June 5, 2023
To Trento
After several days of threatened rain that dissipated overnight, one finally caught up with us. It’s raining when we wake up, the look is grey and dreary outside, and the forecasters tell us it’s due to remain that way throughout the day. It doesn’t take us long to agree to scrap the 30 mile ride to Trento and be glad we’re in a place just a mile from a train station. I consult the train schedule, see that a regional that takes bikes comes through hourly throughout the heart of the day, and will set us back four euros each. Not a difficult decision to come to.
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That settled, thoughts quickly turn to coffee. Breakfast is served at the bar/restaurant next door to our lodging at Piccolo Fiore. The bar is nearly full with what look like the cast of regulars you’d expect to see starting their morning in a small town bar when we walk in at 7:30, but there is one empty table beneath the TV that we head to; but the bartender immediately intercepts us and with a smile directs us to the back room where our table is prepared and waiting for us - pastries, yoghurt, juice, cold cuts, hard boiled eggs - an excellent breakfast for what felt like such a modest place. It looks like the inn, bar and gas station are all part of the same family-run establishment. A great place, clearly operated with pride.
Checkout is at ten, and we aren’t far behind that when we leave the building and check at the bar to get the garage unlocked for our bikes. The train won’t leave for over an hour and I’m sure if we asked we could linger in the room later but we aren’t inclined to ask more of our hosts and anyway it’s barely showering now so we might as well go now and wait at the station.
It’s a short, flat ride to the station, and you’d think we could make it there in one go but we can’t because I see Avio Castle up on the hill shrouded in clouds and have to stop for it. I’d thought I’d be seeing it on my walk yesterday afternoon but it was always just around the next bend.
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The ride is reasonably uneventful. We’ve arrived in plenty of time, and so after purchasing our tickets through the TrenItalia app we sit in the small and otherwise empty Avio station until it’s time to unload the bags and shuttle bikes and baggage down the stairs to the underpass and then back up to track two. And then wait some more on the uncovered platform, happy it isn’t raining for the moment, until our train rushes in a few minutes late and in a hurry.
We get onquickly, folks move from their seats in front of the bike hangers so we can claim our due, and then we sit and wait for the next hour while I finish the day’s post and Rachael finishes her book. We wait too long actually, and are still sitting there when our train unexpectedly arrives in the Trento station ten minutes early. There’s some panic when we realize we’ve arrived. We hurry our bags and bikes to the door while a helpful guy assists in pulling down and unloading the bikes, happy to get everything off before the train leaves for its next stop. As it turns out though there was no rush - the train is early, but won’t leave for Bolzano for nearly ten minutes. Plenty of time, if we’d only known.
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10 months ago
10 months ago
It’s a short ride to our B&B, barely five blocks. We arrive dry, roll our bikes down the steep ramp to the basement, and then are shown to our spacious room for the next two nights (which, Rachael glumly observes, has neither a coffee maker nor a refrigerator).
And then we wait some more - for dinner this time, happy to be inside and dry even though it never actually does much but sprinkle all day. Well, that’s not exactly true - I wait, but first Rachael heads out to the laundromat so we’ll have something clean and presentable to wear when our friends show up tomorrow. While she waits for the clothes to spin she explores the neighborhood looking for that perfect spot for tomorrow’s breakfast, and finds one.
While she’s doing the laundry, I’m inspired to take finally on a task I’ve put off for five years: completing more than a token entry for my CycleBlaze profile. We’ve been hogging up space here almost since the site went live, and it’s long past time that I properly introduced myself and the team. Apologies.
So that’s the day then, other than for dinner of course - one last rest day before the last leg of the trip, our ride to Padua with Janos and Suzanne. It will be great - we can’t wait to see them again, and to thank them in person for bailing us out last winter by shipping their unused Bike Friday suitcases down to Nice for our flight home.
Today's ride: 1 mile (2 km)
Total: 1,704 miles (2,742 km)
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10 months ago
10 months ago