Day 37- Lago di Cavazzo to Aviano

May 17, 2025

Reset day

I’m writing this up the day after we did the ride and I think that’s a good thing.

During the ride I can remember having thoughts like ‘This is Ok, but it’s. A bit of a letdown from yesterday’.

I think thats a normal reaction, however coming back a day later to ‘write it up’ and having another look at the pics we took, it was a great day by any normal tour standards. Granted, most people, and that includes me, normally just post ‘the best pieces’ of the day (unless they’re ‘so bad they’re good’), and this day did have some nondescript highway riding and lacklustre towns, but by and large we were riding in some wonderful areas.

There’s probably not a better way to start the day either. Our hotel, Trilago set right on the shores of Lago di Cavazzo, was great. Comfortable room and bed, everything was clean and worked, both dinner and breakfast were good, basic food - all that you needed on a tour, and … they had a great bike garage with a tool bench and floor pump. A tire top up, quick rack bolt check with the supplied hex wrench’s and we were good to go.

Today’s ride skirted along the edge of the pre Alps that seem to rise straight out of the Friuli plain. Thirteen km’s into the ride we came to Lago di Corino, a small but astonishingly clear and blue lake set underneath cliff bands. Not only was the lake amazing, there’s a ‘vulture sanctuary’ here as well where Griffon vultures have been reintroduced. As you do with vultures, we spotted them first, circling high above the lake and along the cliff bands. When I saw them I immediately remembered Scott Anderson’s post from their ride through here in 2021. We saw about 10 vultures… very cool … however the Andersons had about 100 (amazing pics in their post).

The rest of the ride was through small villages, farm fields, vineyards, some on roads we shared with the occasional car but most were more or less deserted roads (I should note that all of this was the designated FVG3 cycle way).

The only potential blemish on the day was the weather forecast. Rain was predicted in Maniago around 1 pm and in Aviano, our endpoint, at around 3 pm.

It was approaching 1 when we pulled into Maniago so we decided to find a nice inside place for lunch as the sky did look quite threatening.

Maniago looked like a very nice town with lots on offer, and finding a place to eat should have been pretty straightforward. However, there was a Para World Cup cycling race taking place today (actually all week) and the town centre was largely given over to ‘race infrastructure’ stuff. We did manage to find a very nice place for lunch just a few blocks away from the race, and our timing was perfect. Thunder, lightning and rain accompanied Kirsten’s barley cauliflower risotto and my eggplant (sort of) parmigiana. By the time we were done, so was the rain.

We took in a little of the race scene and then set off for the final 25ish km’s to Aviano. All was great until km 21 when the rain hit us (really just a light drizzle) but I kept the camera stowed for most of this ride.

We picked Aviano as the end point because it was about the right distance we wanted to ride today. We really didn’t do much research on it other than it looked to be a good size town and therefore should be another ‘classic’ northern Italian town with cafés and trattorias ringing several interesting piazzas.

That was the thought, but the reality was that it was a fairly ‘modern’ nondescript place (at least the part we were in). We had a good apartment to spread ourselves out in but our dinner options were actually quite limited. We settled on a Brew Pub that was close to a grocery store that we also needed to go to.

The place was packed, lively, the food basic (very basic. Burgers and chicken) and the beer was cold. We got what we needed, it was kind of fun and we were filling in the other end of the dining spectrum compared to many other places we’ve been to on this tour. Everything needed to be balanced out!

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Glenna JefferiesDuring the ride a I can remember - extra 'a'?
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3 weeks ago

The morning departure pic on the shore of Lago di Cavazzo

Very good place. Everything we needed and a very relaxed feeling.

I just love these little Piaggio Apes (or as I call them, the Italian P-150) - the Italian ‘pickup truck’. They seem to be getting rare in northern Italy and both K and I have noticed many regular pick up trucks here (even a full size F-150 yesterday). It will be sad for so many reasons if the Piaggios go the way of the Dodo

Classic country house right at the side of the road

Ahhhh, vineyards and nice hard pack gravel roads

Lovely front range of the Alps but with ominous clouds building

You never know what you’re going to find along the trail

Numerous small villages with small village stuff going on - like looong conversations while stopped in the middle of the road, and why not!

And when there are no vineyards, we get hay fields

We will be heading up that gap in the mountains tomorrow. Stunning countryside

In Maniago for lunch and we discovered there was a Para World Cup Cycling race on. We stuck around a bit to watch

These guys were moving at around 30 km/hr using only their arms!

Classic European thing. Plain white shuttered building along the street. Then you spot an open gate or archway and see something really interesting in behind

Back on the road for the final stretch to Aviano. Trying to outrun the rain

Stunning Ponte di Ravedis a few km’s west of Maniago

Great Forest trails on the final run into Aviano

Trying to outrun the rain. First few spits were about here

Tough country to farm in. The soil is very rocky and the flat land is scarce.

Most of the trails we were on had signs that said only bicycles and farm machinery could use them. I was pondering this as I peddled along and when I looked forward, what did I see!

In Aviano, Trabby’s have come a long way. From derided ‘chainsaws on wheels’ to classically refurbished and ready to show!

Filling up the other end of the dining spectrum for this trip. Burger and fries at BEFed Brew House

K’s pulled chicken bun with veggies. Overall, not too bad

This place was packed on a Saturday night. Parking lot full and people lined up waiting for tables (we got the last two seats at the bar)

SOTD

What else could it be?

Cheeseburger in Paradise by the inimitable Jimmy Buffett!

Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 1,767 km (1,097 miles)

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Anne MathersWhat a spectacular place to cycle tour. The last couple of days have been extraordinary. Thank you for your time end energy taken to share it with us. In the meantime, it looks like we will just miss crossing paths with you. We will be in Treviso next Sunday to start our 5-week adventure in the Dolomites.
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3 weeks ago

Scott AndersonThanks for taking us back to a part of the world we'd love to see again. And thanks for triggering me to review our own post. I'd forgotten how amazing those vultures were. I'm glad we captured a decent video of it.
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3 weeks ago

Lyle McLeodTo Anne MathersThanks Anne, hope you have a great trip too. It’s been a fairly wet and cool spring in the mountains so far so fingers crossed for some warmer and dry weather. We’re heading to Misurina today with (now faint) hope of a hike around the Tre Cime. Webcams show a lot of snow still on the Tre Cime.
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3 weeks ago