September 6, 2023
More Castles, Vineyards, and our first mechanical issue conquered
Today was a day of castles high up on the hillsides. There were literally so many castles that we lost count. Again we went through small villages, saw lots of mountains in the distance but we have left the snow capped mountains behind as we move further into Italy. We continued to ride through lots of apple orchards and the vineyards are now starting to become more numerous.
A new thing for us today is that the bike path went through tunnels in the mountain. We did have one longish climb today up to the tunnels but it was at a grade that was eminently doable. Well, maybe a lot less doable if we weren’t on e-bikes…
Tunnels are our friends. If there weren’t tunnels we might have had to do a lot more climbing. Today was a day with relatively little climbing but the climbing we did have was basically all at once. We were winding up around the side of a mountain.
A few of todays castles-
We stopped for lunch at Radstation Frangart. It was perched on the side of the hill we were climbing and was a great spot to survey the valley and the local castle.
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Helpful Germans came to our rescue today. As I was riding, my bike started making a new noise. Then after a little while the noise started getting louder….. we diagnosed that my tire was rubbing against something. First thought was that it was rubbing against the brake, but no. A German couple came by and offered to help. He had some really great mechanical knowledge and determined that the wheel was rubbing against the fender. Eventually, he adjusted the the position of the wheel and it was good as new. Our resident mechanic also diagnosed the issue.
Orchards continue to abound, apples are South Tyrol's leading export, going to 50 countries. The climate and topography -- long hours of sun, cool nights and warms days, sheltered hillsides and valleys -- are ideal for growing apples. Orchards cover around 45,000 acres in the region. The farmers that grow the apples are part of co-ops.
Next up, vineyards, we saw green grapes, red grapes and really dark grapes. Then the vineyards led us down to the Kälterer See.
Then it was on to Auer, or Ora in German where we are staying the night. We are still in South Tirol where German is the predominant language but people seem to speak both German and Italian. Our young waiter tonight, when asked if he grew up here and which language he preferred was very definite that he preferred German. He speaks German, Italian and some English but said he prefers German over Italian because it is a language spoken in many countries, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and some in Belgium, while Italian is only spoken in Italy.
Our waiter said that the dessert that some ordered this evening was Heiße Liebe - Vanilla ice cream, with a hot compote of berries - as our waiter translated “Hot Love.” It was wonderful.
Some of us didn’t wear masks on our 4 hour train ride from Lucerne to Innsbruck and it has caught up with us….. we have learned that cough drops come from the tobacco store not the pharmacy. Look for the big “T” on the sign outside. And, the pharmacy only lets two people in at one time so you wait in line outside before you can go in.
Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 409 miles (658 km)
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Grapes…love grapes!
8 months ago