Reschen to Italy

Waking early (because my bladder was full from the beer last night and my air mattress had spring a leak and is therefore nearly useless), I saw some patches of blue sky and managed to get on the road for 830am which is record for me. I was chasing patches of blue and hoping…..then I decided to slow down and just take what comes. I think this is the first day that I have begun to feel like I am on a trip and not just beating out miles. I relaxed and started to enjoy and take pictures. Not very good ones but at least it is a start.

I headed up the valley to the Reschen pass try see something before the crap weather hit. At the top is a reservoir devised by the fascists pre WW2, rescued by Swiss finance in return for the electricity generated and built by the Italians in 1949/50 on land appropriated without compensation from a predominantly german speaking population (South Tyrol). No, the locals are not sore....All that is left of the villages in the flooded valley is this one Church tower. It sits in some sort of lagoon at the moment, probably because it is a tourist draw and the reservoir has been largely drained to allow some remedial works on the dam overflow structures.

My campsite neighbours last night told me that the Stelvio Pass (2nd highest paved road in the Alps at 2575m with 48 switchback turns and dubbed "the greatest driving road in the world" somewhat dubiously by Top Gear)  was closed too but I decided to go see as much of it as I could as it is only 20Km away. Another 10 days later and it would have been open. Bugger. This is serious biker country. Most of the guesthouses/hotels/beer gardens in the area advertise as 'Biker Friendly'. Oh well, maybe I will have to detour this way on the way back or come back another time.



On the way down, I saw a house festooned with painted carved stones, animal bones and horns. I pulled up and got talking to the owner/artist Lawrence AKA "The one who speaks with the breath of the mountain" or something like that. My German is about as good as his English. He has collected animal bones found in the forest and hung them on totem poles. A slightly surreal chap who talks about visiting American Indian tribes hundreds of years ago as a dream walker.


I know I am in Italy now because suddenly, nobody pays any attention to speed limits or overtaking in dangerous places. Totally different to Germany and Austria. I headed east and decided to quit early and stopped in Bolzano, the capital of the South Tyrol. No point going on as the rain was getting heavy and I want to see the Dolomites in sunshine. Looking up Bolzano on the web, I found it is the place where you can see Otzi, the frozen body found high in the Alps. Great! I thought….until I discovered that in Italy, museums close on Mondays. Bugger.