Villach to Pozzuolo Del Friuli

Wednesday November 10, 2010

The couch I slept on in George's flat in Villach, Austria.

A photo I took of myself just in case something happened to me at George's.

I had undoubtedly the worst night's sleep of the trip so far. Couches are rarely comfortable to sleep on and the room was so hot, I was sweating all night! Somehow though, my headache was a little better, although my neck was still just as sore.
Now I don't like to associate a Beatles song with George, but this seems to fit:
"And when I awoke, I was alone, this drunk had flown". George was the polar opposite to a bird I'd say. And he certainly hadn't gone off to work, but I had no idea where he had gone, I suspected to get more beer and cigarettes. All I knew was that I was locked in his flat and I couldn't get out until he came back. The flat only had one door, the front door, which was locked and George had the key. I hoped he wasn't just wandering the streets on the drink until midnight again. It wasn't time to panic yet though.
I had milk and cereal with me so I sat down at the desk and ate breakfast. Then I packed up my stuff. Still no sign of George. Hmm. I considered an alternative escape route. I could see a long roll of electrical cable, one of those long extension cords and thought about using it to lower my bags out the window, and then climb down the cord. It would be dangerous, but I could probably do it, if I had to.
As I pondered, I was relieved to hear George's distinctive cough as he approached the door.
He was noticeably more sober this morning, and I could get more sense out of him. I didn't hang around for long but I asked him a few questions as he helped me with my bags.
He seemed rather apologetic: "you must excuse me, I am a drunk man. That is my problem".
I asked him how long he'd been drunk for. "Ohh, must be twenty years" he said wearily.
"That's a long time", I said.
"Yes, a very long time" he agreed.
"You should stop drinking?" I suggested.
"Ohh, it's too late for me now. Two, maybe three months", he said resignedly, rubbing his belly, "that's all I've got left."
It was really sad. I wondered what had driven the man to start drinking in the first place, and how one could drink constantly for twenty years.
It was time for me to head off, and I stepped into the lift with my bags.
"I'm sorry, you must excuse me," he said.
"No, not at all, thank you for having me" I replied as the doors of the lift closed.
I packed my bike and got going, I was glad to be out of there, and unscathed, unless you count the sleep deprivation.
I stopped at a servo to give my bike a clean and change the worn out rear brake pads, then set off properly.
I was trying to follow one of the bicycle routes, R3, but it got really difficult because the roads were covered in snow in some places.

Near the Kämtner Straße, heading out of Villach, following a bike path along the creek.

Riding through the Austrian Alps, near a town called Pöckau.

I found I could ride through snow without much trouble, as long as it wasn't much more than ankle-deep and as long as there wasn't mud underneath it. If there was, it became really difficult.
I lost the R3 route around this area somewhere:

In the Austrian Alps, near Pöckau, where I was no longer able to follow the  R3 bike route.

I decided just to get onto the main road to avoid any hassles. I'd had enough of riding through snow on a round-about route.

My bike tracks in the snow in the Austrian Alps, near Pöckau after I'd lost the bike route.

It was much better on the main road because all the snow had been cleared from the road, and there wasn't too much traffic anyway. The road was steadily climbing, the sun was shining there was snow all about on the ground, the scenery and the mountains were beautiful and I was happy, I was motivated. I had no idea how high the pass was, but I was confident I'd make it over no problems.

Back on the main road, the Kämtner Straße in Arnoldstein, Austria.

I got to a town called Tarvisio at about 2 pm and stopped there to buy some food for lunch.
I ate my usual sandwiches for lunch then kept going. I think Tarvisio was about the highest point because the road seemed to flatten out and then started sloping downhill. The maximum elevation was only about 875 metres, piece of piss!
I just cruised all the way down through the Alps, through deep valleys overshadowed by towering snow-capped mountains.

Following the bike path which was built on a dis-used railway line, going down through the valley. This shot was taken near Campoross in Valcanale, Italy.

The mountains viewed from a little further down the valley from Campoross in Valcanale, Italy.

A little water-fall flowing down the mountain-side, near Ugovizza, Italy.

On Viale Udine near Resiutta, Italy.

I was pretty much out of the mountains by night-fall, then it was a mostly flat straight ride into Udine, with plenty of traffic on the roads, since it was peak hour.
So, I was finally in Italy, and I'd made it through the Alps no problems, I was quite happy.
Once in Udine, I stopped to check if there were any hostels in Udine and to email and download some more map tiles. I got this heart-warming email from Erich and Sylvie, the elderly couple I stayed with back in north-western France:
"Dear Ned,
Thank you very much for your mail of 28.10. We hope that you are well, that you are now in Italy, that you have better weather and you will find your sister in Siena in these days. We remember you regularly. It was really nice to meet you. Some days ago we saw on the TV an emission about trains in Southern Australia and Tasmania (towns under others: Bellgrave and Walhalla) So we saw something of your country and we remembered you.
Best wishes for you and have a good time in Italy!
Sylvie and Erich"
What kind folk they are!
It had been drizzling on the way into Udine, and seemed to be getting heavier. My goal was to get to Venice the next day, so I decided to keep riding through Udine in the direction of Venice until I found a camping spot, but first I would find a pizzeria in Udine for tea. Being Italy, I found one without much trouble. I was happy to hear the pizza chef whistling as he made pizzas. It's always good to see people enjoying what they're doing. I ordered a pizza and it went down a treat.

A pizza for tea from a pizzeria, in Udine, Italy.

As usual though, it didn't quite fill me up, but it would have to do.
When I got out of the restaurant it was really raining, and I wasn't keen to get wet just before bed, so I hung around in Udine under the veranda of another restaurant nearby waiting for the rain to stop. I was so tried though that I almost fell asleep in my chair. All I wanted to do was go to bed!
After an hour or two, the rain had reduced to a light drizzle so I hopped back on the bike.
I turned off at the next town: Pozzuolo Del Friuli, rode towards the creek I could see my map, stumbled upon a forest as it started raining again. This forced me to pick a spot quickly and without much thought, I set up the tent on a patch of leafy muddy ground in there and got to sleep at about 1 am.

My route for the day, from Villach, out of the Alps, through Udine to a place called Pozzuolo Del Friuli.

My route so far from France to Italy.

Ride stats:
Distance: 137.44 km
Average: 17.8 km/h
Maximum: 43.7 km/h
Time: 7:43
Total ascent: 570 m
Total descent: 968 m