When we organized our hotel in Cuneo, we requested breakfast only for our departure day. We were asked which option we would prefer - the sweet or the salty. Given that sweet would be more like dessert than breakfast, we requested salty. Arriving in the dining area, we were the only ones in the large restaurant. We were shown to our seats and two huge wooden boards appeared. Each one had a large round loaf of warm bread and was loaded with cuts of meat, cheese and some jam. We immediately knew that one of these would have been more than enough for the two of us so we asked if we could take the other with us. No problem and aluminum foil, napkins and a bag soon arrived at our table. Pat turned it all into a massive sandwich and wrapped it up. Lunch done!
Check out time was 10 am and we were not a minute late. Turning our bikes on to the Piazza Tancredi Galimberti, it was astonishing to see that this massive square had had been completely transformed into an outdoor market. It took up all the open space as well most of the length of the pedestrian Via Roma. It was incredible! It appears that there must not be department stores here, as we know them at home, and if you need anything for your house, kitchen or personal - you shop on Tuesdays at the market. Needless to say, it took over hour for us to walk our bikes and look at all the wares before we reached the city limits.
Piazza Tancredi Galimberti. We wondered why the plazza had do seasting and was basically just open space. Now we know.
A slight Garmin operator error had us riding on the wrong road (rarely happens) but the operator knew that it was exactly parallel to the correct routing. The only problem was that the two parallel roads were at least 50 vertical metres apart. We laughed because the problem was easily solved when we reach the corner and found a funicular perfectly placed - spanning the distance between the two roads. The Garmin operator could not have planned it any better! After riding the funicular down, we were off on an interesting ride beside the Torrente Gesso in a natural park. The riding paths were crushed gravel, but it was a beautiful ride as we left Cuneo.
Heading down on the funicular. The whole ride took no more than one minute. That is our road down there.
Our route planning has been careful lately to avoid as many straight-line highway looking roads as possible. Today we headed for the hills. Not only avoiding flat roads but pavement in many cases as well. The roads were rough at times but riding through the quiet farms in the hills was very nice, if you are not in a hurry. We often only averaged only 5-10 kms an hour and we easily cycled doubled the distance of taking the available straight roads.
Freshly minted designated cyclepath is perfect for about 200 metres! Funny because the road beside it would never have much traffic. Definitely the thought that counts.
This next set of photos needs its own introduction. We were high in the hills and we stumbled upon this most amazing find that is not likely on any tour bus circuit, but should be! Unfortunately, the gate was locked and we could only see a small sample of this ingenius and highly creative artwork all made from rock.
We picked our overnight stay in Villanova Mondavi purely as it was halfway to the town of Ceva, where we will begin heading south. We thought Ceva would be just beyond our reach in a single day, especially if we were trying to take the lesser travelled roads.
Stopped here at the top of Colle del Morté (possibly not really a colle) for a coffee but only lunch would be served it seems.
Our stay in Villanova was at a really nice, converted ceramics factory. They have put together an interesting decor combining ceramics from the factory as well as, we must assume, the owner`s love of sport. Lots of sport pictures and memorabilia on the walls. Unfortunately, there really is not much of a town as it appears to primarily serve as a confluence for five different highways. If you are a regular follower, you will have noticed that there is no ¨beer selfie¨ today with this post. Sad, but the beer was a bottle of Tuborg and a can of Coke from the mini bar and not selfie worthy!
We have skied long enough that we recognize all these Rossies back when 203 cms were a short ski.
The choice of a dinner spots was also slim with three different pizza restaurants, none very good according to our host, and dining at the one local hotel. We chose the hotel and split a reasonable taglionni pasta dish and large chicken salad. Dessert was the highlight- an in house made chocolate delight, of which we do not know the name. We walked the dark streets back to our room and called it a day.
1 year ago