Round from Riva del Garda along the old Ponalstrasse to Lake Ledro

Although we only turned off the light at midnight yesterday, the alarm clock rings at 6:30 am.

Preparing breakfast takes unusually long, as not all things were in their place yet. We are also not the fastest when preparing our backpack with water, isotonic drinks, and food. So we don't leave until about 9:15 am by car. We also didn't realize that today is Sunday and the 'normal' tourists are joined by day tourists, clogging the streets. So we only arrive at a quarter past eleven at our parking lot on our route.

We flow with masses of city strollers through the narrow old town of Riva. A highlight for us was the reunion with the cafe where we 'celebrated' the end of our Alpencross at Lake Garda in pouring rain in 2018.

We want to ride a section of the old Ponalstrasse into the Ledro Valley. The Ponalstrasse connects the Ledro Valley with Riva. Its construction, which freed the valley from centuries-old isolation - at that time there were many impassable roads missing - goes back to Giacomo Cis. The construction lasted from February 1st, 1801 to the end of 1851.

Now we go steadily uphill on a stony, bumpy track over the old Ponalstrasse to Lake Ledro. Sharing the path with hikers is not a problem. However, a new experience is that thanks to e-drives, there are also considerably faster but also more uncertain cyclists.

The many tunnel passages are impressive. Again and again, the gravel road leads through short tunnels that resemble small bridge passages. But it feels like half of all tunnels are so long that Ulf rode practically blindfolded with his sunglasses.

The ground is blocky. Again and again, we have to avoid the grooves washed out by rainwater. And then, other cyclists come towards us from above, sometimes faster, sometimes slower.

We struggle uphill, meter by meter. The path passes by a picnic station. Here, the wheat separates from the chaff. The hikers stop here and turn back, many cyclists also stop here and probably won't continue.

The ground changes - from now on, we almost always have concrete under our tires. But we continue sweating uphill, serpentine after serpentine.

Finally, we reach Lake Ledro. Right at the beginning of the valley, we are greeted by the pile dwellings of the local museum. We continue along the lakeside path for a while. We stop at a cafe and relax with coffee and cola.

Rested, we start our way back. We know that we have a very interesting downhill ahead of us. Since we know the condition of the path, the incline, and the hairpin bends, we do not take the descent lightly. In addition to the ground, we also have to deal with oncoming traffic.

With weak knees and burning thighs, we reach our starting point in Riva again. We quickly cycle to the car, change the contents of our backpack, and drive back to Lake Garda. Here, we let our souls relax for another hour before refilling our supplies at the next supermarket.

Unfortunately, on the way back, we have to join the long line of cars again and we don't arrive at our accommodation until half past eight.

Today, we have a quick Bolognese with pasta.

We throw our tour planning out the window and look for a new tour for tomorrow. Writing our blog post is the last activity of the day. Or maybe not:

Brushing teeth, peeing, off to bed.....