Budoia to Tramonti di Sotto: 748m ascent

Sunday July 22, 2018, 30 miles (49 km) - Total so far: 5,023 miles

(8,083 km)

What a ride. The Komoot route looked pretty wiggly, but this means some lovely quiet backroads. It did try to send us over a long road bridge on the main road, so we detoured to another bridge further up the valley. This proved a wise choice - and the hundreds of other cyclists we saw clearly agree!

As we entered the Tramonti valley, the scenery turned from pretty to wow. A sign confirmed that we're now on the edge of the Dolomites, which explains things! There's a fairly short but certainly significant climb to tackle near the end; we're considering it a warm up for tomorrow and then entering Slovenia, both of which look fairly epic.

We're camping at the Val Tramontani campground. It's a stunning spot with good facilities and tons of space. Really friendly lady at check in, ice creams available in the restaurant, AND it's only 17.50 euros!

We were pretty toasted after a tough, hot day, so rewarded ourselves with a brief dip in the restaurant clear river. Brief was certainly the only option in that mountain water - you have been warned! ;)