About eleven years ago this time, we were off on a magic carpet ride, assisted by able Austrian travel guides. Christian here, driving the chase van, used to be a regular competitor at the Isle of Mann. The fast guy-crowd always wanted to be in his group. For me it was fun to speak German again, and with an Austrian dialect I could pull a leg or two of the guides.
Instead of the headlong rush that fast-riding inspires, we took our time with slower paced groups. I'd done enough fast-guy stuff and wanted to savor the ride instead of gulping it down. We spent a bit over a week traveling the woodsy by-ways and high-passes of the Alps, these are only a fraction of the shots.
The amazing turn-by-turn scenery that was constantly opening up was overwhelming.
This was an isolated, literally tucked-away corner of Austria - a polyp that's half-in Italy - where the fractured Germanic language (Ladinisch) spoken is traceable to the Latin spoken by a Roman garrison that was abandoned (or stayed) up here thousands of years ago. Talk about hidebound traditionalists. There was only one road up into the valley, with tunnels and waterfalls. Trails on the other side of the valley lead over mountain passes.
In particular I was hit by a kind of delirious, sensory overload by the Dolomites. Coming around a corner, eyes open and senses wide-alert for road conditions -- and suddenly seeing the massive, craggy formations in Cortina d'Ampezzo (where Ford got the word "Cortina" for their cars) was a kind of cerebral shock-and-awe. I was not just *seeing* them, it was kind of like they slapped my brain silly. I started laughing in my helmet and stood up on the pegs.
I borrowed the Aerostich suit from my Editor buddy John at Twistgrip. They're great and all that (and expen$$ive), but I can tell you that in a persistent rain this one leaked - but you'll stay pretty warm anyhow.
I've been slowly scanning-in the slides but it takes a while and the file-sizes are big. There are many more to come, not sure I'll post them all here though.
9 comments:
One of the saving graces of living in England is the fact that return flights to Italy from my local airport are about $100 return...I take advantage.
Wow. That looked like one hell of a trip, and one beautiful bit of scenery...
*marks it on the list of places to go someday...*
Thug - that's cheaper than flying to LA! Can you rent a bike in Italy? I'd do it on a freakin' Vespa! ;-)
Jon - Definitely the Südtyrol and North Italy - the Italian Stifserjoch (Paso Del Stelvio) and Austria's Hochalpenstrasse and are amazing. The river valleys into Italy from Switzerland, south of Pontresina to Glurns, are like descending a series of manicured, turning, terraces. The Engadine is most marvelous.
Sadly the distance and cost is too great for a repeat, the flight to Hawaii is much easier to endure and I have no more stock-options to burn-up in a huge bonfire...But it was worth it.
Ah, it brings back fond memories of the Brenner Pass, and when all the truckers went on strike and parked their trucks on the Autostrada, blocking the pass.
The "go fast" crowd was not us, that day ...
At least on a bike you can go in and out of cars, slow is as fun as fast to me anymore - you can practice feet-up trials-style stuff. :-) I should have kept the Beta Techno I had...but I didn't ride it much.
I agree, whole-heartedly, that the Alps are amazing. I'd love to get lost for a few months with a decent car and just drive around and stay at all of the little, local Gasthäuser, sipping coffee and walking about.
The Romantische Straße in southern Krauterland is incredible, and dumps you straight into the Alps at the German border. No kidding, all along the way, it looked like the stuff you'd seen and imagined from kiddy-books as a yoot.
Awsome photo's. Those are great. I love the one of the house on the hill for some reason. It looks like it has many granites of rock behind it..
DC..thug?...perhaps once..ha! I'm not sure about bikes but I'm booked for a short trip to tuscany in sept before getting back to Ca to help my sis with grape harvest come oct so I'll let you know.
Vespa then? I'd be equally as happy on a scooter. The thing about being on two wheels, psycho Italian Fiat drivers notwithstanding, is the dynamics of concentrated self-preservation forces one into a state of elevated, open, hyper-awareness. As one sniffs the tarmac, feels the road, and evaluates minute slices of time and motion at high-speed as you round each corner. And the ensuing result when one encounters something really quite awesomely marvelous can be a jolt rather like that of delirium. Fantastico!
Post a Comment