The Joys of Going "Off Route"

Day 7 - Thursday, June 14, 2012
Aosta to St. Vincent
41 miles
5,466 feet of climbing

I’m calling this day a banner day based on the mere fact there was zero chance of rain, meaning we didn’t have to carry our rain gear!  Life is good when you don’t have to carry  rain gear with you on a bike ride. Today we would be leaving the busy valley town of Aosta and riding to a new host town - St. Vincent.  Of course, we didn’t take the direct route.  We took a longer route which brought us north up a nice but quite challenging climb.  So, for the first 25 miles of our route, we ascended about 3,400 feet.  The climb provided stunning views of the valley as we rode out of Aosta.  After we ascended the major climb of the day and headed down the descent, Art & I got a bit confused at the route sheet directions and Art & I went “off route” (otherwise known as “taking a wrong turn“) and found ourselves traveling in a different (opposite) direction from our destination.  We typically don’t mind going “off route,” especially on beautiful, sunny days like today.  The only drawback about our route diversion was that we were desperately looking for a toilette, but didn’t encounter any such facilities on our impromptu route.  After about four miles, we realized our mistake and backtracked our way to the “suggested” (correct) route.  Because it was so much fun the first time, we went “off route” again a few miles later and explored the town of Nus while looking for the “correct” road, a place to eat lunch and, still, a toilette.  Finally, we found an open café/bar with food and  facilities.  By this point, we were only about 12 miles from St. Vincent.  Art “Magellan” Hewig used his special navigational skills and found the road that the route sheet suggested we be on at that particular juncture.  Eureka!  We were once again in conformity with the route sheet!  (Not that there's anything wrong with going off route.)  As the route continued toward St. Vincent, there was a bit more climbing, some of it rather steep.  We arrived in St. Vincent around 2:00 p.m - early enough to have some time to walk around town and enjoy a gelato.  At 7:30, we headed to a local pizza place for a group dinner.  We had mussels, cantaloupe wrapped in proscuitto (and cantaloupe without the proscuitto for us non-meat eaters), and pizza.  It is worth mentioning that our hotel is located smack in the middle of town.  Usually, that would be a good thing in terms of convenience, but tonight, the town is having an event in the square directly adjacent to our hotel.  It's an “Italy’s Got Talent”-type show.  It’s going on right now (10:45 p.m.) as I type this.  I can hear all the acts - almost as if I were in the audience.  It’s not too bad, although the Elvis impersonator shouldn't quit his day job.  Maybe it will be over soon.  Or maybe I’m so tired from today’s ride that the musical acts will simply lull me to sleep.  I feel my eyelids getting heavy, so I’m hopeful.  We have another big ride tomorrow - we’ll need our rest. 

Views from the climb

 

Art . . . with altitude