2001 An Italian Odyssey - In Which Guzzisue Gets Icicled

I’m not sure if the Guzzi was trying to tell us something this morning as she was refusing to start. Well it was quite cold but a change of plugs soon got us on the road.

For a change we rode up the Timmelsjoch and as we climbed it got cooler. Going through the tunnels Ian was being cautious of the water on the road, until we heard Guzzisue say ouch. Ian hadn’t done anything but Guzzisue told him to look up, she had just been icicled! On the tunnel roofs there were lots of icicles forming,some being two feet in length and one had broken off and hit Guzzisue, this also meant that the water was in fact ice on the tunnel floors. More caution was needed. No surprise here but we hit snow again on the pass.

Having paid the toll and collected the sticker it was into the café for a hot chocolate and warm up, well after Ian had worked out how to open the door.

Reutte is a town in Austria that we had passed through each time on our way to Italy, so we decided to stay here for a couple of nights and at about £20 each per night was pretty good value.

1998 Guzzi Goes Home - Innsbruck

First the bad news. We had got to the point in our holiday when the thoughts of heading home hit us. The good news is that we can still stop off in two more places.

Innsbruck in Austria was our first stop. I cannot remember much about which way we started off but we did use the Brenner Pass to reach Innsbruck itself.

Just outside the city we had stopped to decide on our plan of attack when a Greek came over to us to enquire about the mountain passes and were they open. We had seen a few snowflakes but nothing to worry about. He seemed happy with this and went on his way.

One thing Ian and Guzzisue do when they decide to stop somewhere for a couple of days is to go to the nearest tourist information centre and book a hotel. By doing this they can find one in their price range and make sure there is somewhere to park the Guzzi.

The Hotel Royal was thus booked and was situated near to the old town above a cinema. Ian had to go round part of the city twice as he rode straight past it. It was difficult to see the main door I must admit.

Once out of the riding gear it was time for a quick look round before the rain caught up with us again and led to an early night.

Next day it was a dash between showers as we tried to play at tourists as we went up the StadtturmTower which was built in 1440. This gave us a view of Innsbruck’s rooftops and mountains. We would also have had a bird’s eye view of the building with a golden roof if it was not having some work done to it, however was a tarpaulin covering it that had been painted to look like the building itself.

Back on ground level we went into the Dom zu St. Jakob. Although none of us are religious it does not stop us from being interested in the arcititure of churches. Inside was very ornate and bright. If churches back home in England were like this I wonder if Christianity in any form would be stronger today.

A walk away from the town centre took us all the way to the Bergisel Stadion which was built for the Winter Olympics in 1964 and used again in 1976. There is a great view over the city from up here and in summer the bottom acts as a concert venue with 40,000 seats!

As usual on the way back to the hotel my friends were being nosey and spotted two bikes lurking in back gardens.

Tomorrow onwards to Germany.

1998 Guzzi Goes Home - Guzzi Gets Home

We awoke to sunshine! After breakfast the Guzzi was loaded in double quick time and refulled. Fussen is right on the German – Austrian boarder so we stopped to change some Deutchmarcs into Schillings and get the road tax. This only cost a few Schillings but there is a heavy fine if caught on the wrong road without it. There are many different places where it can be bought from, including garages and shops.

Slow progress was made through Austria as we had to keep looking at the map to see where we were going to next. At one time Ian went in the wrong direction and ended up going through a tunnel that was long and full of exhaust fumes. When we got out Ian had to pull over for a few minutes to get his breath back and while he was doing this a policeman stopped by and checked to see if we had a tax disc!

Back on track we reached the Timmelsjoch Pass and stopped for a photo. We were to use this pass several times over the next few years. The Pass is a toll road that is closed over the winter period. While on this road we reached the Italian boarder and stopped for another photo shoot.

Slowly we made our way down to Bolzano Bozen where short of fuel we had to wait for the siesta to finish in order to get some Lira from the bank. Guzzisue went and got the money but she had to pass through a metal detector before gaining access to the bank.

On the road again Ian got slightly lost as the road signs were not to clear. He even tried asking a policeman to point us in the right direction, to no avail. We eventually get on the right track again and head off down to Predazzo, where we stop for a drink.

Refreshed we carry on when disaster strikes! Ian rides over a pot hole and the bag on the rear carrier bounces up, then down and shears off the rear light lens. Guzzisue sees this happen in the mirror, so Ian pulls over and she goes running down the road to pick up the pieces. Luck is on our side and one half of the lens so complete so Ian removes one of the rear bulbs and uses a piece of insulation tape to keep part of the lens in place, puts a clear plastic bag over the complete unit to keep out any water and keeps it in place with a cable tie.

San Martino di Castrozza is reached late afternoon and we decide to stay there for the evening.