Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Day 5 - Cortina - Calalzo - Belluno

Today we started off with excellent weather and John's great navigation thru Open Street Maps to direct us to the path.   We road  on the EU Bike Route 1 all day today, as we had much of yesterday.

The trail was very pretty,  most on the Old Dolomite Railway,  through it's tunnels and by its stone walls.  Some of the trail went through verdant forests and some through Italy's small towns in the Valle de Cadore.

Today, sometimes the trail was being repaired, or was closed by a rockslide, but the markings were very good and we only had to turn around once (due to a rock slide).

We rode to the railway station in Calalzo, losing what elevation we labored for yesterday and more.  Once we made it to Calalzo, we were transported by van to Belluno.  There is a new bike path between Calalzo and Belluno,  but the tour company rep said it wasn't completed and the roads were dangerous so we took their advice and took the transfer.

Belluno is lovely, with great cafes, historic buildings and a vibrant feel to it.  Tommorow we start out for Valdobbiadene and wine country.

Highlights of the day were the Olympic Ski Jump from the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina D'Ampezza,  lunch with a great view of the Dolomites from a bench just off the trail,  scoring new Dolimite themed jerseys at Intersport in Valle de Cadore, and dinner with tour mates at restaurant in Belluno.

Look at the route here.

Mountains overlooking Cortina

South of Cortina

Olympic Ski Jump from 1956 in Cortina

Wooded and paved section of trail

Beautiful Dolimites

Passed through many short tunnels on the trail today

Switch keeper's house from late 1800's 

Dolomites 

Goats right along the trail

Piazza in Belluno

Festive Belluno



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