Leaving Muhlbach the weather looked a bit ominous. The forecast was not great. Low cloud on the surrounding hills looked eerie, particularly around this old castle.

Today we spent a lot of time on cycle pathways, both sealed and unsealed. We met a guy named Chris from Austria who was heading home on a 185km ride.

The track took us into what we thought was a quiet and deserted village….until we rode into this square. It was not quite 10am and people were sitting around drinking wine already. Cyclists rode through. It was the hub of all activity.

There were a number of people wearing the Tyrol costumes looking like Oompa Loompa’s. They must be getting ready for something big if they needed to drink wine so early.

Then they all lined up with their instruments and I waited and waited….ever so patiently….

Then they started to play…stick with the video…the band are riveting and I have an extra who was ever so keen to be in my video…kind of sweet and makes me smile…twice! In fact the highlight of the video, and I mean that in a really nice way..😊

Back onto the cycle path following a river through forests, under motorways.

 

It was interesting to note the structure across the river. It appears, from signage, to exist to prevent major debris floating downstream during flooding.

Pushing on, snow clad mountains returned as we approached the Dolomites.

Still following rivers…

With only 28 km to go until Cortina, this was our view. We needed to turn right to head towards that V, part of the mightily impressive Dolomites.

Before turning right, we peeled left into the village for a bite of lunch. A nice village with beautiful backdrops.

It also had this station for charging electric cars and bikes.

We were there for nearly 90 minutes….I think they forgot about our soup….so long that the weather had really deteriorated and we got wet!

We sheltered under this UNESCO information portal and waited a tad longer as the sun was trying to break through further north.

The portal also represented the top of the climb, so it was pretty well flat or downhill to Cortina. No photos taken as it was a cold descent around 8 degrees, and whilst I had my rain jacket on, my legs were bare, and I wanted to just keep pedalling. I was cold!

Cortina is a nice town, very quiet as the ski season has finished. Walking around I was impressed by the surrounding mountains but the last one was my favourite.

The plan is to stay here until moving onto Asolo to hook up with the Giro. I suspect climbing maybe involved in the next few days, if the weather holds. Current forecasts not looking great.

Ooroo, 😊💪🚴