The final day of riding the Dolomites started rather cool at Hotel Paradiso, not too surprising at 1300m (about 4,000 ft). This is the view from the front of the garage at the hotel, looking roughly towards the Pass. As expected, breakfast was enough for two, but then I wouldn't be eating again until Monza this evening.
The journey took me down to Fondo then over Gampen Jock back to Mareno. Well, almost Mareno, then head west towards Sluderno along the Adige River valley. Just before reaching Sluderno is the turn off to...
Not the highest pass in the Alps, but very close. What makes this a "must do" ride is the ride up and down a road built on alluvial deposits. There are about 40 hairpin bends on EACH side of the pass. And these are not gentle hairpins - they are almost U turns. I had the misfortune (not entirely unexpected) to catch up to a campervan. While I don't recall it making a 3 point turn on some of the hairpins, it was close a couple of times. And the straight sections are mostly pretty short and narrow, making it difficult to find a passing area if there is any approaching traffic.
Looking back upon the road I came up - and this was one of the easy bits! The road is the zig zag bit on the left side of the valley. The really twisty bits are lower down. And notice the lack of trees. I don't know if that's because it is above the tree line (I wouldn't expect so) or just the very poor nature of the "soil".
From the top of the pass, showing the poor soil and a structure with a Tibet sign on it. I didn't go quite that far, so I don't know what it is. Looks like some sort of restaurant/eatery.
The Crowd At The Top
The Real Reason
There were more motorcycles at the top than cars (or, at least that was my impression). And above the shops is the fort which I guess was to stop invaders, though anybody trying to cross over here to invade would have been very determined. It was bad enough for the roadbuilders, and they didn't have to remain undiscovered!
Looking in the direction from which I came (roughly NE).
Looking roughly SW, along the road I would take down "the other side", which was every bit as contorted as the road up.
Well having come, conquered and seen, it was time to head back to Monza. As mentioned above, I headed SW down another set of hairpins to Bormio, some 2500metres lower!
From the outskirts of Bormio, looking back towards Stelvio, though exactly which, if any, of those mountains is part of the pass, I don't know.
From here it was on to Tirano (where my first day's riding with Jon took us, and we enjoyed lunch), then on towards Lecco, though this time I took the expressway, which is mostly a tunnel along Lake Como/Lecco. Partly the reason for taking it was that I figured it would be cooler, at least being out of the sun. Which it probably was. The journey into Monza was speedy, being at least divided road along most of the way. While it was a hot day, at least it wasn't too bad when moving.
I arrived back at Jon's apartment mid afternoon, and had time to unpack, shower, clean up etc. before Jon arrived home from work. After the regular social chit chat I treated Jon to dinner at an excellent restaurant just a few blocks away. After waddling home, I had no trouble getting into bed and sleeping.
Italy In July