Switzerland high passes report

CWeb wrote
Qualche info sulle salite alpine e in generale europee: www.salite.ch.
Trovi anche un forum per chiedere dettagli.

Yes there's lots of helpful info about climbs on that site. And I'd never
looked at the Forums section on it, so thanks for drawing my attention to
that -- it would be interesting to ask a question in English there (since I
know almost no Italian).

But salite.ch does not solve all my problems. Like take the first thing on
Sergio's list:
Passo del Vestito
First, I can't find "Vestito" on Google Maps, nor in the index of my book
TCI Atlante Stradale d'Italia Nord 1:200000. Google Earth has a link to a
photo of "Passo del Vestito" (which does not look like something Sergio
would ride over) -- but the photo does not say where it is located.

I search on salite.ch for "Vestito", and good luck . . . .I find two climbs
for "Passo del Vestito" (but still it doesn't tell the location). One climb
is from "Molino del Riccio". My book TCI Atlante Stradale d'Italia Nord has
several "Molino" entries in its index, but none in Toscana, and no "Molino
del Riccio". (and it's not on Google Maps, not on Google Earth).
The other "Vestito" climb is from "Massa". So I look in TCI Atlante and the
index has two "Massa" entries in Toscana, one in Lucca and one in
Massa-Carrara -- but salite.ch does not say what _province_ the climb is in.

So I don't know.
The good news is that while I was looking for Vestito on my TCI Atlante
Stradale d'Italia map, I found San Pellegrino in Alpe.

Ken

P.S. I think some of the elevation profiles (grafico altimetrico) on
salite.ch might have mistakes -- for example, the elevation profile for
Monte Zoncolan from Ovaro.

On 28 Ott, 03:28, "Ken Roberts"
wrote:
But salite.ch does not solve all my problems. Like take the first thing on
Sergio's list:
Passo del Vestito
First, I can't find "Vestito" on Google Maps, nor in the index of my book
TCI Atlante Stradale d'Italia Nord 1:200000. Google Earth has a link to a
photo of "Passo del Vestito" (which does not look like something Sergio
would ride over) -- but the photo does not say where it is located.

To dispel any doubt.
Passo del Vestito is indeed between Massa and Arni.

I have cycled up there first time back in 1975, I guess. At that time
the road was literally going through the marble quarry at the top and
the tunnel at the summit was narrow and dark: no asphalt up there, no
fine gravel either, but only sharp rocks from the quarry.
Ken, I urge you to cycle that area if for no other reason to see the
stunning and famous marble quarries: check out Galleria del Cipollaio,
Passo del Vestito and Campo Cecina.

Sergio
Pisa

sergio wrote
I urge you to cycle that area if for no other reason to see the
stunning and famous marble quarries: check out Galleria del
Cipollaio, Passo del Vestito and Campo Cecina.

The good news is that I found that I have a detailed map of the Garfagnana
area.

The problem is that you're confusing my thinking about bicycling in
Toscana -- because your ideas are so different from the usual places visited
by most English-speaking bike tourers and organized group tours. For that
Sharon and I concluded that the actual riding on the roads was better on on
our favorite routes back home, and that we didn't need to fly across an
ocean in order to meet lots of English-speaking non-bicyclists. But now
you're giving a detailed picture of a different Tuscany.

The other problem is that (non-Alitalia) airfares to Milan were so high in
the last couple of years that Sharon and I got in the habit of flying to
Zurich and then driving to northern Italy -- but Tuscany is just too far
(until airfares from NY to Italy get lower, or Alitalia gets stabilized --
better both).

I do have a list of more riding goals for around Piemonte, so perhaps once
I've gotten that far, I could justify driving down to Garfagnana.

Ken

On 3 Nov, 02:38, "Ken Roberts"
wrote:
sergio wrote

The problem is that you're confusing my thinking about bicycling in
Toscana -- because your ideas are so different from the usual places

God news to my ears, and I take it as a compliment too.
So, since we are at it, let me expand a little more.

There is a beautiful inner region, in the provinces of Firenze and
Arezzo, that would be quite worthwhile exploring. Little traffic,
stunning forests, monestaries and ancient secluded places. Check out
these names: La Verna, Poppi, Camaldoli, Futa, La Calla, San Godenzo,
Muraglione, Stia, Badia Prataglia, Vallombrosa.
You could easily get close to such places by train from Pisa, sparing
yourselves the busy Arno River valley or the, so obvious, Chianti
region.

How to get to Pisa?
By Ryan Air from Glasgow, or London, or Frankfurt, or Alghero.
Yes, from Alghero in Sardegna by Ryan Air, or from Bastia in Corse by
way of ferry.
You got to know that Sardegna and Corse are among the most beautiful
islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

Sergio
Pisa

sergio wrote
There is a beautiful inner region, in the provinces of Firenze and
Arezzo, that would be quite worthwhile exploring. Little traffic,
stunning forests, monestaries and ancient secluded places. Check out
these names: La Verna, Poppi, Camaldoli, Futa, La Calla, San Godenzo,
Muraglione, Stia, Badia Prataglia, Vallombrosa.

Thanks, I put those on my private page of places to ride in Tuscany. Maybe
you should put some of those ideas on a public personal web page -- to make
it easier for visiting cyclists to find them in a web search.

I found my copy of the guidebook, Garfagnana by Bicycle, by Lucia + Bruno
Giovanetti. Very detailed, and showing a special love for that area, it was
translated into English by Peter Barrow around 2000. It's mostly mountain
biking, also with five short road touring routes around Castelnuovo and
Piazza al Serchio. It does have a loop route which includes the climb to San
Pellegrino in Alpe, but much of the other half of their loop is unpaved.

Ken

On 4 Nov, 15:26, "Ken Roberts"
wrote:
I found my copy of the guidebook, Garfagnana by Bicycle, by Lucia + Bruno
Giovanetti.

Of course I am not acquainted with that book, nor with the trails up
there.
However, I have good friends in Castelnuovo and just about any
question can find an answer.

Beware.
The two main roads going up from Lucca to Castelnuovo are not much
fun, but there are lots of detours, on asphalt, that even I don't
know.

Sergio
Pisa