A beautiful morning but didn’t have time for anything other than a cup of tea and a quick bite to eat – the air-con installers arrived just after 8:15.  We sat outside on the terrace and Mo barked every time they moved their big ladder, although she didn’t seem to mind the drill or small power saw. I took her for a walk down to Poppy’s for a cappuccino, then along to the little park and up the hill on the other side of the road.

Back at the house the two workers were still at it – they knocked off for lunch at 12:30 so we took the opportunity to also grab something to eat, then sat back in the courtyard until they finished.  It took them almost all day but they seem to have known what they were doing and it looks pretty good.

It works good too – the living room was much cooler in no time.  It will be very nice to have in the summer when it’ll be even hotter.

I made a meat-loaf with baked potatoes for dinner – it turned out not bad.  Went down afterwards for a drink at Poppy’s then stayed up much later than I should have reading another book.

After some rain during the night it wasn’t terribly surprising to wake up to an overcast morning.  The mist lifted but it was stormy and the rain did come – I hurried out and put the seat-cover on my bike just as the first drops hit.  The thunder was booming and Mo barked and barked, not liking it one bit – it seemed like she wanted to be louder than the big monster that she was hearing outside.

It didn’t rain long, then the clouds passed and it got sunny.  After trying several times to get thru by phone to Cascade Designs, who make my MSR tent, we figured out that we needed a ‘00’ before the country-code and the rest of the number that Dominic had forwarded to me.  Once the extra digits were entered we got thru easily and I was shortly speaking with a lady in the warranty/repair department. I told her what had happened and without asking any questions all she wanted to know was where to send a replacement part!  She needed my email address and immediately sent me an email with a diagram of the whole pole/frame apparatus and all I need to do is identify which part had chipped and broken, and tell her where to send the new one. She also assured me that it was very easy to take the broken piece out and replace it, and that people do it every day.

Colin and I then took a wheel-barrow full of old electronics to the tipping place – well, he took it while I walked Mo down to the campervan for the drive.  We stopped at a hardware store in Marsciano intending to see if we could pick up a jubilee clip as a temporary fix for the tent pole, but the store had closed 2 minutes previously for the (very annoying) 2-hour lunch.

Back at the house it was too hot to do any more door-staining so I stayed inside and continued reading a very good book that had been left in the house.  The previous owners had left, in addition to all of the furniture and dishes, an assortment of books and dvd’s.

Some time later the clouds moved in again, along with heavy rain, lightning and more thunder – no sitting out on the terrace this evening.

Thursday morning was so foggy you couldn’t see past the next house.  The sun slowly burned it off and the day gradually cleared. Took Mo-mo for a walk and got a cappuccino at Poppy’s – another kind of lazy day.  Colin did some more door-staining – the front door looks great with only two coats and the back now has its base.

The terrace is so lovely to sit and relax in – but having a mosquito coil burning definitely makes it more comfortable.

 

Spent most of Monday doing loads of laundry and cleaning the kitchen while Colin went to the home-store to arrange for the air conditioner to get installed.  I also vacuumed and dusted, in addition to wiping down all of the cupboards and washing all of the dishes that are used regularly.

The space sure looks bigger with all of the tools out, and we’re going to move the china cabinet after the air-con is done.  I took Mo for a walk down to the village store and then when we returned wiped off the outside table and a couple of chairs.  Sitting there on the terrace with a nice glass of wine is about what I had expected – just fabulous. (Below is the view from the terrace’s sitting area)

One of the black neighbourhood cats was sitting on the upper wall above the terrace and little Mo was down beneath going a bit mad trying to get at him – he didn’t seem at all worried, though, and just sat and lounged there looking down at us.

Tuesday was a bit of a lazy day for me, although Colin got to work putting the first coat of black stain on the front outside door.  He also re-painted the mailbox and it looks very sharp.

All I did was take Mo for a little walk down the hill to the store and back, then down again later with Colin for a drink at Poppy’s.  The owner seems to like us – he came out a couple of times and we chatted about where we had been the last week. He said he wishes he could do what we do, and that he wants to have his son take over the bar in a few years so he can move to Portugal.  He also told us that there are no fish anymore in lago Orta because of the chromium – ewww – it kind of taints my memory of how beautiful it was, and I’m sure glad I never jumped in for a quick swim. Oh – they also serve Caffe Vergnano 1882 here – now I’m noticing it everywhere!

After a nice shower and quick breakfast I got on the bike and rode into Cavour.  I took a quick circuit of the ‘Rock of Cavour’ then made a small detour to see the painted cow.  She has a new paint job that’s quite different from last year’s.

I ended up at the Fontana Cafe, which is where is spent many hours last year, sometimes going there twice in a day.  They have wi-fi whereas the campground doesn’t, although it’s not very fast. The waiter recognized me and seemed very happy to see me again.  I had a cappuccino while waiting for Colin and Mo to arrive, then had another once they’d joined me. Church had gotten out while I was there and the place was hopping busy, at least for awhile.  I mentioned to Colin that the cafe seems to have two names – maybe it changed names but they kept the black cups and saucers that said ‘Caffe Vergnano 1882’. Colin thought that was pretty funny – that is the kind of coffee the cafe serves and they get all kinds of things from the coffee company to promote their brand.  Now that I’m thinking of it I believe they had the same cups at the cafe we stopped at in Saint Vincent – ha ha!

It was kind of sad for me to leave Cavour as it’s one of my favourite places from last year’s trip, but I hope to be back again at some point.

We headed southeast and entered the motorway not far from Fossano and reached the coast at Savona.  From there it was northeast to Genova where it veared southeast again. We passed Carrara, where all the beautiful marble comes from – you can see the mountains that have been hacked almost in half from the quarrying  – if you didn’t know different you might think it was snow, and there are stone-mason places everywhere.

We left that motorway and got onto another one just north of Pisa and headed east towards Firenza where we then headed south past Siena.  Somewhere along the way Colin told me to look at what was passing us on the left – there were 5 Ferraris in a row (all just beautiful, of course – red, red, yellow, red, silver).  A short while later there were two more – maybe stopped for gas or something so got separated.

At some point in the long day’s driving the toll-slip that we got when we entered the motorway had disappeared but when we exited it was at a place that actually had people at the booths rather than just machines.  Colin told the fellow where we’d gotten on and showed him our map – he did a quick calculation and let us on our way (after Colin paid, of course). I figured that if someone was going to lie about how far they’d come they would have said ‘oh – I only entered the motorway 20 km ago’ not the several hundred we honestly admitted to so he believed us.

Before actually going home to Papiano we went into Marsciano for food supplies, and arrived back at the house in the early evening.  The kitchen looks spectacular and the terrace outside is lovely and very inviting.

Had a nice dinner and early to bed – even tho I wasn’t driving it was still a long day.

 

Had a really good sleep – maybe it’s the fresh mountain air.  Took a walk up to the summit – they’re erecting a banner and barriers, and more and more people are arriving, including many on bikes.  I looked up at the hill across the way and wondered if my eyes were failing – there was a light mist over everything.  It turns out it wasn’t a mist – it’s very fine pollen from some of the trees and it was blowing almost sideways in the breeze.  I guess Froome – and all the other ‘asthmatic’ riders – will be huffing on the puffers like mad today.

Colin got the flags up on the campervan and a couple more cars joined us.  One of the dutchmen next to us went for a ride on his bike while the other two went for a walk.  Colin and I ended up talking for quite awhile with a couple from Guernsey that recently retired and sold their house and are now travelling all over in a campervan.

We took Mo for a walk along one of the upper trails – it winds up fairly gently towards the west for quite awhile before it switches back and onwards and upwards to the east.  Where it turns it opens up so you can see the whole valley below with the wonderful lush fields and small villages. You can also see the road that the racers will be on, and all of the campervans parked wherever possible.

Back at the campervan we had figured that we were about 100-150 metres from the summit of this, the second of three climbs in today’s race, and we are actually right at the 150 metre mark – they erected a sign right beside the campervan.

Still more people arriving all the time and one more car squished in beside us – I didn’t think there was room but she backed in with just enough room to be able to open the door and get out.  The road is lined with fans on both sides from well below us to over the summit.  The crowds are mostly all so nice – some are a bit ‘exuberant’ but still friendly – we’re all there for the same reason.  Except for one Swiss woman – she was standing on the small wall across from the campervan and I had put my coat there to save my spot (we were the very first ones here, after all).  When I went to take my spot she started going on and on in French to her partner, who was down at road level beside me.  I did understand part of what she said so I looked up at her and the look on her face was just nasty – rather than respond in kind I chose to move further down the road, which turned out to have a better view anyway.  Too bad some folks just can’t enjoy where they are and what they’re doing, but try as she did she couldn’t ruin my day.

The riders came into view shortly after we saw the heli’s and heard the crowds below us cheering.  The first 10 or so were strung out in singles or 2 or 3 together, then the peloton arrived with Sky leading the train.

Froome was in the middle near the front with Dumoulin not far behind.  One of the dutchmen had told us that Yates had cracked yesterday and Froome had broken away with 80 km to go – he couldn’t be caught and is now in the pink and almost assured of a win.

Poor Pinot was having a bad day and his whole team dropped back to help him, followed shortly by the sprinters as usual in one big bunch just trying to make it up the second to last climb of the entire 3 weeks.  (We found out later that Pinot was admitted to hospital in the evening and treated for pneumonia)

When the last racer had passed we packed up and hit the road, having decided to get partway back to Papiano.  We stopped at the fruit-farm near Cavour (where I had stayed for 9 days last year) and when I walked thru the courtyard to the washrooms I was met by the two little doggies – mama Maya and her baby Spreet.  I asked where the big dog was and was very sad when told that he had passed away last year. They’re having some sort of dinner tonite – I estimate there were 80 or 90 people in attendance, including many children.

 

Kind of sad to leave the campground – it’s so beautiful here looking out over Lago Orta.  We followed slightly slower roads generally west then northwest until we reached Saint Vincent which is just off the highway.  We know we’re on the right road at the moment as we see decorations for the race.

We stopped at a cafe for some cappuccino and to check tomorrow’s route from here again to make sure we take the correct small mountain road to camp on.  We met an older Dutch fellow who’s travelling alone in a campervan and is going to the finish of the stage but we’re planning on being near the top of the second climb.

Saint Vincent seems to be a popular place to go hiking from.  There is a large map in front of the cafe that shows miles and miles of hiking trails in the area.

We found the right road and it winds up and up the side of the mountain, going thru beautiful alpine villages and past lovely open fields.  We passed a couple of spots that would have been good to camp at but they were taken already. We had almost reached the top of the climb when we saw a place that had two cars – we guessed they were hikers as there are tons of hiking trails around here.  

We drove a bit further then, as we were going downhill towards Torgnon decided to turn around and go back to the spot we’d passed.  

It was a lovely place – the air is really fresh and it’s very peaceful.  You can see a structure just below us and there is a trail to it so I took Mo for a little walk.  It almost looks like a church, with paintings on one side but I’m not really sure what it is. The door is very sturdy and is locked – it’s definitely not a hiker’s refuge.

Another campervan pulled in to join us – three friends from the Netherlands.

 

Since we’re staying another night here we decided to take a tour around the area, so after breakfast we headed north to the town of Omegna, which is at the at the north end of the lake.  We continued northeast from there to Verbania, which is where a small arm of the larger Lago Maggiore juts out.

We stocked up on food for the next few days, then drove down to the lakeside and found a parking space right on the lake and across from a cafe.  We each got a cappuccino, and I logged onto their wi-fi for a bit. After our coffees we went for a walk along the lakeside  before returning to the campervan for lunch.  There are people swimming at the beaches, but the water must be very cold – there’s still snow visible on the mountains just to the northwest.

There’s a memorial to the two world wars right on the lakside with names inscribed of the men from the town that died in each.  It has a very moving sculpture on one side.

I saw some birds in the water – a male and a female, and I noticed two little ones swimming very near them as well.  When I looked closer I saw that there was at least one more riding on the top of the daddy’s back while mommy dived from time to time for food.  Colin thought they were Great Crested Grebe (we looked it up later in his ‘Field Guide to Birds or Britain and Europe’ and he was right).

After eating we back-tracked a bit so we could go down the west side of the lake to get back home.  It was a lovely drive – there were several very fancy-looking hotels that looked like they perhaps used to be the villas of very wealthy people, right across the road from the lake.  We agreed that this lake would be much more touristy in summer than Orta and are glad to have visited it before it gets too busy and crowded.

Back at the campground my laundry from yesterday was dry on the line, and we shortly acquired two neighbours – one on each side, although we still have lots of privacy with the hedges.

Got a fairly early start heading south/southwest along the eastern edge of Lago di Garda, which was just beautiful.  

We went thru many lovely little towns right along the lakeshore and it was a wonderful drive right until we got about ¾ of the way down.

We suddenly hit standstill traffic – wondered if there was an accident, but then we saw a sign that made us believe there was road-work happening.  It turns out that there was actually a market on in the next town and it was right along the ‘highway’.

We just got moving on the other side of the town when once again we were bumper-to-bumper backed up.  We were getting near the toll-motorway and saw a stranded semi-truck but that wasn’t the problem. We were diverted down and around an exit/entrance ramp and above us we could see that on the highway there had been a very hot fire – the road barrier and some of the tarmac had been so badly burned they were melted and the road crews were re-paving the whole overpass.

After the two slow-downs we seemed to really be moving, bypassing Brescia, Bergamo and Milano before veering west/northwest.  We exited the toll-highway and went west a bit towards Borgomanero, then north along the east side of Lago Orta. It is small, but very beautiful.  About half-way along the road at Pettanasco we found the signs that directed us up the hill to the campground we’d chosen.

It has awesome views of the lake, including an island with structures on it.  I asked the fellow at the check-in whether it was a hotel and he said that no – it was a monestery and nuns stilled lived there.  I wondered if the monks were now getting lucky, but kept that joke between Colin and myself.

It is very quiet and relaxing here and we’ll be staying for two nights.  I have to pay for the wi-fi connection so won’t be looking at stupid news as much as usual.  I’ll just have to resign myself to enjoying where I am at this moment – can’t be far from paradise.

Had a wonderful shower, although another thing that’s on the clock – 3 ½ minutes per token, which he gave us when we checked in.  I had asked if there was laundry and he said yes, but all I could find was sinks outside, and one had a huge beetle in it. I did do some hand-laundry and hung it to dry on a line that we strung up, although it wasn’t warm enough to dry it through.  Put the still damp things in a waterproof bag to try again tomorrow.

Colin, in the meantime, had found the ‘real’ laundry – both a washer and dryer that were inside the men’s part of the shower/toilette facilities. That was the one place I hadn’t looked, as who really expects the men to do the laundry and not the women??

Walked down to the village with Colin and Mo shortly after breakfast – went to the same cafe I was at yesterday on my bike ride.  Had another excellent cappuccino then headed back to the campervan to get ready for the race.

Colin went to put up the flags but couldn’t find the zip ties so he went back down to the village – no one had them so he ended up attaching them with bits of my clothesline string.  It rained off and on all morning but slacked off about ½ hour before the race started.

Quite a few racers did another trial run on the course, then the real race started from Trento at 1:20, reaching us just before 2:00.

We’re right at the 10 km to go mark and have a banner and everything just a few metres down from us.  I walked up a ways with Mo and had a nice chat with some English folks – a mother and son from Cornwall.

I find that almost anyone will wave and smile at me if I wave and smile first – even the police motos and cars, as well as the other race vehicles.

The race was awesome – we knew the start order, which is the current overall standing in reverse.  Sven Tuft, bless him, was the third one by and I gave him an extra big cheer. I had one of my Cdn flags pinned to my black jacket which was over my chair at the side of the road and when Sven rode past I screamed very loudly ‘go Canada!’ (not that he heard).

The crowds along the road were great, but I was surprised by the number of amateur cyclists going both up and down as the race was happening – that would never be allowed in the Tour!  

After the last rider – Simon Yates – passed all of the calvacade went by again, as well as a bunch of ambulances and the other official cars.  Once again within seconds the barriers and banner were coming down and folks were leaving.

Guido had his tv on so he could watch as the racers reached the finish.  Rohan Dennis won the stage with Tony Martin coming second and Dumoulin doing well enough for third.  Simon Yates lost time to his main competitors, but is still in the overall lead.

About ½ hour later we were all alone on the side of the hill and it suddenly seemed very quiet.

Had a not-bad sleep – lots of dreams.  In one I was going by our old house on Lakeshore Rd and the door was open so I asked if I could have a peek inside.  All of the rooms were in the same place but there was the addition of a second floor. The heating stove in the living room was gone and the cooking stove in the kitchen was on the other side of the room.  In another dream I saw a ladies bike outside a store and decided to take it (!) then when I was riding it to another store thought that if the cops were waiting for me outside for stealing the bike it would be very embarrasing so I rode it back to the first store.  I decided to buy it since the tag said it was only $26.95 but when I went into the store it rang up as $6,295. I said ‘even my beautiful Cannondale only cost $1,850!’. I then thought to myself, still dreaming, ‘at least I didn’t steal it – if it cost $26.95 getting caught with that would have been bad enough, but if it was $6,295 that would be much more serious’!

Back in the real world after a quick bite to eat got on the bike for a real ride.  Started down the hill to the village and rode around a bit – stopped at an open cafe and had an excellent cappuccino.  I was reading the sporting paper The Gazette, which is printed on pink paper, and wanted to write down the start order for the time trial tomorrow but my pen wouldn’t work.  The three older Italian fellows at the next table saw my dilema and one of them went up to the bar and got a pen for me. In addition to the start order I made note of where the 3 Cdns are in the overall – Michael Woods is currently 17th (he was 7th last year in the Vuelta), Boivin is 111th and Sven Tuft is 159th.  After leaving the cafe I took a ride around the village – it’s bigger than it looks from the road.

A little while later Colin, Mo and I, in addition to our neighbour Guido, walked down to the village, Colin got a couple of things from the co-op market then we all went to a cafe for some coffee.  Guido filled up his water bottle from the main village fountain.

By the time we got back to the campervan it was almost time for lunch.  It ended up taking me quite a while to get things together as I kept running out to take photos as many of the racers were doing test runs of the ITT course.  Today’s a rest day for them and a lot of them did ride the route although I didn’t see the Froomester.

After I finished lunch I visited Guido for a bit as he ate his lunch, then Colin and I walked, with Mo of course, back to the village again. Tried for awhile to get hooked up to the free village wi-fi but was unsuccessful so continued on to the same cafe we’d been to earlier.  We were only there for a short bit when two guys started to install the air-conditioning unit on the ceiling. I couldn’t believe they were doing it with customers right below them and no coverings on the tables or anything. They were cutting metal and everything – using a piece of cardboard as protection from the sparks that were flying everywhere.  The smell was horrible – we moved out to the ‘outside area’ where the cigarette smoke was less noxious than the metal-cutting.

I went to say hello to Guido and he invited me in – he had his tv on and confirmed that he will get the ITT tomorrow so we’ll know who’s coming, etc.  He then put the moves on me ‘you have such beautiful eyes’, ‘your bed in the campervan must be so piccolo (small) and my bed here is very grande (large)’, ‘don’t you get cold?’.  I gulped down the last half of my wine and left.

At last another campervan pulled in beside us – a man and his son, both with bikes.  Shortly thereafter a fourth one showed up – our little space is almost full, and our view of the village and mountains is blocked.