Scary wonderful roads

We have found fast uploading internet!

So may we present 3 of the most amazing roads you'll find anywhere.

The first is the last 2 kms up to Bikers Point in Austria. Just dont look down. I mean... REALLY, don''t look down

The Go Pro battery died just as we started the high canyon road along the Robertero - Schio road, so hero girl Janelle whipped out the hand held and got this breathtaking couple of minutes.

 

And a little more sane, but still kinda wonderful was this few minutes we managed without being monstered by trucks as we came down the mountain from the Austrian/Italian border. We chose to not use the Autobahn. Still not sure if that was a good idea, as there were just as many crazies on the back road, but it did deliver this....

A few statistics and how we're going.

We're almost halfway around Europe and at the mid point of our bike hire.  So here's some stats so far.

We've been actually sitting on the bike for just under 42 hours in total.
We've covered just over 3100 kms.
We've visited 6 countries.
We've reached an altitude of 2571 mtrs.
I've lapped Nordscheife in 12 minutes 13 seconds.
We've avoided any incident while navigating hundreds of stairs,
and we're on time and within budget.

We're tired, weary and travel stained.
We've been soaked to the skin.
We've walked so far, more than 10 kms on some days.
We've eaten apple strudel on top of the world.
Tomorrow we will ride in a gondola through the canals of Venice.

And on Monday we turn west and start heading back. 
... but we intend to take our time with it.

We really are loving every minute.  Yes, even navigating the Italian traffic.


And now a little confession.  We didn't want to worry anyone, but we were actually quite unwell for the first 2 weeks.  I came down with a serious chest infection we suspect I brought with me from Australia, and Janelle ended up with serious sinus trouble.  It's only really been these last few days we've been all ok.

So here's to the next 2 weeks.  Riding along the Mediterranean coast, playing in the mountains and racking up another few thousand k's on this most marvelous motorcycle.

Bring it on.

Italy

Well.  Italy, what can I say...
Petrol jumped by 30 euro cents a to around $2.50 Oz a litre. The road condition dropped alarmingly and all the drivers became crazy.

Everything you've ever hear about driving in this place is true.  It's nuts. Really nuts.  And the road condition is complete crap. Patches on patches and potholes everywhere.  And that's the main roads!

Oh... and the trucks... did I mention them... no?  Well let's just not go there.

Anyway, enough of that. We made our way to the town of Vicenza where we avoided a massive downpour by about 5 minutes and found a really nice hotel.  But not before stumbling on the most amazing little mountain pass between Robereto and Schio. 50 kms of windy twisty snake along a massive canyon that you couldn't even look down without getting vertigo. Just amazing.  Towards the end we found another of those suicidal German winnebago's with no idea how to use low gear down a mountain. Seriously, we could smell this guys brakes 5kms before we saw him, and he still had about 10 minutes of 9:1 descent to go! No idea if he made it down under control or his brakes just melted and he bounced over one of those hairpins to his doom.

But enough of that.  And enough of the roads.  Today we completed the last 50ks to Venice and found the Camping Village Jolly (yes seriously) about 5 ks short of Venice, and checked in for 2 nights.  A quick exploration this afternoon, and another downpour which we didn't avoid, resulted in the pics below.  Tomorrow we'll be spending the whole day there.  That's the plan anyway.  So hopefully lots more pics and a story or 2.

Till then....