Piet has a short bucketlist, with only a few wishes. One of these was a holiday to Bormio, to cycle up the mythical Stelvio and Gavia cols, well known from the Giro d'Italia. This year was a perfect storm to tick these off: firstly Mary planned to join Paulien for a few days on the Via Francigena (see below), and secondly Piet had trained a lot for L'Etape du Tour, and was in his best physical shape since years.
We booked a one room apartment in Bormio, a small, pleasant town in the centre of an active outdoor holiday area, with an excellent cycling infrastructure, and many wintersport facilities. It is a great location for hikes and bike rides, and the start for the long climbs to the Stelvio and Gavia passes. It took 7 hours to drive down from our house in France.
The first day we did a short hike near our apartment, and after lunch Piet cycled up to Passo dello Stelvio. Unfortunately it was a Sunday, and very nice weather, so Piet had to share the road with hundreds of motorbikes and many tourists in cars. At the top (2758 m!) it was a real circus, with souvenir shops, parking areas, hotels, and a huge skilift. The descent was not a lot of fun either, with motorbikes whizzing around him. Mary cycled up part of the col, and turned around at the first tunnel.
The next day we hiked around Bormio, and in the afternoon we cycled up together to the Torre di Fraele, a spectacular, quiet road, with many, many hairpins. The following morning Piet left for the Passo di Gavia, with the plan to do a loop including the Passo del Mortirolo. The road to Passo di Gavia was quiet and scenic, and at the pass there was just a parking and a small restaurant. After a short stop Piet descended the other way, ending up in the Oglio valley. Here the climb to Passo del Mortirolo started, a another famous, and steep, Giro d'Italia col. From there Piet descended back to the Bormio valley, and slowly climbed back to the apartment, completing 110 km and 3000 m of height difference. And adding two ticks on his bucketlist!
The final day we drove back up to the Gavia, to do a beautiful hike in the mountains, with very few people around. We packed everything and drove a few hours west to Pont St Martin (very Italian despite the French name), north of Turin. Here we met Paulien, a friend of ours who was walking the Via Francigena.
The Via Francigena is a long distance pilgrimage, from Canterbury to Rome, with similarities to the Camino, but much less known and with far fewer people. Paulien retired in the spring and to manage her transfer from a very busy working life to her pension she decided to walk the whole 4 month route in one go. She had been actively looking for walking partners, who could accompany her for several stages. Mary signed up for 4 days, for the stretch from the foothills of the Alps into the Po valley.
The Via Francigena follows an ancient route, based on the travels of archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury around 990. Every day a distance between 15 and 30 km is covered, mainly dependent on availability of accommodation. Accommodation is generally in hostels, in dormitories with shared bathrooms. As a luxury a simple hotel or B&B can also be booked. After sending them off Mary and Paulien hiked together to Ivrea, Viverone, Santhia and Vercelli, chatting, finding their way, and looking for water, food and coffee. As Mary didn't know Paulien very well beforehand there was lot's to talk about! Meeting a few pilgrims on the route and in the accommodation added further spice to the trip. In short: very enjoyable! And Paulien, who started early July, still had 6 weeks to go when Mary left her with the next friend. Mary returned by train and bus to Grenoble, where she was picked up by Piet and Pippin, and we spend the last few days together at our house.
