Chapter #5

I was excited to be visiting Solden,

as we had not originally planned going to Austria.

Last minute change of plans...

an event to be raced :)

Another high pass out of France and into

the top of Italy - 

tunnels - lots and lots of tunnels.

Some of them very very long!!!

We took a couple of days to get there -

stopping for a night in Cremona.

Interesting camp in Cremona!?!

Mostly due to the sheer quantity of bugs -

lots of caterpillar types.

I really really dont like caterpillary types,

they are creepy.

They fell onto you from the trees above!!!

Packing up next morning happened at the speed of lightning!

Jake thought the sight of me

 sidestepping caterpillary things

was absolutely hysterical -

oh ha ha!!

On the road again -

stopping only for photos :)

I have to tell you about our GPS at this point.

He is gorgeous - 

so incredibly patient:)

What I love about this guy is the options

he gives you -

shortest, fastest or longest route.

Shortest is the one that amuses me the most,

because it's not usually the fastest,

it's just that kilometre-wise it's the shortest,

so you find yourself on some of the smallest roads

known to mankind at times!

There are times when we have arrived at a corner

and he's telling us to turn right,

and we're saying,

"not a chance"

because it looks more like someones driveway

than a road,

but to GPS it's the shortest way!!

Doesn't matter that you are driving through

what appears to be someone's back yard.

On the way to Solden he took us the shortest way

through a town (can't remember the name of it)

and it probably was the shortest way,

but I swear he took us on every back alley

in that town.

I'm absolutely positive it 

probably took us three times as long

to get to the other side -
 but you gotta laugh,

and I bet we saw a whole lot more of that town

than most:)

So anyway,

back to the road trip

and over another incredibly high pass,

through the border into Austria.

...serious mountains!!

The little bit we saw of Austria

was spectacularly beautiful.

I went walking in the forest,

up the mountains behind our campsite

and felt like I was in some magical garden.

So very pretty...

...flowers everywhere,

and green, so green...

...the houses and hotels were literally

decked out in flower boxes

full of the brightest flowers...

...and this is definitely one of my favourites...

Thought you might like to see our accommodation

for the duration of the trip... 

...that's it - the little blue tent:)

Cute ay!!

Private sleeping quarters at either end,

centrally situated lounge

with awesome indoor outdoor flow,

and the kitchen?

Well, that tends to move,

depending on shade :)

Actually, I am really quite enjoying it,

although I know that it will have it's shortcomings

when the weather starts to turn.

But luckily for us we have had 6 weeks of

unbelievably hot summer days

with the exception of 2 hours rain,

right here in Solden!

Are you still hanging in there,

this is a fairly long chapter:)

Besides shutters and window boxes,

I also have a bit of a thing for steeples.

I love them and boy are there lots of them over here.

All shapes and colours and sizes.

This one is a particularly fine specimen :)

The race - how did it go?

Really good - much better result.

Jake ranked a mention on the starting line,

when they realised he was from NZ.

"Good luck New Zealand"

was the parting comment as he pedalled

off to stage one.

So from Solden we headed back to base camp,

via Lake Como.

Wow - would have loved to have seen

 a little more of the lake

but the heat haze was so dense that you 

could barely see the other side.

Still, maybe we will return before we leave.

I think this must be the most elegant house

I've ever seen.

Do you think maybe it was a summer palace

or something?

I stole a picture through the

wrought iron gates.

See you back in Briancon.

Jenny :)