Day 12 - Morebegno to Bormio - ride tota; = 900 k, 6,299 m

We are now in the mountains of Italy and in less than a day we have gone from the reasonably flat valley floor at about 200 metres above sea level (m.a.s.l) to what is now an elevation of 1,250 m.a.s.l here at Bormio -  to put that in perspective the Lewis Pass is 907 m.a.s.l. and Tekapo is around 700 m.a.s.l. The surprising thing is that at this elevation and higher there are many thriving communities.

They were one of the two stand out features on our ride today - villages dotted all the way up the sides of the Mountains - each appeared to have its ownn church yet directly adjacent to the village is the forest. What was the reason for the village being there in the first place and what do the residents who live there currently do (as in work or the like). There is not only one isolated village there are numerous villages and they are very hard to photograph as they get lost in the distance.

The other feature we noticed were al the small hydro schemes that appear to take water from a catchment high above the valley floor and pipe it down to the power station on the banks of the Ada River that we have follwed virtually all day long. The Italians certainly know how to manage and manipulate this River and waterway system with massive control works and diversion channels along its length - it is quite some feat engineering ability from what I could see,

Today will be remembered for as being the day Stephen's rear tyre decided to de-

laminate - he noticed a bump, bump, bump feeling and upon closer inspection saw that the trye was begining to de-laminate! A puncture we can deal with but when a trye we are well and truly up the creek without a paddle. It had not failed completely and we were only 15 km's from Bormio so he managed to nurse it through to the bike shop here.

While Stephen and Peter went in search of a bike shopwhen we got to Bormio I made my way directly to the apartment and got settled in. By the time the Boys had arrived I was ready to go off and do some shopping - if we can we prefer to make our own meals as there is only so much pizza and pasta one can have before the novelty begins to wear off (the same is true for your typical pub meal with chips and the like).

Dinner tonight was roast chicken, new potatoes and stur fry veges, that was after our pre dinner drinl (fanta) and nibbles (Brie, Salami, crackers and chips). There was a desert of fresh nectarine to follow.

Breakfast will be Museli, Fresh Nectarine, Yoghurt, croissant, tea or coffee.

It's 8:30 p.m. and I've popped out to lock the bike garage and heard ringing out cow or goat bells not that too far away from our apartment - very much something that once again reminds me I am well away from home and in Europe,

Talking of home my Monday riding group were meeting for their coffee for the end of week ride at the Black & White Cafe, would you believe that withing four hours of recieving Russell's email letting the group know about that coffee stop that we randomly decided to pull off the trail and try for a coffee at Treno and found ourselves at the Black & White Cafe!

Tomorrow we have set aside as a rest or Touristy day with time to service the bikes ahead of our ride over Stelvio Pass on Staurday - The Stelvio Pass summit is at 2,757 metres (cross check that with the Lewis Pass above to put it in perspective. 


















 


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