September 29, 2012
Airolo to Biasca: It is steep
We were so lucky that we went over the Pass yesterday as there was no way we could have done it today as the weather was shocking. I put on a couple of extra layers before we left about 9am and certainly was pleased I had.
Yesterday I had spoken to the lady in the information about maps but she said it was a waste of money to buy one as it was basically just straight downhill and well marked. This is amazing, the valley is very narrow and really just a conduit for transport. The train line is astonishing, it is extremely steep and goes through many tunnels, looking at a diagram of it in the station it is obvious that the line goes in spirals in some of these. The motorway twists and turns, is often on high viaducts above the old road we were riding and it too has tunnels. Our road was steeply down hill all the way, it too going through the odd tunnel, my brakes began to scream in protest. We hardly pedaled all day so of course it seemed to get colder and colder, it was worse for Ken than me because he had one less layer on. There were hydro electric stations along the way harnessing the power of water that was hurtling towards the sea. The water was quite clear and seemed to be at a normal level although there was drift wood high up in evidence of a different picture a couple of days ago. We are now in Italian speaking Switzerland but it is hard to convince yourself that it is Swiss not Italian, that is until you go to pay for something! Along the way were little old towns not looking very prosperous (but maybe this was because of the weather). In one we found a bar and had a delicious cappicino.
We were approaching Biasca when the rain started in earnest and it looked that as the forecast had suggested it was with us for the rest of the day. We had wanted to go futher but it was miserable so we decided to stop. There seemed to be a couple of hotels so I went into a likely one – no vacant rooms. On to the next same story, in our saturated state we really didn’t want to go on to Bellinzona a bit over 20km away. The owner of the second hotel was wonderful. He said we were unlikely to get accommodation in the town because there was big event on but it had been cancelled because of the weather so there just might be a hotel with a room, he would ring around for us. Sure enough he found one, the only one in the town so we were extremely grateful to get inside and dry off. We spent the afternoon watching a grueling bike race from Begamo to Lecco. This is in the same general area we are in and it teamed with rain the whole time – I felt so sorry for the riders.
We did have a good day and the weather looks as if it will improve tomorrow and from Monday on should be good.
Today's ride: 44 km (27 miles)
Total: 3,366 km (2,090 miles)
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