ALPIBIKE 2005 - From Trieste to Forni Avoltri

 written in Italian language by Claudio Coppola - Head of the expedition - 

and web published during the travel

 

On Sunday, 17th July 2005, some cycling tourists - members of the Vulkan Group (belonging to the CAI-SAG Trieste) - start pedalling, together with the head of the expedition Claudio Coppola, from Trieste towards the Carso. We cycle through hidden paths in the depth of the tableland vegetation, crossing the Italian-Slovenian frontier at Gorjansko.

There only two of us heading for Gorizia: unfortunately, our companions couldn’t come with us, due to a series of mechanical problems (even a bicycle-frame broken!) and to sudden work engagements.

 

Once my last companion has left, I go up alone the Valley of the Isonzo through small country roads and mule-tracks and cross through Caporetto, in order to reach Bovec (the former ‘Plezzo’).  I am in a very beautiful land, where the people are kind, and the cooking is everywhere very good and cheap.  These places enjoy steady popularity among rafting lovers, who see the ‘new-born’ river Isonzo as an excellent playground.

But this land - where the records of its belonging to Italy, in the near past, are so many - is rich in history too. In the whole area, during the 1915-18 War, fierce battles toook place, and the tragic Museum of World War I, located in the place of the famous battle of Caporetto, is worth visiting and moving.

From Bovec, at first under the rain, and then in the sun, I clamber up till the Mangart. It is the first long and steep slope: 11 kilometres, with a 18% slope  stretch , then another of 13% slope and finally the last of 10% slope.

But - as soon as I arrive - the simple mountain hut, the great bulk of the top and the pretty face of hut girl make me feel not tired anymore.

 

It is quite clear - after I quickly look around Lavina Pass - that cycling down directly from here, towards the Laghi di Fusine, is impossible.

On the following day (the 4th one), I get there, after a wide route, through Passo del Predil.

After crossing Tarvisio under an African sun (and finding a fountain it has been an hard work!) I go up the Bartolo Valley, which is really a corner of Paradise. I reach the Italian-Austrian frontier, and from here clamber up - coughing up my lungs  - towards the Achomitzer Alm. Many people live and work here for 4 months a year, without having any electicity, hot water, TV or even an inside bathroom!

I adapt myself to that at once, and get washed in the open air - with some cold water and a small basin - at nightfall. At dinner the food is excellent and all made on a  basis of buttermilk curd: from the ‘schlutzkrapfen - a kind of ‘ravioli’ filled with this cheese - to the melted buttermilk curd, and to the buttermilk curd cake.

On the following day, the 5th leg of my journey totally covers the Italian-Austrian frontier-line. Narrow high mountain roads alternate with stretchs of paths. I have to clamber over some fallen trunks and to climb rivers, and I find it difficult, because of the luggage weight on my bike.

 

The spacious green meadows of the Malghe Dellacher and Egger give me a feeling of peace and quiet, before starting, on the Alta Via Carnica, a very demanding stretch, due to many landslides.

 

After crossing some meadows moist (not only with water!), and getting to the Pass of Pramollo very tired, and with my foots wet through. Here, I find out that the the OAV (Austrian Alpine Club) hut is closed. Luckily, there is a good hotel, offering a special discount to Alpine Club members.

Pedalling goes on. By taking a few forest lanes I gain height, and then go down, with a very exciting descent, to the Valley of the Gail River. Along this valley a nice cycle path attracting both families and athletic cyclists, leads me to the beginning of the ascent towards the Pass of Monte Croce Carnico. I slope up along a mule track, covering almost the whole distance.

On arriving to the PlockenHaus Inn, I find out that it isn’t an inn anymore, but just a restaurant and bar. Anyway, a shelter from the usual and sudden storm of  5 p.m., and a nice and cold beer are very welcome!

After staying overnight in the hotel of Pass of Monte Croce Carnico, I start now the very steep ascent towards the Marinelli Alpine Hut, with a 20% slope part. Here marmots are everywhere and a few cubs of a marmot almost run through my wheels! The big walls of the Coglians soar high above my route. Horizons are getting vaster and vaster, but the most beautiful view is from the terrace of the nountain hut I get to. The hut is very confortable, but looks just like a restaurant.

During the descent, the first mechanical trouble occurs to me. The front wheel tire suddenly gets flat and I hardly manage to control my bike. So I stop, replace the inner tube and leave again. But after only 2 kms I’m in trouble another time and have to replace the inner tube, with the ripped valve. I leave again, just to destroy the third inner tube in front of the Sottocorona Hotel in Forni Avoltri. No problem at all! It’s just the hotel I’ve booked at...

 

 

The hotel Owner - very kindly  and quickly - drives me to Sappada (there are no bike shops in Forni). So, I get what’s happened: rim tape has damaged and cut the tyre, by its moving, just at the valve basis.Anyway, things go well at last....

On Sunday, July 24th  I have my first day of rest after seven stages legs. Today, there is the Festival of the Berries at Forni. So I have a good time, stopping in front of the stalls and looking at the children that try to climb over the small climb-wall .

But above all, I enjoy tasting the ‘grappas’ - the celebrated liqueurs of the Friuli - under the guidance of an expert: Mr. Domenis, the owner of a distillery in Cividale del Friuli.

Well, and what about Carnic cooking? After tasting it, I may suggest the most typical dish of the region: the agnolotti called ‘cjiarzons’, a kind of ravioli. They consist of a potato-paste, with a filling of buttermilk curd, spices, sultana raisin, walnuts, dried fruit, sweet herbs and many other ingredients. The recipe, indeed, changes in the different valleys, and often even in the different families of the same valley. Here, in the past, women recovered these herbs in the drawers of their bread-bins and cupboards, on coming back home in winter time.

In fact, during the other months of the year, they covered on foot long distances along the mountain roads and paths, to get to towns and cities, where they sold the wooden spoons and objects their men had made in winter.

Now, the first week of Alpibike 2005 is over: tomorrow I’m leaving for the Dolomites. 

 

Bye for now. See you next week!