Day 21 |
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Dignes-les-bains - Torino (July 24th)
NB:
We took off early and found a spot for breakfast.
On the way, my bike started missing, so we pulled off and it was my turn to check out the basics. The air filter was new, but I checked it anyway - no probs. The plugs looked as if the engine was running rich, which made sense at the high altitude. I don't carry extra jets with me or anything so I just put everything back together and we left. Naturally, the miss disappeared.
The road we were on was a bit bumpy. I had purchased a kidney/back support belt in Valencia and I had it on, but it seemed to be CAUSING pain, because it supported one area of my back while leaving the lumbar area overstressed. I took it off and the pain slowly went away. For awhile, though, I was not enjoying the trip!
Eventually we reached a point where Italy was just on the other side of a mountain. Uphill climbs are fun. Less braking is required for the hairpins, and it's pretty easy to get some rear- wheel slide coming out of the corners. (Note that that's coming OUT and not going IN to the corners, kids - always enter unfamiliar corners in control.) We got lots of practice here. After what seemed like forever, we reached the misty top, and the temperature was about 10 degrees lower. Italy was a short cruise down the mountain.
I made a brief attempt to pilfer a sign (the one that indicates that winding roads are approaching). Suffice it to say that the sign looked a great deal bigger on the back of my bike than it did on the post.
An hour later we were in Torino! Nice little town. Chris's friend, Simona, picked us up in her
Autobianchi, and made us laugh for 2 days...
Roads: We got back on the D900 and drove up, changed onto the N94 and
continued up through Briançon all the way to Italy. The S24/25 lead us to Torino.
 Day 20 |
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