June 13 - Aosta/Place Moulin Loop

Picturesque church along today's ride.

I opened the shades this morning and the sun blinded me. Right away I thought I was in trouble. Did I feel obligated to try to climb Paso Saint Bernardo again? When I took out my bicycle at 8:30, Margie, Marie and Henry were looking for riding companions. So I hooked up with them. We did a challenging ride up to Place Moulin.

The weather cooperated with us for almost the whole ride. We had a few spritzes of rain, but the clouds were mostly light. It was cold enough on the descent to wear a jacket and leg warmers.

Our ride started climbing immediately. We rode up a ridge away from Aosta through the hillside suburbs. In a short while we entered the real countryside. There were several small picturesque villages along the way. I was watching for places to stop and eat on the way back, but didn't see anything interesting. We road through forested ridges and along tumbling rivers. We could see several waterfalls, some in the distance and some smaller ones alongside the road.

When we reached the small village of Bionaz we didn't see the sign pointing to the turn for our destination. We rode through the village and saw a road ahead of us that went downhill. We were tired from climbing and didn't want to go down a road and have a steep climb on the way back. I did some scouting and decided this was not the road that we wanted. We turned back and found the sign pointing to the correct road. Following it, we climbed a bit more and stopped where we could see the dam that created our destination lake. There were a few more switchbacks getting to the road's end. The other three riders decided to stop here. I kept going and reached the end.

After taking a few photos, I put my jacket back on and headed back downhill. My riding partners had already left, so I let my bike loose and flew as fast as I safely could to try to catch them. I took the same route back but I never found them. I rode into the old section of town and had a panino and some gelato. Julie and Sally stopped to chat with me while I was eating.

I got to the hotel sometime after 2:00.

Here is a link to today's route. The elevation gain is too high.

After our traditional social hour, several of us went back to the restaurant that we went to last night. The food was still very good. I had ravioli with shrimp along with a mixed salad. Service this time was very slow. There were lots of families there with little kids playing in the grassy area next to the outdoor eating area. It was a little noisy, but it was fun watching the kids. I ate with Julie, Tom and Margie. Because Tom and I ordered a second course, our main course took a long time getting to us.

It's now 9:30 and I am ready for bed.