Day 81

The clouds levitate below the snow-tipped mountain peaks as we sit and enjoy coffee and cake at the start of our ride. We’ve stopped early today as our campsite only has a standing potty suitable for fluids. And this cafe has one of those modern flushing toilets, which are also suitable for solids. 

The drizzle that fell on our tent all night has now passed. And today, the sky is bright blue with a few clouds that gravitate towards the mountains. The air is crisp but it’s actually quite warm with the sun shining on our faces, yet pass into the shadows of these mountains and it all changes.

On the road, we see the first sign of danger when we notice a car driving towards us with inches of snow covering its roof. Then, snow starts appearing by the roadside in thin clusters. But after an hour, we enter a small town and it’s covered in snow, and the next town has even more. It seems that the majority of the snow has been cleared from the main roads, but driveways, car parks, and footpaths are still covered in it. So, pedestrians take to the road rather than risking an icy fall. 

We reach our first pass and the trees that fringe it are thickly dusted in snow, but the sun-facing roads remain grippy and clear. The problem begins when we pass around a turn and enter a shaded section of the pass, where slushy snow covers parts of the road. We travel very slowly and try to keep the bikes upright while taking corners. 

The scenery is glorious, and over our comms, I keep on broadcasting how beautiful it all is. We ride into one valley section, vaporous white clouds skirt over the pine-bristled mountains, snow lies on the ground and the sun shines brightly, creating brilliant contrasts across the valley’s edges. I notice a small lay-by that is not completely swamped by snow, so we do a U-turn and get the drone out. This is a big moment and the first time we’ve used it on our tour. And guess what, one of the batteries is flat. So we pull out the spare and manage a few minutes of flying without losing our little drone to the valley.

It’s now time to return to the road, and the easiest way to do this is to ride over some slushy snow, which stands at about 6 inches high. Wiggy makes this look relatively easy, but when I try I’m staring at the snow rather than looking at the road where I want to end up, and I set off too slowly. And so, my front wheel wobbles and I throttle off. When I try to move again, Maloo’s rear wheel spins and she goes nowhere. I eventually wriggle her out but spend the next few minutes being grumpy and wishing I’d tried with a bit more conviction. 

On my dash, the temperature in the pass dropped to 4 degrees. Now, from my research, this pass is supposed to be sitting at around 6 degrees. No concerns there, but the next pass we intend to reach is supposed to be in negative figures all day! This is because it sits on the dark side of the mountain. Considering the amount of road snow we’ve so far encountered and not wanting to meet black ice, we decide to terminate our intended loop, turn tail, and head back to camp.

Despite all the rain we had last night, we think it’ll be nice to light a fire back at camp. Our Airbnb host said we could collect sticks from the forest and use their fire pit. We glimpse their stack of pre-cut logs that are covered by tarps, then climb up the damp and steep track that leads to the forest.

We soon discover wet sticks make pretty lousy fire starters. But we are determined and have a bottle of fuel reserved for our camping stove. It takes a whole litre of petrol and a good hour but we finally get a fire going.

White smoke billows from any new additions of damp sticks that we add to the fire, but luckily, a steady wind pushes the smoke away from our seats. Moist bark smoulders, while dried twigs set ablaze and send flames skywards while sparks of hot ash dance up.

In the fire pit, some old charcoal logs have been hiding, soaked through, black and fragmented, but promising. Eventually, they catch fire and burn away nice and slowly. And over time, white hot embers form, and smouldering chunks of wood ripple with orange heat.

It feels warmer tonight because our clothes and the air are dryer, but it’s actually pretty nippy. Before bed I have a low blood sugar and drink orange juice, so during the night my levels fluctuate and I’m restless. And because of the juice I need to get up to use the squat loo! It’s 3 degrees outside and opening the tent flaps is done only out of necessity.