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The downside of staying at a hotel? Breakfast.
Because breakfast is served relatively late, the start of the morning—and thus the cooler hours—is always a bit delayed.
So we keep our breakfast relatively short, even though it’s excellent. But given the price of the room, that’s no surprise. 😉
Afterward, we hop on our already packed motorcycles and leave the garage.
Just like in the past few days, the weather has cleared up again. And so we set off for Perosa Arentina, a town near the entrance to the Assietta Ridge Road.
The trail takes us uphill and downhill through a wide variety of landscapes: sometimes through wooded areas, then over rocky sections, through alpine pastures, and finally past mining structures that, given their size, seem to literally cut across the TET in this area.
We briefly consider taking another detour. Then we decide to cross the mine—which, mind you, is in full operation.
This is probably the most exciting part of today’s ride. Relatively steep sections covered in powdery rock dust require plenty of throttle while maintaining a low speed.
Just like at any mine—see also Erzberg—there are no trees here, but instead heated rocks that radiate a lot of heat, which the now-intense sun further intensifies.
So shortly afterward, we stop at a shady spot with a stream running through it to cool off a bit…
This is the only real TET encounter we’ve had so far on our trip.
Two Brits driving the TET in the opposite direction catch up with us from behind.
Apparently, they also came across the mine, though from the other direction. Since they were looking for alternate routes to the left and right, that’s probably why we didn’t run into each other right away.
Based on the orientation of our vehicles, they correctly assume that we’re also coming from the direction of the mine.
We confirm that it is possible to drive through the mine, albeit on a route that veers slightly further to the side than the original TET track.
So they turn around once more to try their luck.
And were never seen again. 😉
We continue on our way. And this year, it’s Junior who gets hit in the handlebars by a rock during a downhill section and ends up taking a tumble. 🙂
Low speed—that’s why nothing happened.
My inner ego is beaming. After all, I’ve made it this far without any mishaps—even if I’ve sometimes only just narrowly avoided them. And Junior is, after all, the better rider of the two.
The route drags on, but it remains entertaining. Even though the final stretch isn’t all that challenging, we finally arrive in Perosa Argentina.
The place we booked turns out to be spacious, but it’s sweltering inside. Hopefully it will cool down a bit here in the city as the evening and night go on.
At least the inevitable rain has started again.
So we stop briefly at a burger joint on the main square and then go to bed early.
If everything goes according to plan, tomorrow we’ll tackle the Assietta Kammstraße, and after that we’ll be back in Oulx—where our trip began.
