15 July 2025 (sun, clouds, mild) 49km

Heard the first train of the morning at the local station about sixty metres away from our tent at 6am. We were awake anyway but if we hadn't been, I think it was loud enough to even wake Ju.

Packed up and climbed about sixty metres to the local village. Here we found a Volg shop, a smaller 4 square type store (if you live in NZ). The lady there was lovely. Spoke excellent conversational English, to go with her other four languages. Had a nice chat with her and off we went for the day.

Our riding this morning is still downhill, which shows how high we were. Mapy was showing us a route up in the mountains, but we figured, how much higher do we need to be?

So we continued on the main road, which was a great surface and we were rolling nicely. 

At Trun, we pulled over alongside the road into the village,where they had a seat, fresh water fountain, litter bin and a view. It also had very nice new toilets…..and we almost passed up this pearler of a spot because it was a bit close to the road. Oh deary me, we are getting a bit precious. So we gave each other a slap in the face and gratefully sat down at this perfect little breakfast spot.

Enjoyed a nice breakfast before the same kind of riding, all downhill to Schnaus. There was a Co-op store here where we know we can get wifi, and they had a cafe. So purely for you dear readers, we forked out our $18NZ for two lattes so that we could get up to date with the blog.

The last three camps we have stayed at have not had WiFi so we were getting a bit behind. It made a pleasant change to sit in a cafe for an hour and a half, catching up on things.

On the way out of town we decided to get some more gas from an Inter Sport. Also put some more air in our tyres from their pump.

The riding had been great this morning and we started the second phase with some stunning scenery and some climbing. The views really were something.

It had been threatening rain during the morning and although clouds were building, nothing came of it. We were now quite high and riding alongside a gorge, part of a national park.

About 2pm we came upon "Camping Carrera". Set high in the mountains, it was a lovely and well organised site. The owner had a dream twenty years ago to build this rustic but welcoming campsite and has followed it.

It was packed with hikers and bikepackers and van travellers and even groups (possibly a team building gathering).

Bought an ice cream each, I got a Cornetto and Julia got a locally made Tiramasu and reckoned it was the best ice-cream she'd ever had. So there you go Toff, a suggestion for your next Tip Top conference.

Pitched tent, showered, shaved, washed clothes, hung them out and began a conversation with another cyclist.

Her name is Regina (pronounced. Regeena). She is Swiss and has done some good tours, including her first which was to Iceland. She is on her way to Davos to see her uncle.

Bought a beer and Julia and Regina shared a bottle of wine. Ju also said this was the best wine she'd had in the past six weeks. Maybe it was, or maybe it was a reflection of how hard we've been working the past few days.

Julia here: We talked about where we were planning to go and Regina suggested doing the Albula Pass. She said she had already done it twice and she was going to do it again on her way to see her uncle. She was so enthusiastic about it that we completely forgot all the climbing this would involve and agreed this sounded like a great route. The dangers of planning while enjoying wine and beer maybe?!

On reflection, maybe Regina is more unhinged than we are as she seems to relish the thought of the climbs. Or maybe the views are so spectacular, you soon forget about the pain it took to get there, a bit like childbirth. (Briana, Georgina and Brody, you're welcome). Or maybe Regina is more of a pure cyclist, because there's plenty out here, slogging up these hills, although from the looks on their faces, not many seem to be enjoying it!

We really enjoyed our social evening as we also had a bit of a chat to a Swiss couple who agreed with Regina about the Albula Pass. Maybe they're all crazy here, or maybe mountains are so natural for them, they don't think twice about climbing them. They've probably already started to physically adapt. I will be on the lookout for a second set of legs that pop out halfway through a climb when they've worn out the first set.

For dinner we had Chilli Con Carne, lentils and rice, for the third night in a row. Still delicious. Followed up with a milky coffee and chocolate and into bed by 9pm.