Here is Day number 3 from my solo motorcycle road trip to the European Alps..

Day 2 --> An Indian in European Alps + KTM 990 SMT [Year 2009]
Day 1 --> An Indian in European Alps + KTM 990 SMT [Year 2009]

30th August 2009 : ARABBA - CORVARA via the long way

No of passes: 11
Total km ridden: 275km
Name of the passes (in order of doing them)

1. Pordio pass
2. Fedaia pass
3. Pellegrino pass
4. Valles pass
5. Rolle pass
6. Cereda pass
7. Duran pass
8. Staulanza pass
9. Giau pass
10. Falzarego pass
11. Valparola pass

My initial plan was to stay for two nights here in the town of Arabba, but something made me change my mind. You see before sleeping the previous night, I took out the map and studied it for a while - this would be the day of the passes for me.

I started off with the Pordio pass. The views enroute were simply majestic - i could see snow peaks in the distant horizon the weather was a little cold for riding. I also had a mild headache and popped a tablet for precaution. Here are some shots of the ride to Pordio

Enroute Pordio

The pass itself

At the top with other bikes

I stopped at the first curve on the other side and got a shot of a cop!

The views from this side of the pass were even better

I continued ahead towards Moena but not before taking a detour at Canazei to visit the famous Passo di Fedaia which is more or less based around a water dam. There were less bikers on this route than on Pordio and the views once on the top were much better than i had expected. See for yourself

A couple of bikers checking out the SMT

I rode on the small stone road (above the Dam waters) to the other side for this

And this

The pass...

By around 11:30am, i started back for Canazei and once there i filled up the bike. Fuel in Italy was more expensive than Austria (around 1.3 euros per litre) but the bike was returning around 17-18kmpl - which is impressive for such an engine

My next pass would be Passo di Pellegrino - for this i rode to Moena first and then took a left from there. The road to Pellegrino was okish but on the other side of the pass, the hairpin curves were a delight - for me as well as the bike

Pellegrino pass

Next pass on my planned route was Passo di Valles. For this i took a right at Falcade. The number of bikers today were a lot on the road, and it was fun racing / keeping up with the faster bikes on numerous occasions.

Valles pass

Next was Rolle pass and the roads to this pass were better - much more scenic than the previous few passes. A km before reaching the top, i parked the on the side and took some shots of bikers passing by

Bikers riding to Rolle pass

Thats a sweet car!

The pass itself..

Biking brotherhood

It was almost 1:30pm by the time i continued my ride ahead. It was downhill ride to Siror where while passing through the town, i happened to notice a classic bike model made out of junk metal. This is a very common norm here to attract bikers to come and have meals in cafes / restaurants. I was as it is feeling hungry and decided to hit this cafe which was located in a peaceful area of the small town overlooking the main road.

The place

My lunch

A few km after Siror came my sixth pass of the day - Passo di Cereda. The place itself wasnt very special so i just clicked a pic and carried on

Cereda pass

The ride to the seventh pass, Duran today had some terrific views. At this particular place i spent around 20min clicking away photographs

Duran pass

Staulanza Pass popped out of nowhere!

The last few passes had been very boring. However, the next one, the ninth for the day, the Giau pass has to be the most scenic one for this day.

The pass

A few meters after the pass

I spent around half an hour here, sitting by the side of the road, enjoying the views of the roads in the valley and a city in the distant horizon. Also made full use of my zoom lens for pictures like this one

By the time i left this the Giau pass, it was already 6pm. I had initially planned to stay the night in Cortina which was around 18-20km from here. I reached there pretty fast but this big town had a lot of traffic this day it seemed. I didnt know where to stop and ask for hotels and even if i saw one, there wasn't any good parking around. In the end, i managed to stop by at three hotels - 2 were expensive, and one was full. I somehow felt like riding ahead and staying the night at Corvara but that would involve another 34-36km, plus two passes too. After filling in some fuel, i gave this idea a shot and decided to leave this town asap. I rode fast, as it was getting dark (and colder too). Traffic was getting sparse on the road and for the first time, i really pushed the bike a lot around the long sweeping curves and enjoyed every bit of it and soon hit Falzarego pass

Passo di Falzarego

Minutes later, the second one and the eleventh pass of the day for me, Passo di Valparola came up - the sun was setting down in this side and hence it was relatively brighter here

It was a downhill ride to Stern, from where i took a left to Corvara. I had done a lot of riding today, 275km to be precise and was quite tired by now. By the time i hit Corvara, I decided to stay at the first decent hotel which came up immediately. I happened to see a "Bikers welcome" banner on the right and that was it. I parked the bike and went in. Room with dinner and breakfast for 48 Euros seemed like a very good deal. In the next ten minutes, i was in my room's bathroom taking a much deserved hot shower with memories of today's scenic ride etched in my heart..

Updated : Continue to Day 4