Road Climber

Tuesday, 2 January 2018

Milan to Venice (M2V) Leg of Grand Tour - Official Start (27/07/2017)

Today is the official start of the M2V leg of the Grand Tour. It will begin with a function at the Bianchi shop this evening with food and drinks. The riding part of the tour will begin tomorrow.

My bike (in it's Bike Box) is scheduled to arrive this afternoon. The hotel has set aside a large room on the ground floor for us to re-assemble our bikes. The bikes will be locked away in the room once they have been assembled.

I decided to take a walk around Milan following breakfast. However, before heading off on my walk it was necessary to visit a hardware store to buy a new electrical adaptor. Before leaving Australia I had purchased an adaptor at Kathmandu and was assured it would work in both France and Italy. While it worked well in France, it didn't work in Italy.

During my walk around Milan some of the sites viewed were the Duomo (Milan Cathedral) located in Piazza de Duomo (Cathedral Square), La Scala and Sforza Castle. The Duomo is just stunning!

I spent a number of hours walking around what I felt was a vibrant city on yet another very hot day before heading back to the hotel to see if my bike had arrived; it had! After assembling the bike returned to my room to get ready for the evening's function.

While the retail part of the Bianchi shop was about to close when we arrived, staff agreed, after a little pleading, to keep it open for a little longer to allow some fellow riders to make some purchases. I learnt that on the previous year's M2V tour, one of the lady riders had arrived at the function and left with a brand new Bianchi bike she had purchased for the tour. She had supplied Bianchi with her requirements and measurements before leaving Australia. It was a risk as with any new bike there are usually teething problems. Luckily she didn't encounter any problems throughout the tour.

The function went well and allowed us to get to know our fellow riders ahead of the first day of riding tomorrow. Clare, the Managing Director, made a welcoming speech, handed out route directions covering tomorrow's ride (I also have the routes loaded on my Garmin) and took us through the directions.

The first riding day will commence from Como tomorrow.

Duomo

Me in front of Duomo.

Wider view of the Duomo.

Building in Piazza del Duomo.

Statue in Piazza del Duomo.

Building in Piazza del Duomo.

Teatro alla Scala.

Sign one can see between two doors on the left of the Teatro alla Scala.

Street in Milan - Via Daniele Manin.

Sforza Castle.

Fountain in front of Sforza Castle./

Sforza Castle.

Sforza Castle./

Pinocchio sitting in front of shop.

Wednesday, 27 December 2017

Grand Tour - break between finish of N2A leg and start of M2V leg (26/07/2017)

The Swiss Alps Bernina Express train leaves from a town called Tirano which is approximately 167kms from Milan. The Tour company is taking us by bus to Tirano.

I left the hotel by taxi at 6am to get to the bus's departure point in Milan. As I was leaving the hotel, the desk clerk handed me a bag containing items for breakfast.

While the tour group contained a wide range of nationalitues, South Americans appeared to have the largest representation.

The bus passed beside Lake Como from where the Milan to Venice leg of the tour will start in two (2) days. Before reaching the restaurant in Tirano where we are having lunch, we stopped at the Basilica Madonna di Tirano. Basilica. The church while not imposing on the outside, it is absolutely beautiful inside with a 14 metre organ that forms a large part of the church centre and seems to be suspended from the ceiling. The Basilica stands on the spot where on 29 September 1504, th Virgin Mary appeared to Mario Degli Omodei. The church is an absolute must see if visiting Tirano.

After lunch the group walked to the railway station to board the "Red" train for the 2 1/2 hour journey to St. Moritz. I had previously heard travelling in the last carriage gives the best views and the tour company had booked this carriage for the trip. I would also add that while their are good views from both sides of the carriage, by far the best are on the left side. Unfortunately, I was on the right side and the people on the left made it difficult to get good photos of some of the spectacular sights. The photos recorded below don't do the justice to what I viewed.

This is one breathtaking trip which starts at an altitude of 429 metres in Tirano, rising to 2,252 metres at Bernina Pass and finishing at an altitude of 1,775 metres in St. Moritz. It is the steepest railway journey in the world. During the journey one sees alpine vistas, picturesque towns in valleys, lakes, snow clad glaciers and big mountains. It is quite spectacular and would highly recommend taking the trip if the opportunity presents. I would also recommend getting online and looking at some videos to get a feel for this awesome trip.

Apparently St. Moritz get 300 days of sunshine per annum. Unfortunately, this was not one of those days. We had about 1 1/2 hours to a look around St. Moritz and the rain made this a bit of a challenge. While I wasn't there long enough to form any real impressions, I will say the town absolutely oozes wealth.

The bus trip back to Milan was uneventful. Although shortly after leaving St. Moritz descended a great mountain that I would love to ride up.

Terrace Farming - viewed from on way to Tirano.

Basilica Madonna di Tirano.

14 metre organ in Basilica.

Inside Basilica.

One of many lead-lights in Basilica.

Inside Basilica.

Self explanatory/..

Outside of Basilica.

Outside of Basilca.

Entrance to Tirano Train Station.

Self explanatory.

Brusio Spiral Viaduct./

View on train trip.

View on train trip/.

View on train trip.

St. Moritz.

ST. Moritz.

St. Moritz.

Monday, 4 September 2017

Grand Tour - break between finish of N2A leg and start of M2V leg (25/07/2017).

I had a relaxing morning as my train is not scheduled to leave for Milan until 12:47pm. While I had been advised it was necessary to be at the station 20 minutes before the train's departure, I had already decided to arrive well in advance of the departure time in case of any problems which could be compounded by my lack of French language skills. I was to find the platform from which a train is leaving is only communicated 20 minutes before it departs.

I arrived at Grenoble railway station well over an hour before the train was scheduled to leave and noticed with a sinking feeling there was a notice beside my train on the "Departures and Arrivals Board" that indicated it had been cancelled. I went to the Information Desk where it was confirmed my train to Milan had indeed been cancelled. I was informed it would be necessary to catch another train to a place called Montmellan and then catch the Milan train from there. While there seemed to be a number of stops between Grenoble and Montmellan, I was assured there would only be three stops with Montmellan being the third stop. To make matters worse, it was announced the Montmellan train had been delayed.

The train eventually arrived and I alighted at Montmellan. We were directed to another platform across the tracks to catch the Milan train. However, there wasn't any information on when the train was arriving. A train arrived after a short time but it wasn't the Milan train. We finally ascertained the next train to stop at the Platform would be the Milan train. When the train arrived we found the people who had boarded at earlier stops had been told to sit anywhere and were sitting in seats booked for the passengers who had travelled from Grenoble. It was chaotic and resulted in some strained conversations. I found a seat and had an uneventful trip to Milan passing through some of the towns I had ridden through days before.

I was staying at the Andreola Central Hotel. I was told this was just off the square where the railway station was located and where my train would arrive. This proved to be incorrect. While the Milan Central railway station is located in the square, my train, and I assume other trains from France, arrived at Milano P Garibal station which was further away. As the outside of the station wasn't as described, I caught a taxi to the hotel and arrived relatively quickly.

After freshening up, I went for a walk around the area surrounding the hotel and had dinner in one of the restaurants in the square where the Milan Central railway station is located.

Before leaving Australia I had purchased an adapter for use with French and Italian electrical outlets from Kathmandu. While this had worked perfectly in France, I found it did not work with Italian outlets and it'd be necessary to purchase another adapter. I will advise Kathmandu when I get back to Australia.

I will be joining a tour tomorrow that involves taking the Swiss Alps Bernina Express Train to Saint Moritz in Switzerland. I'm really looking forward to this trip having seen it on television showing the spectacular scenery. I have to leave the hotel by 6am tomorrow to join the tour.

Part of Grenoble railway station.

Saturday, 2 September 2017

Grand Tour - break between finish of N2A leg and start of M2V leg (24/07/2017)

While it was raining when we awoke for our last morning in Alpe d'Huez, based on past experience it was likely to clear and this proved to be the case.

Most of us were taking the bus to Grenoble and scattering to our various destinations from that point. Some of the group were taking the 8am bus with most of us, including me, taking the 10:30am bus. Three people not joining the Milan to Venice leg were riding to Grenoble and staying at the same hotel as me. Luckily the weather cleared up for their ride. I would've loved to do this ride but had to have my bike packed away on the Support van for transport to Milan.

I had a leisurely breakfast and was able to have another look at the cycling shops before leaving.

We arrived at Grenoble around midday. My hotel is diagonally across from the train station I will be departing from tomorrow.

After freshening up I joined three of the four other N2A riders who are also staying at the hotel, for lunch. It was yet again another good meal made even better by a delightfully extroverted waitress who just added to the dining experience.

After lunch we walked around Grenoble. While Grenoble is a fairly large city it appeared relatively quite. Later on I went for another walk and checked out the railway station for my departure to Milan tomorrow. I also had dinner while out and did a bit more walking before returning to the hotel.