Day Six - the Day of Passes
Chioggia to Auronzo di Cadore [1501 miles to date]
On the side of the South Lagoon, Chioggia has been described as a 'little Venice with cars'. It was heaving with people out for the sun and we had to stay in the outskirts. The next morning was no better. It was the only place we visited that we didn't explore. In any case, the Po delta and its surrounds left us cold: depressed and depressing when viewed from the main roads at least.
We decided to avenge the closure of the Stelvio. We planned 9 small-road passes - and found them all.
First stop, the San Boldo, the one with sheep featured in Google Images. There were only half as many tunnels as I'd expected, mostly because when you see two entrances on the hill side, they're actually an entrance and an exit from a spiral tunnel.
We weren't rushing. It had turned into our first grey day. And it wasn't just about the roads.
To be honest, Preludes aren't built for these mountains. We rarely used the main roads and so found lots of first gear hairpins. Wringing the guts out of the car isn't the best substitute for a flat torque curve and a decent oil cooler would help. Fun, though.
A little convoy spiced things up for a bit. The driver of the third porker had been a bit of a gentleman's sausage, but the others had behaved well enough, waiting patiently for me to find them room to pass.
Eventually, it dried up a bit. Mrs Sailor drifted off to take some photos while I went up and down this section a couple of times. Well, you have to, don't you?
Our final stop for the day was Auronzo di Cadore, a peaceful place not too far from the Austrian border.
