21 July 2025 (overcast, torrential rain and thunderstorms, then sunny and very hot!) 38km

All it takes is one day of rain to make us realize just how lucky we have been for the past seven weeks.

We had constant rain overnight and the forecast said thunder and lightning starting at 8am. We had no food, so no choice. We had to move.

We thought today would be a good day to book a hotel which I did while we had the camp WiFi….and then realized the hotel I'd booked was not in Bolzano but 20km out the other side, up in the mountains with 1300 metres of climbing. It wasn't even in the direction we were headed! So that was a great start. Unrefundable and still nowhere to stay.

It stopped raining and we sprung into action. Packed up and tent down in double quick time and we were on the move at 7.30am, resigned to seeing very little on our ride into Bolzano.

We were all rugged up against the rain so soon got very hot. We got a bit of drizzle, but when it stopped, we got the coats off so we could breathe again.

The ride was pretty boring as we were following a canal one side with a railway track and apple orchards on the other for about 10km. But at least it was flat.

Then we were on the outskirts of town and the bike path took us through the less salubrious parts of town before we got to an awesome smooth bike track with park grounds on either side.

Would have been a delight if we hadn't needed the toilet. Found one which you had to pay for, but it didn't work anyway. We couldn't get the door open, but luckily it spat out our precious Euro.

So carried on into town to a Coop supermarket for groceries and WiFi. Only thing was, they didn't have WiFi like their Swiss counterparts. So we got our groceries and found a cafe with outdoor seating where they had shut down for two weeks, so made our breakfast under their shelter.

Then continued the search for toilets and WiFi, getting more desperate with the passing of time. After several dead ends and even being told by the tourism office that we had to go to the train station and pay a euro each (and find somewhere sheltered for the bikes and hope someone didn't nick them while we were in there!)

Bolzano was a busy bustling tourist town, even on a wet day. Would have been a great day to book a hotel in the middle of town and go shopping. I often wish I had the capability on a bike to buy a few things on the way. But the cost of shipping them home makes it unrealistic. Not to mention the cost of a hotel in Bolzano....known as one of the most expensive in Italy.

In the end we asked at a cafe, which is always a bit awkward in a foreign language when you're happy to buy something, but not if they don't have a toilet.

Finally at 12.45pm we were able to use a toilet and had a delicious coffee as well, for just 2 euros each. In the meantime we'd been led an uninspiring dance around Bolzano, which I could see in nice weather would have had a very different feel to it 

As it was, we were gutted about booking a hotel in the wrong place, gutted with the crap weather we were having to avoid all the time and gutted we couldn't get wifi to even look for another hotel.

So after our coffee, we found the closest campground was 8km in the wrong direction but at least it had a supermarket close by. So we set off for that. Which was precisely when the forecasted thunderstorm chose to come through.

So we found some shelter under the eaves of a local shopping precinct and sat there blogging while the storm went through.

It's so much easier to avoid getting wet in the first place than trying to dry everything in a tent.

There was a lull in the weather, but the skies still looked bleak, so we chucked the wet weather gear back on and headed towards the campground. 

We only got about 2km down the road and had to take shelter again.

While we were there, police sirens went and a cavalcade of police officers on motorcycles went through, followed by the peloton of some big cycle race. There were hundreds of them and they were followed up by more police officers. We kept a low profile due to slagging off Italians in yesterday's blog. 

Pete here:

Just had to dash away this morning to join the peloton that Julia just mentioned.  It was torrential rain when I flew past Julia. She gave me a wave, but just a small one, because at the time of waving, I was leading said cycling pack, with a fully laden bike I might add and pulling back, if truth be told. 

A couple of kms further on and I'd had enough. A guy like me doesn't want others feeling they aren't competitive enough. It's just the way I am...! 

After I had rejoined Julia, we cycled on in drizzle toward Leifers. The sky, although better than it had been for hours, was still ominous. We actually called into a hotel to find out the price of a room.

They had two.

A three bed on the roadside for Euro 150 and another facing the scenery at the back, which we can't remember the price of, because the first one was too expensive anyway and the second room was more. 

The girl was very nice but we cycled on to Leifers where we shopped at a Euro Spin supermarket before heading to the camp.

It had been a shit day and was about to get worse, when the young girl on reception told us there was no room. Next campsite 16kms in the wrong direction. 

We were gutted. We hadn't done anything today except 38kms, but we had pissed about for hours in Bolzano.

Julia suggested she go and ask the girl to ring the next campsite, to make sure they had room before we cycled all the way there.

She kindly did that and they too were full. She was about to suggest something else and asked if we had a car. What part of “we are travelling on bicycles” do you not understand? No we don't have a car in our panniers.

About this time an older receptionist heard the conversation going on and said to the youngster that they save a very small site for cyclists with a tent.

She also gave us a 25 euro discount seeing as it wasn't a proper site, so it was only 38 euros ($76!) Hence we are now sitting in the tent after doing all our formalities, ready to eat dinner after having a drink previously.

You would not believe the change in the weather.

As I write there is blue sky with wispy white clouds moving slowly across a peaceful sky, and it is very hot. We actually had cold showers because it had gone so hot. They were so effective, we didn't need to use the very nice pool.

Tomorrow is another day, but we can do without one quite the same as this one.