September 7, 2018
Bolzano - Sudtiroler Weinstrasse
Appiano
What a perfect day. We love riding our bikes and today’s ride was just magical. I hardly know where to begin.
We have decided that more often this year we will just stop and explore an area. We love the Sud Tirol and today we saw so many beautiful places. The CN suggested the wine route here and as our friends Doug and Liz rode the Sudtiroler Weinstrasse in June and really enjoyed it we didn’t need a better reason to give it a go. The weather was perfect. A wee bit overcast and a perfect temperature of 24 degrees. We had the tacky tourist map of the Weinstrasse to keep me happy, and the CN had his phone.
First up was the peloton. Most of them passed us in a whoosh as we were stopped briefly for a navigational check. Keith and I then passed one poor straggler who was quite a distance behind his compatriots. We were closing the gap quite nicely when the straggler passed me. He moved slightly left to pass the CN I thought, but no. He just tucked himself in behind my hero, I tucked in behind him and we pulled him back to his buddies. Our own mini peloton.
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Next up was the traffic. Honestly, this was just such a fun ride. Coming in the other direction was some kind of supported tour...I counted 37 of them. There were many cheery hellos.
Then suddenly we had the trail to ourselves. It was so gorgeous and at this point just slightly downhill. The kind of downhill you cannot see, but you can feel. The valley was stunning in its beauty. We were spinning along and loving it. Bike touring at its best.
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Then we came to the Kalterer See. We had been winding our way through a well signed (in English, as well as German and Italian) ecological area. We stopped and read all of the signs and I took pictures of the one which explained how to make the perfect polenta. We were just having such a good time. The Kalterer See is beautiful, and warm, according to those signs. I didn’t personally try it out.
We had our picnic lunch overlooking a vineyard and the Kalterer See. We had a hilarious discussion about which one of us was going to sneak down and steal a bunch of grapes. We are just not very good at being bad. Keith finally agreed to be the brave one and those fresh grapes made a delicious dessert.
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Riding through vineyards is just about our favourite thing. It really is. Looking at the amazing views, thinking about all that future wine, and then tasting the current version. What could be better?
So of course, the next up was wine tasting. Did we want to try red or white? Well duh, we want to try both.
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Then we spun up into Kaltern. It is one of those amazing spots that make travel so interesting. Just a beautiful village in the heart of wine country. We were charmed. We met a group from Luxembourg and had a wonderful conversation with them. Such nice people. It was a highlight in a day of superlatives.
After Kaltern we had an ice cream and tiramisu stop and then swooped back to the hotel through stunning scenery. The pictures will tell the story.
We have had a wonderful dinner and were joined at our table by by a tour guide for bike tours. He had some insights into what it is like to lead bike tours, especially when there is a range of abilities and personalities. Perhaps not the dream job we thought it might be. He said when the group is right it is a dream job. He is working hard to discover the best way to make every group run smoothly 👍. A great evening all round.
Today's ride: 49 km (30 miles)
Total: 616 km (383 miles)
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