Bassano del Grappa

We woke up at 6am to the sound of the Germans next to us leaving. After that I didn’t really get back to sleep properly but we didn’t get out of bed until 7:30am.
Once coffees were done we put the bed away and then got dressed and then we had to fill up with fresh water and empty the toilet.
At 9:15am we were ready to roll and I set the sat nav to head just 5 miles away to the walled city of Bassano del Grappa. Ellie had found this place on google while checking out the human chess game in Marostica. She had also found parking for the night.
Unfortunatly as with nearly all of Ellie’s choices for park ups this was unsuitable. Not because of where it was but because it was a Saturday and by 10am when we get there the car park was full. So I drove around it and back out and then found a second spot that was actually closer to the city but had less cars in. I promptly told Ellie not to look for any more park ups, I don’t need to drive into city centres, I don’t need to be parked in dogging spots and I don’t want to be parked next to windmills because it will be windy.
Once parked we left Wanda and headed own to the river. It was raging around the edge of the city but we had come to the river to see the Ponte Vecchio (Ponte degli Alpini) a beautiful centuries old covered bridge.
We walked past the bridge to the first viewpoint and it was pretty crap because of where the sun was. Then we headed up to the new road bridge and from here we had a great view and with the river raging underneath it created an amazing waterfall over the old weir.
Pictures done we decided to head into the city itself and passed through an ancient archway of the old walls and once inside the walls it was heaving. Unbeknown to us, Saturday is market day and all of the roads through the city are closed and are filled with market stalls. It was absolutely crazy. There was barely any room to walk and once in we were pushed along with the glow of the crowd. There were loads of stalls of fresh fruit and veg, stalls with cheeses, salami stalls and even clothes and shoes. This was the place to be on a Saturday.
By now it was midday and the bars and cafes were filling up. Even cyclists were riding into the busy centre and drinking beers outside the cafes.
Pushed along we were almost popped out at the other end of the market at the old city, we felt like we had been in a washing machine of people. Here we found an old church and popped in.
Inside there were a few old people sitting on the pews. Were they looking for god or had they just been spat out of the human washing machine and resting? We weren’t sure.
The best part about this church were the three murals painted on the ceiling, they really were amazing. It did also have several holy paintings dotted around the edges that were also amazing.
Back outside the church we decided to head back into the market and get some food.
We put some crabs claws, and some little pieces of battered cod and some potato balls that looked abit like croquettes. Then we had to get back through the market again to get back to Wanda.
Back at Wanda we ate the food and the cod was amazing, then we decided to leave Bassano del Grappa and head to another free park up for the night closer the road of 52 tunnels.
It was just 16 miles to our next park up in the town of Santorso. This is another dedicated area for Motorhomes and although it is off a side road off of the main drag it backs onto cycling and hiking paths and seems pretty quiet. It also has free water.
We arrived at 1:30pm and Ellie said she was tired so I looked for a cycle route and then got my bike off the back and got changed. I found what I thought to be a nice little route of 45km and 500 meters of climbing and looking at the pictures most of it was on an old railway line.
I left at 2pm with my route downloaded to my gps. The thing about getting a route someone else has made is if they went wrong and didn’t edit the route then I will go that way too.
The route started off lovely heading down a cycle path and then into some quiet roads but after just 7km the gps told me to turn around. This is when I checked the route and realised whoever had made the route and taken this way and then changed there mind so I had to back track 3km and then turn right. This took me off the cycle path and onto really busy roads which I wasn’t happy with but I knew I was heading to gravel tracks and pushed on.
I actually stayed on the main roads for far longer than I wanted crossing 2 major roundabouts and I was just about to give up and turn back when I left the road and hit the gravel. Finally I was on the old railway line.
I stayed on the railway line only for about 8km crossing a beautiful bridge with a fantastic waterfall underneath before coming to a huge climb of 15%. I knew the climb was coming but what I didn’t know was that it was on cobblestones. This climb was a real leg killer and at the halfway point I was already standing on the pedals and crawling up it at a snails pace. Then the surface changed to slabs which were quite slippery so u had to stay seated and then there was grass before more cobbles. This was a killer climb. At what I thought was the top of the climb was a main road. The gps route headed straight on and as I crossed over the climb continued. To me this was a nightmare. My breathing was out of whack and my rhythm had been broken by the change in surfaces and the fact I’d had to stop to cross the road. I continued on and then just as I hit more cobblestones the gps said I was going the wrong way. I checked the route and it turns out that whoever made the route was actually taking me to scenic viewpoints.
I turned around and headed back down the cobbles and the gps told me to turn right onto a major road and through a tunnel. I wasn’t really happy about this and now the light was starting to fade and the weather was closing in. I went down the road and through the tunnel which took me down a big hill and I was doing 50kph. I glanced at my gps for directions and noticed 2 sets of arrows one going my way and one going back so I stopped and checked and this was taking me to another viewpoint.
I turned around and cycled back up the hill on the busy road, back through the tunnel and then picked up a side road that took me back down parallel to the cobbled climb I had just done. It was now starting to rain and at the bottom of the hill I came into a small town and I could see my backtrack in the gps not far away and headed for that. Once I picked up the backtrack I just cycled back the way I had come avoiding the busy roads.
It was a good ride but not one I would have chosen to do if someone had told me the route. I had thought I was lucky finding a quiet route, I was wrong.
Back at Wanda it was now 5pm and I got changed back into my normal clothes and I decided we would head to the car park for the 52 tunnels. Normally I wouldn’t dream of driving anywhere in a foreign country in the dark but the road upto the 52 tunnels is almost single track and steep and reading reviews online they said it was easier to go up late evening or early morning so we set the sat nav and started what would be our most frightening drive of this trip.
We left the park up and it was just 9 miles to get to the car park where we wanted to spend the night. Leaving town was crazy. It was now heavy rain and obviously we didn’t know where we were going. We couldn’t see any of the road markings on the road and luckily I had cars in front of all the way out of town until after 5 miles TomTom told me to take a sharp right. Straight away we started going up and then came the switchbacks. The road was now single track and for every straight piece of road we ascended 100 meters at 10% until the next switchback. Then the lengths of road shortened and the switchbacks became more frequent and this was becoming a problem as we couldn’t keep any momentum or getting any swing on the turns because the road wasn’t wide enough. To top it off because of the rain we kept losing grip. Finally we came to a bend that was a full 180° and I didn’t think we were going to make it. I got as far out on the edge of the road as I could and then full locked and the cliff side just loomed towards us. Wanda made a crunching sound as I thought we hit something on the back left side and then the front right wheel dropped off the edge into the cliff. I couldn’t stop because we’d never get going again and I couldn’t go back so I powered on through the crunching sound, what damage had occurred was already done it was no good worrying about it. I straightened up and pushed on. We were still climbing and all we could see below us were tiny lights of houses and cars far below us. We were now officially scared.
Then we came to another switchback but luckily there was another road off to the left and I called it and said “ we’re done, we’re scrapping this location”. And the road we had joined started taking us down.
I reset the Sat nav to get us back to the park up we had just left and we descended all the way back down to ground level in second gear. Then we took the 10 mile drive back to the park up at 35mph.
Back at the park up I jumped straight out to check Wanda for damage. I thought at the very least I’d have smashed the bumper at worst it would need replacing. To my amazement Wanda had absolutely no damage and the crunching sound was us slipping off the road into gravel and as I powered up and the wheels were spinning to get a grip it through gravel and mud all up my door. We’d had a very lucky escape.
Back in Wanda Ellie made us a great dinner and I put the hot water on and had a shower. Then it was time to settle in for the night listening to the rain on the roof.Read more