Day 12: Wed 17th June 2009
Ride: Livigno to Brescia (Montechiari) - 157 miles
Most of the group woke up nursing at least some semblance of a hangover. Phil certainly had a bad one and Kyle’s must have been monumental.
Nonetheless everyone was ready by 8.00am and Pete, Gaz, Bob, Taj and Cat were ready even earlier so they shot off ahead, leaving at 7.50am. Kyle came out after they had left to find them gone and spent the next 10 minutes chuntering about the fact they hadn’t waited so all 8 could leave together.
Anyway pretty much at 8.00 on the dot Phil, Kyle and Mark got on the road. It was a straightforward run: Over the Forcola di Livigno to the Bernina pass; south to Tirano; right towards Sondrio and then left over the Passo dell'Aprica to Edolo on the SS39. At Edolo we turned south on the SS42 and then the SS510 past Lago D’Iseo towards Brescia. On the outskirts we picked up the signs to Montechiari airport.
Kyle adopted an interesting riding style that morning, which had him, slumped over his tank bag with his feet hanging over the pegs. Phil thought he must be asleep at one point but he was going round the bends OK so must have been paying some attention to the road!
The stretch past the Lake was a pain as it ran through a series of long tunnels where there was no overtaking. The road was full of HGVs travelling at about 30 mph as there was a heavy load up front holding everyone up. We thought we die of carbon monoxide poisoning but luckily the tunnels came to an end.
All in all an uneventful trip back to the airport. Phil’s odometer showed about 1,350 miles covered in the pervious week.
We changed in the airport car park and then Chas Mortimer arrived with one van and his two Polish employees arrived with two others shortly afterwards.
Pete and the others turned up 45 minutes later. True to form they had to stop at a McDonalds for another intake of cholesterol.
Then it was on the plane and home, arriving in Bewdley about 8.00pm after what by consensus was our best tour yet.
Mark and Phil (L) and Kyle and Cat (R)
Gaz and Pete
