By Sanne
When I was a kid, almost every summer my dad would pack my family into our little blue SAAB and drive to Italy on holiday. To get here we would drive through the Alps. Back then I was unable to appreciate this as I would usually have my face buried in a paperbag. I had a knack for getting car sick. I have one especially fond memory of spewing in my brother's lap. So it's safe to say that the alps and me weren't on the best of terms with one another...
Well, fast forward a couple of decades later, change four wheels into two and voila you've got yourself a love affair on your hands! I heart the Alps very much. Because of the before mentioned 'face in paperbag' scenario, I had never really been able to appreciate the beauty of these mountains. But for a motorbike rider this is heaven. We ended up spending 5 days riding the twisty mountain roads and still only scratched the surface of roads and tracks there. The roads are in perfect condition too which means you can concentrate on the scenery around you without having to navigate around potholes or worry about riding off a cliff like in Pakistan and Nepal.
It was also surprisingly easy to find camp spots in the wild there. There is a myriad of dirt tracks that lead off into the forest where we would set up our tent and cook dinner in the shadow of the Dolomites. The Dolomites which are part of the alps are stunning. You have blankets of green and out of them rises these great big rugged cliffs. I could quite easily live here I thought to myself; summers would be spent riding my motorbike and flying down the tracks on my mountainbike and as soon as the green hills turned white I would transform into a snowbunny and hit the slopes. Not a bad life if you ask me.
There were loads of motorbike riders around, especially the first few days which was the weekend, mostly Italians and mostly they were riding big BMW 1200's. Guess it's a world-wide fad now. Well, they can keep their BMW's. I'll take my little Suzi any day :) One great thing about this place though was that it didn't really matter what bike you were on, every one waved to you. Now for Mark and I this is something we are not used to from Australia. There everyone are so concerned about what style of bike you ride that they will only wave to bikers that ride the same bike as them. Especially if you ride a dirtbike like us you're not usually considered 'worthy' of a wave. Ridiculous yes, but true. So here we really felt like part of the bike community which was nice.
People here are really nice too. We had stopped to take some photos when Mark was approached by three older gentlemen who started a conversation with him in Italian. Mark having no idea what they were saying just smiled and nodded, but the last thing he understood, the old man pattet him on the back and said "BRAVO" :)
To the Italian Alps, arrivederci, I hope we'll meet again someday.
This was one amazing road...
We camped in some really beautiful places with not a soul around
When I was a kid, almost every summer my dad would pack my family into our little blue SAAB and drive to Italy on holiday. To get here we would drive through the Alps. Back then I was unable to appreciate this as I would usually have my face buried in a paperbag. I had a knack for getting car sick. I have one especially fond memory of spewing in my brother's lap. So it's safe to say that the alps and me weren't on the best of terms with one another...
Well, fast forward a couple of decades later, change four wheels into two and voila you've got yourself a love affair on your hands! I heart the Alps very much. Because of the before mentioned 'face in paperbag' scenario, I had never really been able to appreciate the beauty of these mountains. But for a motorbike rider this is heaven. We ended up spending 5 days riding the twisty mountain roads and still only scratched the surface of roads and tracks there. The roads are in perfect condition too which means you can concentrate on the scenery around you without having to navigate around potholes or worry about riding off a cliff like in Pakistan and Nepal.
It was also surprisingly easy to find camp spots in the wild there. There is a myriad of dirt tracks that lead off into the forest where we would set up our tent and cook dinner in the shadow of the Dolomites. The Dolomites which are part of the alps are stunning. You have blankets of green and out of them rises these great big rugged cliffs. I could quite easily live here I thought to myself; summers would be spent riding my motorbike and flying down the tracks on my mountainbike and as soon as the green hills turned white I would transform into a snowbunny and hit the slopes. Not a bad life if you ask me.
There were loads of motorbike riders around, especially the first few days which was the weekend, mostly Italians and mostly they were riding big BMW 1200's. Guess it's a world-wide fad now. Well, they can keep their BMW's. I'll take my little Suzi any day :) One great thing about this place though was that it didn't really matter what bike you were on, every one waved to you. Now for Mark and I this is something we are not used to from Australia. There everyone are so concerned about what style of bike you ride that they will only wave to bikers that ride the same bike as them. Especially if you ride a dirtbike like us you're not usually considered 'worthy' of a wave. Ridiculous yes, but true. So here we really felt like part of the bike community which was nice.
People here are really nice too. We had stopped to take some photos when Mark was approached by three older gentlemen who started a conversation with him in Italian. Mark having no idea what they were saying just smiled and nodded, but the last thing he understood, the old man pattet him on the back and said "BRAVO" :)
To the Italian Alps, arrivederci, I hope we'll meet again someday.
The Dolomites
This was one amazing road...
We camped in some really beautiful places with not a soul around
Bravo!
Some really nice guys we met at a petrol station. They served us beer and gave us
50 euro so we could send them a few post cards from around the world :)
Whoa, that is really beautiful. Isn't that amazing road Stelvio Pass? It is exciting to read about all your journey. Looking forward to more posting from you guys.
ReplyDeleteCould possibly be the Stelvio Pass...not sure what it's called. We just came across it by accident :)
ReplyDeleteHey! just watching your lovely blog.... Yeah, it's the only and awesome Stelvio Pass. I was there with my car on 27 August 2012. The world is really a little place for us!
ReplyDelete