"We shouldn't be too long" was about the last thing I said to Mum when we left for a short loop including the summit of Monte Grappa. Famous last words...!
Rather than head down the main drag, we climbed higher onto the flank of the mountain before traversing on some lovely wee road through to the base of the climb.
We were both feeling a little under-nourished, so we took a short detour, and soon had demolished additional coffee, and a cornetto for me. I also grabbed a couple of baked goodies to takeaway. A sign across the road read "Cima Grappa 27" and my Strava route suggested something like a 1500m climb. A whopper by any definition.
It was hot already, and the first switchback and the road leading to and from it, suggested we weren't going to get a lot of shade.
On the other hand, the gradient was very nice, enough to eat into the remaining vert, but not so steep regular climbing out of the saddle was necessary.
Even though the trees below the road weren't offering much shade, they were mostly obscuring the view over Bassano del Grappa - the main town in these parts. But, from time to time, we did get views, and on one occasion I paused to watch one of many paragliders already out and about.
I'd stop to wait for Sarah every 20 minutes or so, and I had plenty of time to enjoy the road and its features. I enjoyed a very short tunnel that had alcoves painted per the Italian flag, and which was sporting some nasty scars from an oversized vehicle.
As the road shifted onto the western face of the mountain, we enjoyed great views over the Brenta River, and I could even make out the pedestrian bridge we'd used towards the end of the previous day's ride.
When Sarah joined me, she reported being a bit low on energy, and so we promptly consumed the only food we were carrying. About 15 minutes later, we came upon an open Osteria, and ordered some pizza for lunch - this was already proving to be slow going.
The pizza took a while to be served, but was bloody delicious, packed with tomato, mozzarella and basil. Acqua (frizzante) washed it down nicely.
As we were leaving, the signage suggested we were now "only" 10km from the summit. Woohoo!
Monte Grappa was the scene of some fierce battles between the Italians and the Austo-Hungarian Empire during World War 1. I stopped at a monument to discover that the bend was named "The lap of death", and only then noticed the pock-marks in the gully behind me - remnants of grenade craters.
That was all pretty depressing, but it was impossible not to be cheered up by the abundant cows alongside the road. The each wore a collar with a bell, and as they moved and chewed, the bells clunked, and when there were many cows together, they made a delightful racket.
I waited for Sarah just above a turnoff to Feltre, where we'd had lunch the day before. I'd read that Monte Grappa has 10 distinct ascents, and had chosen the climb that was ridden during Stage 15 of this year's Giro. I think the peloton probably turned off at this point, but we were heading further up!
We stopped to investigate a memorial to the Resistenza armata contra il nazifascismo, who no doubt had died valiantly on this hillside. From there it was about another kilometre to the end of the road. I went up to the summit on foot, leaving Sarah to have a rest in the carpark.
It turned out my proposed route off the summit was a mere goat track, so we backtracked and took a left turn onto another sealed road. We soon came to another intersection, and I scrolled my map a bit to discover it connected to the goat track!
We took the turn, and found ourselves on an absolutely incredible piece of road. First was a very narrow sidle, with a series of one lane tunnels.
The drop to our right was often sheer, and we were given spectacular views down over the morning's traverse, and beyond.
All good things must come to an end, and this sweetest section lead us onto a short, sharp climb which took us to the top of the main descent to our village. Over the next 10km, we peeled off 1000 vertical metres, stopping regularly to let our brakes cool!
Once back at base, we quickly got changed and went for a drive with Mum. We managed to find a landing area for the paragliders, and watched three come in in quick succession.
We then headed for the river, and found the local Ponte Vecchio, which Mum knew was going to be nothing more than a wooden bridge. From it, we could see the very spot that Sarah and I had taken photos some five hours earlier. It was all very circular, given that the previous evening, we were crossing the same river on a bridge a few kilometres upstream.
It was a bit of a bummer to keep Mum waiting for longer than we'd led her to expect. But we had a lovely evening outing, and knocked back a very traditional Italian meal just before getting back to base. Tomorrow, we move to our penultimate accommodation, in the hills just north of Lake Garda.
Stats: a mere 63km ridden, during which we climbed 2000m, two-thirds in a single ascent of Monstrous Monte Grappa. Definitely more calories burnt than consumed. And, we lucked out to descend what I bet is the most charming of the ten roads to the top of Monte Grappa, but probably hard to enjoy as a climb!
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