Day 54: Turin

This morning I started in Ottobiano. The first 25km I needed to return to the EuroVelo 8 track from my accomodation were quiet nice with small roads, old towns and little traffic.

But once I got to the EuroVelo it tried to coax me towards many gravel roads and other obstacles. At least three times I left the EuroVelo to use normal roads only to try again later and face another obstacle.

This gravel path was actually worth suffering for the views

Abandoned looking underpass with stairs.

Even when I approached Turin and thought there might be a nice cycling path to the city center I got this instead:

In addition to the Autostrada A4 the SP11 may also not be used by bicycles. This does not leave many options. But finally I made it into the city. Which is also not very bike friendly. Being the home of the italian car industry probably nothing else can be expected.

I visited the old part of the city. There are some impressive buildings, but the regular layout and "Via Roma" build in the fascist era make a very different atmosphere than other italian cities. This was a bit softened by some punks and LGBT activists/flags in the streets.

Former city gate from roman times

After some coffee and an ice cream I decided to head for my B&B in the east of the city. This part is not one of the nicest, but I did not want to cycle through the whole city in tomorrow mornings rush hour.

As a minimum I plan to get to Susa. After that I'll decide how much I'm still willing to climb before heading to one of the camp sites. The rest of the climb will follow the day after. I hope spreading the difference in altitude across two days will make crossing the alps a bit more relaxed.