Greetings from Ovaro

We left the Hotel Dobra Vila at 08:15 and for any of you who happen to be visiting Bovec, I would strongly recommend it.  The rooms were large, comfortable and interesting, the service excellent and the breakfasts perfect for cyclists. Within 15 minutes we were in the first of the three major climbs  of the day a 1,000 meters up into the mountains starting at Zaga. A beautiful, clear morning; bird song and the sound of streams flowing over rocks was all that could be heard as we picked our way along the mountain roads. At the top we came across the deserted boarder crossing between Slovenia and Italy, a little further on was the Italian boarder post, a fat policeman waved us through without looking up from his newspaper.


Hotel Dobra Vila

Then a sweeping descent, tired hands from hanging onto the breaks before we reached the valley for a few kilometres of straight flat roads. The second climb started at Uccea. A narrow potholed road leading up the side of the mountain. The difficulty of this climb set Graham off again who complained to Chris that if he’d spent more time planning the route, these sort of roads could be easily avoided. Chris explained the hours of meticulous planning that he’d put in, and the objective was more about scenery than sadism. To illustrate this investment, those of you who work with Chris will be able to find this project codified as ‘development of sales strategy’ on your timesheet system.


Crossing the border

The third climb of the day was the real killer. 8 miles of climb starting at Sutrio, taking us up to 1750 meters and you can see why they take the Giro D’Italia up this way from time to time. Most of its pretty steep at about 10% but the last 2 miles has some interesting 15%+ stretches before you get to the top, the ski resort of Zoncolan Alarmingly, at the top there’s a memorial to Franco Ballerina, the famous Italian cyclist who got killed on the way down this mountain when he went off the edge, which you can imagine set Graham off again. Actually it was a great descent but there were a few interesting hairpins with no rails!

Memorial to Franco Ballerini at Zoncolan

From the bottom it was a 10km ride to the hotel Aplis. Great place, charming Italian host who makes excellent gin and tonics. Harley used his extensive knowledge of Italian to order the meal this evening; something that looks very much like poached goats eyes and chips has just turned up.

Keep you posted....

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