As always, time goes by really quickly and we’re on our way back home. In theory, we could have done the distance in two days, but we decided to take it slow and enjoy the drive including a detour around lake Como.
For today, we could have just driven along the coast all the way up to Genova and then taken the motorway northwards … not us today. We decided it would be a good idea to take the smallest roads available and cross the hills in true TWIKE adventure fashion: Hairpin bend by hairpin bend.
For the first dozen or so kilometres we continue to drive along the sea. A stiff breeze, cloudy sky and lower temperatures are a welcome reprieve from the last 10 days!
We leave the coast in Alassio, from here onwards we are driving away from the sea. A quick wave goodbye and we’re ready to climb up the hills between the sea and the Padanian Pianura.
It’s strange to finally drive all the way up to 800m above sea level – we’ve been cruising along the sea for days – the roads are getting tighter and the TWIKE’s consumption is way higher now.
As soon as the serious climbing starts, we drive along a maze of hairpin bends whilst diving ever further into the underdeveloped hinterland of the hills between the coast and the Pianura.
There is not much to report other than the total absence of any mobile network coverage during tens of kilometres was surprising for Italy. Along the road there were some smaller settlements with a cell site but typically only one frequency per RAT generation and generally no 5G.
My dependency on good coffee from Italian bars brings me multiple ones during the day today.
Yum! Not burnt, €0.90 and just perfect.
After the hills comes the Pianura, Europe’s largest plain and home to 30% of all italians. Devoid of any landmarks it is a rather boring affair to drive across. Only when one starts to see the Swiss Alps again, things get interesting – which will be the case tomorrow.
Our goal for today is to get to visit Pavia for some shopping and stay in Garlasco for the night.
Temperatures in the Pianura Padana are back to oven-style and we are very happy to have still some energy in the battery and drive at higher speeds towards Pavia.
After our shopping break we head to Garlasco where we’ve rented a room in a quaint little place for the night including a plug for our TWIKE.
The place turned out to be way much more down-to-earth than expected. Typically, motocross racers competing at the track nearby stay here – they all leave a note and their start number on the walls of the place. Since it’s been around for a while, most walls are covered in a very interesting style of graffiti.
We, however, have other things on our mind: relaxing after a long day’s drive and having some drinks on Garlasco’s main square before having some food at a restaurant the owners of the place we’re staying recommended to us.
After a very nice evening at the main square and some very tasty food at a very local restaurant, we get back to our place and sit outside for some time and enjoy the cooler temperatures and some calm whilst having some last drinks before turning in for the night.
Let’s go to the stats for today.
