Day 6... Passo Godi

 A slightly quieter night from the stag point of view though the owl did his best to take his place. I awoke to the sound of hooves and then the stag once again started up... I opened the tent flap to see the stag right outside my tent and a herd of horses grazing contentedly.

Of course, it attendance with stag were the hoarde of photographers in their camo outfits, literally following the poor thing round. It was quite funny to watch to be honest... I mean I took a few photos, but they literally spent dawn to dusk running around after him! No wonder he seemed pissed off all the time.

Anyway, once again I dried off my tent and packed it away, neatly stowing all the kit in the bags and then attaching them to my bike. I feel like I have the packing down nicely now and the msr tent is an easy one to put up and down.

The gentleman from Holland, Arjan came over to say cheerio... him and his partner, Tamara had given me a possible destination for the next few days... they had recommended a campsite not far from where I was catching the train back to Rome on Sunday... they said it might be a little bit of effort to get up there but it would be worth checking out... a plan was forming in my mind...

So I said goodbye to them and set off up the road... up of course...  up and over the Passo Godi.

It staeted off with a gentle introduction... a series of hairpin bends just to get to the village... then out into the forest... the sun starting to make itself felt. The black pine was apparently a relic of the ice age and it felt good to be surrounded by it... I love the smell of fresh pine  and this positively enveloped me. I stopped often to breathe the air and take in the scenery and the mountains around me as i climbed higher and higher. I felt free... I felt part of the nature around me. There were so few cars, that it felt I was totally alone on the road... except for the noise of the stag, which sounded as though it was following me up the mountain. 

The gradient of the road wasn't too bad... it just wound up and up... I was enjoying the stillness and the peace and the rhythm of the climb, although I broke it many times to take photos, or just dwell on the peace and the fresh air.

Then I bonked 

..... every pedal turn an effort... every meter gained a struggle. Hardly surprising when. I had got this far on a tin of tuna that I had had for breakfast, a small tin. 

So I sat and. ate my staple of cheese sandwiches and chuckled a little as to how I still found myself on a pass, losing energy by the second.. on my holiday... and how funny cos I had nowhere else I would rather be. 

The Passo Godi I am fairly certain has been used on the Giro D'Italia, though with the gradient I was riding it couldn't have been much of a test for the elite riders.

Having had a bit of a food boost, my legs no longer felt like they were peddling squares and started to spin once again up the pass

I liked this climb... the scenery rewarded as you got higher and higher and never too severe that riding wasn't possible it was nevertheless a test for the legs and lungs.. but a nice one! Even nicer when I reached the meadows and there were a. couple of restaurants willing to provide me with coke and spaghetti! Life was indeed good!

I sat there and watched the world go by... I had a choice coming up... take the road down to the. lake and by all accounts through a nice gorge or after a short bit of descent continue following the inital path over the mountains one more time....

I started descending... the unbridled joy that follows extreme effort.. 

This is why I ride up mountains.... 

To earn the downhill.

I got to the point where I could have turned off and some of you may have seen the video, but I decided to keep going down through the pass... partly because the lake sounded nice but also because a glance up at the mountains told me rain was coming... the wind had picked up and I knew I would be heading into a storm if I went over the mountains....

Also... I was on holiday... the sun was in the valley and it was all downhill from here! 

The downhill didn't disappoint... I had the road nearly to myself and was swooping round corners with such a grin on my face... 

Then the rain came... so I threw on my jacket, covered my rucksack and continued swooping down towards the sunshine. The lake arrived, beautiful, serene, with the rays of sun glittering off the surface.... a nice place to stop I thought as I once again looked at the sky... black clouds obscured the sun and the wind was definately picking up. It made for an easy choice... the hotel next to the lake had some free rooms and it would mean I could get a shower and dry my tent properly.... 2 very important things to do. Plus after 2 days of drop toilets.... a seat was luxury!

As always, getting my bike it the lift proves an effort but at least they didn't blink an eyelid when I wheeled the bike in. In no time at all, my tent was spread out round the room drying and as I lay on the bed and listened.... I couldn't hear a single stag bellowing!