Ride Day 8: Sorriva to Valdobiedenne

Today's route:

All of the Hungarians who are staying with us are serious cyclists.  One is a bike builder and he was riding one of his custom frames.  His frames are really nice and the welds are perfect.  The paint is great.  I would have liked to ride it.  He is familiar with Portland frame builders Strawberry and Vanilla – small world.

Kurtz Cycles in Budapest

Very nicely built

I should have included some photos from dinner last night, so here they are, a day late.

We started with a round of Aperol for toasts

Gabor, left, and Lazlo

Gabor and Stepha

David and Lazlo

Ben

Ben, Gabor and Stephan study what's on offer

This morning the sun greeted us warmly as we chowed down on another fantastic breakfast.  We reluctantly packed up and said our goodbyes before we headed up the Croce D’Auna again.  A few group shots.

David, Ben, Lazlo, Gabor, Lorie and I.  Stephan had left earlier for a ride before he
drove back to Budapest

Lazlo, Ben, Gabor, Luciano, Lorie and I

Funny, thing: the Croce D'Aune got steeper overnight.  Or maybe it was just the weight of all our stuff.  But we continued with our theme, slow and steady and made it to the top in good time.  This isn’t a complaint, in fact it is a thankful thing to say, but it was freaking hot by the time we reached the top.  Finally.

Looking down the Croce D'Auna

We had time for coffee at the top of the pass and enjoyed a bit of a break.  From there, it was all downhill to Feltre and from there to our destination for the day at Valdobiadenne, the locality where all prosecco is made.  After spending some frustrating time trying to get unlost in Feltre, we made super-fast time and decided to have some ice cream when we got to Valdobiadenne.  The gelateria was about the only thing open on this quiet Sunday afternoon in Italy (where most everything is closed on Sundays).

Gelato.  Yum.

Vineyards around Valdobiadenne

Vineyards everywhere

Our welcome

Our relaxation for the day

We are staying at a Agritourismo, which is a winery that has rooms for rent.  The house is in the middle of a vineyard and it was pretty busy when we arrived with a big bus full of thirsty Germans.  But we were tucked into our room soon enough and we had a welcome plate of bread, cheese and meats, and a bottle of prosecco out by the swimming pool.  Not a bad way to end the day.  We were going to ride about 4 km back toward town to have dinner at a restaurant that was open, but we decided to go for a walk instead and skip any more food on the day.  Maybe more wine.  Lorie loves prosecco!  Meanwhile, they have a great Border Collie that likes to fetch and we played for a long time.  No language barriers!

Our buddy