May 13, 2023
To Tolé
As Scott remained in bed working on the previous day's blog entry, Pat moved about the room readying herself for the day's ride. He was told that there was rain in the forecast and he best get up and get moving. Scott took stock of the matter using his usual logical approach. The sun was shining through the windows, the ride was a short 25 kilometers route and the weather indicated that rain in Tolé (our destination) would not arrive until 1pm, over 3 hours from now. He may have also suggested something about not being so tense. Well, the table was set and you likely can guess how today`s ride went or should I say finished.
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Breakfast was not nearly as stellar as the previous night`s dinner. It was all arranged for us, bread, croissants, ham with some choices of yogurt. It was really okay as we were still both feeling a bit full from the night before. We were out the door by 10 o`clock with the plan to beat the forecasted rain showers. We retraced our route back to the highway and immediately began to climb to the next town of Zocca, just over 10 kilometres and 400 metres up. The grade was very nice and there were many many roadies out in the warm conditions. Everyone was so friendly as they passed in both directions. We had a couple of routing miscues where the Garmin Operator Dude thought a short cut away from the indicated bike route would maybe help shave a kilometre or two. Unfortunately, we found that if we left the highway, which was not all all busy, the side roads were far too steep to ride and pushing your bike up them is not really a short cut at all! The Garmin operator now understands this for future planning - if it is working, do not leave the designated bike route. Poor G.O.D. was really was taking a beating and it was about to get worse.
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The route alterations were not really that bad but they may have wasted some precious time. When we reached the top of our climb at Zocca it began to rain lightly. Unfortunately, the clouds were again thickening and as a result, rather than explore the town of Zocca, we had to keep moving. After a few more kilometers down the road, we were forced to take shelter in an old community wash house facility. We had a snack and looked at the map. We were only six kms from Tolé and many of those were downhill. When the rain tapered off we carried on over wet roads turning off at SP 25 and headed off on a steep downhill. We were both wishing for blue skies and dry roads as the landscape is really beautiful here. It was weird, the road all of a sudden became dry - as if the rain had completely missed this area. We carried on to Tolé and up the last short climb to the town in dry conditions!
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Tolé was not really our preferred stop over, but the small town offered three hotels and could be made to fit within the overall route plan. Given the potential for more rain today it seemed like a prudent stop after all, albeit a bit of a short day.
The shops in towns in this area close up between 3 and 6 pm and most restaurants reopen at 7 pm. We checked into our hotel and walked around looking for a place for lunch without any luck. Fortunately, the small deli across the street from our hotel was able to make a couple of paninis which we could communicate through pointing at bread, cheeses and meats. We ate them by ourselves back in our hotel coffee shop area. We began to discuss the weather forecast for tomorrow and it was clear that we needed a strong plan B. After lunch we walked around the small town of Tolé but it was so cold it was hard to linger at the many murals and art work that adorn the town`s small alleyways.
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The plan was hatched - if it is raining tomorrow morning we will take a taxi 15 kms to the nearby town of Vergato and catch a train about 30 kms to the town of Porretta Terme. From there we are only 10kms to our planned stop of Badi. We asked our host at Albergo Stella to arrange a taxi and she would not have anything to do with it - taxis are too hard to come by and too expensive, especially on Sundays. Her husband would drive us to Pian di Venola to catch the train as it was a bit closer. How can you turn down such a practical lady?
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11 months ago
Dinner at the hotel restaurant was wonderful. Scott had the gnocchi and Pat had lasagna. We shared a nice lettuce, bacon and walnut salad and the tiramisu for desert. When it was all done, the waitress plunked a bottle of homemade Nocino (made from green walnuts) liquor on the table and two shot glass. As best we could tell, you just helped yourself as you pleased - all compliments of the house. An amazing finish to a great dinner experience! We went to bed feeling good and secure that we had a solid Plan B if the weather does not cooperate tomorrow.
Today's ride: 24 km (15 miles)
Total: 238 km (148 miles)
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11 months ago
11 months ago