October 2, 2011
Another day of Apple Orchards: Nearly at Trento
Merano was a lovely town. It was particularly lively yesterday as there was a market on and there seemed to be lots of visitors in town. Getting out of it was relatively easy though the signs seemed to be leading us around in circles. The ride was again beside the Adige River and although it was beautiful was not quite as spectacular as it had been yesterday. Our first stop was at Bolzano, where we had a cappacino (1.40Euros and excellent though a little on the small side). Ken's sister had so enjoyed staying here a couple of years ago but there was no way we could do it justice with such a cursory visit. It is the city where the 'Iceman' is but we didn't even see him.
By now the serious early packs of cyclists on their training rides had begun to ease off and the hoards of recreational cyclists were on the move. When I saw one train going up it was packed with bikes no doubt going up the river to ride down again. Because today was Sunday there were no regular food shops open not even bakeries so we couldn't get any bread for our usual picnic so stopped and had a pasta meal at a small restaurant along the way with lots of others who were swopping in there.
The apple orchards continued until 65km after merino we went into a tight little gorge then after that there was hardly an apple in sight but they had replaced by vineyards. That is about 120km of apple orchards we have ridden through and if you like useless information, 1 in every 8 of the apples eaten in Europe are produced in the Alto Adige Valley. As today was Sunday the picking had come to a complete halt no doubt to start in its full fury tomorrow. the grapes when we came to them were grown on a high V type trellising that gave an effect rather like a pergola. All of them had been picked and the plants themselves had that tired look that the vines get after picking.
We had decided to stop short of Trento as it is always such a pain finding accommodation in a big city, particularly on a Sunday, so when we came to this little village and spotted a 2 star hotel with a good looking restaurant and Wifi decided we would stop. It is early so we should even get our washing dry in the afternoon sun,
He gave us a free beer when we arrived and his internet connection is gfreat I have been able to put on the pictures from the two days I missed as well as todays
Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 3,576 km (2,221 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |