In the saddle again

It has been a while! It is nearly two years ago that I inserted my previous post. After that things happened. During the winter after our last little tour the pandemic hit the world. 

Fortunately we, and our near ones, have been spared of the infection and when writing this we all had have had our full vaccinations. Like everyone else we had a more quiet time then we are used to. 

In the summer of 2020 though there was a window between corona-outbreaks and lockdown measures and our governments allowed us to leave the house a bit more. We took the opportunity and we cycled during a week in the south-west corner of Belgium, Flanders' Fields, the area where during WorldWar I so many lives were sacrificed for who knows what reasons. It was an impressive week. 

Later that summer we cycled for three days in the Belgian province of Limburg, where we visited some art exhibitions. That was more or less it. Also we had no Warmshowers guests in our house, no one was travelling of course.

Now we have just started a new tour. The intention is to make a little round tour in Piemonte, the northwestern region of Italy with its beautiful capital Torino. Also Piemonte is the place where the slow food movement started, and we will certainly paas by Asti, Alba, Bra and more of these small rural towns where they know how food can be made simply and delicious. In the mean time we will meet a good Piemontese friend.

We traveled by car from our home to Brig in Switzerland. From there we wanted to cycle across the Simplon pass into Piemonte today. But alas, the weather was abominable. Pouring rain, strong winds, mist and a clap of thunder every now and then. Not the favaourable condtions to pedal over 2000 meters altitude. So instead of leaving the car in Brig we drove over the pass and now we find ourselves in an old and romantic B&B in Varzo, a village halfway the road down to Lago Maggiore. The weather forecasts for tomorrow are better, though not completely good. Anyway, we found a save parking place for the car, the bikes have been prepared and we are ready to ride.