We got up at 6 AM today. We had wanted to go to our final destination to Bologna where we had our room booked at Hotel Ramada which was approx 480 Kilometers away and we had to cross the Alps. We had breakfast and were ready to leave having checked out by 8 AM. Sunny struggled for another 15-20 minutes fixing the 5D II cum gorilla pod contraption on his handlebar. It seemed that each time we fix it, we have to invent a new way as all previous ways do not work in safely fixing the camera. After a lot of effort, it somehow worked.
We hit the same road again and soon passed Ronco, the Swiss village we had been to the previous evening. The road was narrow but fast and slowly climbed till we hit another mountain pass. Passo della Novena which is a mountain pass at an altitude of around 2600+ meters and we were here already at 9:30 AM. As soon as we reached the top, we saw many bikers parked with their wonderful bikes. Ducati’s had started appearing in goof numbers and there were Moto Guzzi’s, Yammy’s, Honda’s and gladly no Harley Davidsons!! We went crazy video graphing and photographing them.
There was another glacier here and after a good satisfying shooting session on roads surrounded by Snow, we started our descent towards the Swiss town of Brig.
<< Passo Novena>>
I am sure folks back home are tired of my saying beautiful, astounding and picturesque again and again but what can I do, my job is to document the trip and I can only state facts. The road to Brig travels along the top of a mountain range and it is one helluva ride.
From Brig, we turned left and turned towards the Samplon Pass. Unlike the other passes, Samplon is at a relatively lower altitude and so there are no glaciers and snow but it was beautiful nevertheless. There is a huge bridge we have to cross joining two mountains. This bridge provides a very good view of the Swiss countryside and so we stopped at a parking site after crossing the bridge. Sunny wanted to capture the scene and so we picked up the camera gear and walked back alongside the bridge back about 250 meters. It was quite hot and I was sweating profusely (I also had my helmet and backpack on since we could not leave that stuff by the roadside un-attended). Samplon is the final outpost in Switzerland and has a Swiss Chalet perched beautifully below the bridge as we enter Italy via Issele which is the border.
The road is also lined with in-numerable tunnels some of which are 4-5 kilometers long and others are narrow but short. We crossed the Samplon at about 12:30 and the border at approx 1 PM. This time, we had no issues being checked at either of the outpost and rode straight on. The traffic was heavy (from Swiss/Italian standards, however unlike the madness of Delhi roads, so relatively comfortable for us) but disciplined and we kept going. Soon we hit a highway and from thereon the speed was a good and steady 120 Kmph. The road was leading us towards Milan and Genoa and many Kilometers and many Tunnels later we stopped about 70 Kilometers from Milan to get fuel and rehydration as the heat and humidity had returned.
<<The last view of Switzerland from the Samplon Pass Bridge>>
<< Swiss Chalet as viewed from the Samplon Bridge>>
<< We stopped at a small Swiss Village – It was like a doll house>>
<< The water Hydrant in this Swiss Village – the level of development and facilities in villages is very high>>
Then again it was straight to Milan where we planned to stop to get some biking gear. We found Union Bikes (a large biking shop in the Milan City Center) at about 3:30 PM and spent a lot of time buying tank bags, HD Video Camera’s, Stickers, backpacks, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.. The bikes were loaded by now and every corniche and nook and cranny was stuffed with something or the other. It was difficult for me even to climb and sit on the Ducati with my additional backpack on which also had our Tripod tied on top of it. We still had about 190 Kilometers to go but it was the AutoStrada we were taking so there was no worry. The only problem was the heat.
As usual, as soon as we got out of Milan, the TomTom took us on the wrong Autostrada towards Genoa (back to where we came from) and so we had to do a U turn after some Km’s and exited this one and went towards the correct one this time. It was a high speed ride in the typical Italian fashion. The fast lane is marked at 110 km/h, middle one is marked at 90 km/h and the outermost is marked at 60Km/h, but the Italians drive anywhere between 140 to 250 Km/h on the fast lane and I don’t think anyone is slower than 100 on the one marked 60!!
On the way, the fuel light came up again and we stopped at about 6 PM to get a sandwich and a drink which were badly needed. This was the first morsel since the breakfast of the morning. We hit the Autostrada again and Bologna was still 100 KM away which we reached by about 8 PM and 15 minutes later we were in the reception of Hotel Ramada. This is also the hotel where we had stowed our suitcases before setting out for Venice. The first leg of the trip was coming to an end and we had touched home base.
What followed at the hotel reception was hilarious. We unloaded the bikes and reached the reception and gave our particulars to the clerk and he kept looking confused. After a lot of questioning and answering between us including sign language, it turned out that we had completely lost track of dates and time, gotten mixed up with the dates and had arrived in Bologna a day earlier than scheduled!!! The confused clerk was not sure how to help us but nevertheless he did. We decided to stop for the next day here as well and complete the blog and pictures and take some rest as the first leg was grueling in terms of rides most of which was in the Alps requiring a lot of concentration and physical exertion .
Signing out Until tomorrow.
