Gorizia to Gemona del Friuli: Very nice thank you

Today was fun. I left by 8am and almost straight away started to climb in the hills north of Gorizia. Just along, but never crossing the border with Slovenia. My friend the NE wind was back, but in a very gusty fashion which impacted the ride differently depending on my direction of travel on the windy roads. Definitely, the worst was gusts blowing from the side as I was going downhill.

All quite pretty really. My roundabout route ended up taking me up and past the church (top left).

I really needed to control my speed. I passed through some small towns, saw the school bus returning back up (from Gorizia I assume), enjoyed the views, and admired the pretty vineyards with their cellar doors. The only other people around were in the odd car, collecting the rubbish, or cutting grass or pruning things (council workers) along the side of the road.

Having enjoyed getting my heart rate up, and the views, I eventually hit the flats again.

The route took me through some bits of forests and very small roads in the direction of Cormons. This area was all about the food and wine. Many fancy restaurants and 'rural retreat' expensive looking accommodation.

All very pretty. But you wouldn't want to be doing it in the rain!! Pretty marginal road surface which got worse a times - very sandy or lose gravel.

I continued north to Cividale del Friuli, which had an old and attractive core, with narrow confusing streets, squares, and many restaurants and shops. Unfortunately, I had only stopped about an hour previously at a bread shop for a bit of apricot tart and a coffee and it was not yet 12 noon. The timing was a bit off to make this the place for lunch.

Arriving at Cividale del Friuli. Narrow one-way streets and little squares. Gorgeous.

So I headed NW towards Tarcento on lots of small roads through tiny towns where nothing was open for lunch, not even a bar.

I decided that it was going to be emergency biscuits and peanut butter today and started looking for a pleasant place to pull over. I remember that in Germany, for example, the churches would normally have at least a few benches and there would always be somewhere to sit in the square. I don't remember ever struggling so much to find a lunch spot as I have here. I saw a WWI memorial in the middle of the road, with steps up to the main 'business' of the thing, and pulled over to check it out. Would it be in some way disrespectful? Then down a side road I saw an open trattoria called Al Sole. So that was lunch sorted.

A Friulian specialty - Frico - Montasio cheese (soft and the stronger flavoured hard mixed together) with potato fried up in a pan with lard. I only ate about half. It was a killer *in a good way!

I then had about 25km to my destination of Gemona del Friuli. It was mostly all quite lovely, zig zagging along on smaller roads watching lots of the business of farming around me. Most of the houses, particularly those on the edge of the villages, have extensive vegetable gardens and chickens. Today I also saw 2 of last season's calves in one front yard and in another a goat. If the front of the house is facing south, well that is where the garden and stock live! I arrived at Gemona at about 4pm.

After sorting myself out, I started uo the very steep hill the the town proper. This area was the epicentre of a large earthquake (and subsequent aftershocks) in 1976. I wanted to see an exhibition of photos about the event and the rebuilding. It was amazing to see really. The town really was destroyed. many of the buildings that survived the first shock, fell in the aftershocks. Many more were so badly damaged that they needed to be pulled down anyway. There are pictures of before the shocks, immediately after, and then after rebuilding. Also of the tents in the fields, and subsequent wooden huts in which the survivors lived (for years) whilst the rebuilding took place.

Noice. These streets had been completely rebuilt post earthquake.

The town is also very proud of the new 'post-modernist' buildings which replace some of the government buildings at the edge of the old centre. I wouldn't be rushing to see them particularly. Or the two story carpark build on the side of the hill, the top of which has become a new square... But anyway, it was an interesting place to wander in - in 12° temperatures by about 6.30pm. A bit of altitude and further north.

One thing I am a bit sick of is dogs. Thankfully, all have been behind good fences. But every 5th house seems to have a dog that needs to bark and chase you, trying to get through the fence, as you walk or cycle by. Many of the dogs are big and nasty looking. The noise if you live next door must be very annoying?

Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 547 km (340 miles)

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