In Cuneo: the north loop

October 21, 2021

Today’s ride

We awoke this morning with the plan to finally take a ride up one of the mountain valleys that penetrates deep into the Maritime Alps. The route we picked was a 40 mile out and back southwest along the Gesso, steadily climbing about 3,000’ on the way out. Challenging, but we figured we’d just turn back if it got too difficult or cold at the higher elevations.

That plan went out the window though when we checked the weather this morning and saw that rain was expected in the mountains. Climbing 3,000’ on a cold and wet day seemed ill-advised so I went back to the map and pulled out a much tamer loop through the flats to the north of town, a sector we haven’t explored yet. We waited until 11 when the risk of rain had passed and then hauled our bikes down the stairs one more time. As we walked down I was comforted by the realization that it’s only 49 steps, not 55. Much better.

A good ride - quiet, peaceful, if undramatic - and probably the most enjoyable of the three rides we took from here, if only because it was almost entirely on smooth roads. Cold though, particularly in the morning when we were biking north into the wind and the sun hadn’t started breaking through the clouds yet. When the sun does break through a bit the impact feels minimal.The chilly and damp air makes this feel almost like an early winter day, reminding us that it’s time to move on again.

We’ve had such fun carrying our bikes up and down these stairs that I want to remember them. We can’t complain though - we could have had a room up here on the fourth floor. 93 steps - yikes!

We begin today’s ride by crossing the Stura. Here we’re looking downriver at the Soleri Viaduct, which we’ll cross later when we return to town.

Looking back at the city from across the Stura. For a brief time the mountains were hazily visible behind it but they soon vanished.

On beautiful Via Madonna della Riva, lined with locusts.

The Sanctuary of the Madonna della Riva.

On Via Madonna della Riva, a beautiful route on which to leave town.

RideWithGPS warned us about this stretch so we have no complaints. It’s a pleasant ride really, with water rushing down narrow channels on either side.

So which came first - this farmhouse or the road?

You’d think with a distinctive skyline like this I could locate this village, but I can’t.

Same village. An old factory of some kind.

For the first half of the ride we biked along streams and canals making their slow way to the Po, dropping about five hundred feet in the process. The way back was the same story, but reversed.

In Villafalletto, the village where we stopped for lunch, happy to be out of the cold wind for a spell. The women chatting are workers at the morning market that is just breaking down for the day.

Reflection of a factory wall in a channel.

In the afternoon the sun finally broke through and the nearest hills became visible. This was as clear as the day ever got, but we still couldn’t see the mountains behind.

A good use for chips. Cheap entertainment.

We agree. Cuneo is a bicycle friendly city.

Video sound track: Tanglesood Tree, by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer

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Ride stats today: 42 miles, 800’; for the tour: 2,284 miles, 81,400‘

Ending the tour

Our six weeks in Italy is going much differently than we had anticipated when we first started planning out this tour last spring. We intentionally kept this part of the tour open, not booking anything other than our final lodgings so we’d have the flexibility to change our plans as we went in response to weather conditions or other inspirations. Still, we’re surprised by how much revision has occurred. Here’s the original vision we began this part of the tour with.

Instead, it looks more like below. In revisions so far we’ve dropped Udine, Pordenone, Vicenza, Verona, Cremona, and Piacenza. We’ve replaced them with a three day detour into Slovenia; a ride along the southern flank of the Carnian Alps to Bassano and Trento; a train ride to Crema; and two weeks in the Po Valley and the Piemonte. We’ve been very happy with all our changes (but perhaps could have done with a day less in the Po Valley), and have been blessed with mostly excellent weather. Great so far.

And now, we’ve completely thrown out the plan for the final two weeks and started from scratch. Partly because of the weather forecasts but also because we were startled to realize we haven’t been along the coast since our stay in Morro Bay almost a year ago, we’re scrapping the inland route through the Tuscan and Umbrian hill towns and instead will follow the hopefully sunny and warm coastline. Out are Lucca, Siena, Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano and the like; and in are Imperia, Albegna, Viareggio, the Island of Elba, and Orbetello. The actual plan, with the individual stages highlighted, is shown below.

You’ll notice some gaps. We’re going to lean on Italy’s robust train system to fill them, taking the train tomorrow morning from Cuneo to the Mediterranean coast. A few days later we’ll take the train again, bypassing Genoa and the mountains around Cinque Terre. And at the end, we’ll take the train from our final stay in Viterbo to the Rome airport.

What? You’re surprised we’re not going to Rome? The truth is, we’re not really that into big cities; and anyway we had some trouble finding a hotel that would store our suitcases when we started testing this out last spring. Covid was rampant then, and the hotels we checked at were resistant to receive our luggage because of Covid. We finally found a willing Airbnb in Viterbo, so we decided to end the tour there.

We’d already started and named the journal by then, so we stayed with it. And besides, The Road to Viterbo doesn’t have quite the same cachet, does it?

Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 2,284 miles (3,676 km)

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