Italia
We had joked about the passo Costalunga and whether it would indeed
"cost a lung", but it was actually quite easy. There was
one short sharp section, but the final km to the sign was level! Then
it was downhill to our next pass and in fact down hill to Balzano.
I'm glad we did it in this direction!
We had a fabulous time touring in this area, and maximized our time
here by taking the train back the last 100km to Bassano. Or so we
had planned. When we reached the train station, we discovered a sign
that indicated the tracks were under construction, and bus service
would be provided for the next two stops. We wondered about whether
we'd be able to get the bike on the bus, but figured we'd try. We
were all prepared to pop the front end of the bike off, but didn't
even have to do that. We simply slid the entire tandem into the baggage
hold - sideways. There was no hassle at all. In fact it was so easy,
that we are now contemplating taking our lightweight (non-coupled
tandem) to Italy next time, with plans to do day loops and use the
bus to get from point to point. This way we can really take advantage
of having a great climbing machine on the passes!
It was hard to leave, but the next leg of our journey was to head
off to Ireland and then on
