14/7 - From the Dolomites to the Alps

No journey worth its salt is ever entirely without incident, and as the road began to climb, the air began to thin and our ears to pop, we realised that the road signs announcing the 'Passo di Pennes' were not joking.  I've been over the Brenner Pass and the Passo Tonale, but in recent years have begun avoiding high places.  Unless I'm wearing skiis.  Not only that - the weather had taken a drastic turn for the worse, increasing low cloud, rain and mist, and a huge 20 degree drop in temperature (and I'm still in shorts...).  And worse still?  Nowhere to turn round and go back.  Actually, I don't think I even considered it.  Despite the cloud and the rain (maybe because of the cloud and the rain) the scenery was unearthly and brought back memories of the first morning I woke up in the Dolomites, at the impressionable age of 17.

I found this on www.alpentourer.com 'If you take the route from Bolzano you will pass the famous Runkelstein Castle [too much mist and cloud for us to see that]...The road follows north the river Torrente in uncounted curves and innumerable rock tunnels up to the pass summit [about 2,700m] ...steep rocks pile up to the sky...The road surface is terrific with endless grip, the curves clear and even the serpentines [read:hairpin bends] are easy to tackle.  Pure riding fun'.

Couldn't have put it better myself