La Spezia, a Villa and then a Moto Rally in Tuncany

After saying goodbye to the Swedes we were off south from Milan.

We planned to take the small SP roads up into the mountains and so the 300 km took 6 hours. Several of the passes were pretty cold at 6 degrees, but there was essentially no traffic. It makes you antsy at times when you don’t see another vehicle for such a long time you begin to wonder if the road is open. No issues today though.

The road surface is in pretty rough shape with a lot of heaves and cracks. Riding into La Specia we were tired and chilled. Adding to the stress was the fact that the voltage meter on the 800 was showing that the charge had dropped from 14.3-14.3 to 13.1. All day we were worried about the stator dying, but it was still charging well when reved. There is no parking of motor on the sidewalk/in plazas unlike everywhere else in Italy. They can be parked in just about any free kerb spot that is not a cross walk. After not much effort we did find 2 operate spots near the hostel. We were too tired even for dinner and went to bed.

We had a good long sleep in and we needed it. The predicted rain did not appear and we set off to just cloudy skies, but the sun soon came out. From the coast we could see the marble mines up in the mountains in the distance that we were headed for.

The voltage meter initially said the charging was better today…. We planned to travel to near to Florence at San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Italy  in 215 km, but by the small SP SS or state and provincial roads up over the mountains it will take over 4 1/2 hours.

We are so lucky to have the 3 dollar voltage meters since it saved us from a dead stator in one of the 2 km long tunnels or on the side of the road. Since the voltage was not being maintained we decided to pull into a gas station with a empty lot beside it so we could swap out the stator. We are also so thankful we changed the crash bar hardware in Madrid, since we did not have to fight with that issue. Also the new sprocket guards are so easy to remove unlike the old ones, which were a nightmare. Opening up the engine the old stator was definitely cooked. The old ones just are a bit too small and they have always been a struggle to get out, but vice grips and brute strength won in the end. The new Electrosport stators  are very nice and just fit in perfectly. They are also plug and play for the wiring harness.

Stator review.
800 BMW original died Mexico City October 2012
650 BMW original died Quito Ecuador December 2013 after 53,000 km, rewound BMW stator BMW original done in Mexico lasted 1 week
800 Rick’s Electric stator died Rio Turbo Argentina February 2014
650 Rick’s Electric stator died South of France October 2015 after 90,000 km replaced with Electrosport
800 Rick’s Electric stator died La Specia Italy April 2016 replaced with Electrosport

Initially the road is well surfaces and there was a bit of traffic, but it goes Up Up Up. One section on about 10 switch backs takes you up to see a panoramic view of the west coast. The road then narrow and gets rougher and  seems all but unused. We did not see another vehicle on the way up or down.

 

 

 

Here is the view of the coast from the mountain.

Over the second Passo Vestito we came upon one of the mines.

 

Down in the valley it was a sunny 18 degrees along the river and the Magdalena bridge.

“The bridge in Borgo a Mozzano called “Devil´s Bridge” or “Magdalene´s Bridge” is one of the most impressive bridges in Italy.  According to the legend, the bridge was built by St. Julian. Being unable to accomplish the work for the enormous difficultly, the saint asked for the help of the Devil, promising to give him the soul of the first living thing crossing the bridge. Once the bridge had been accomplished, St. Julian threw there a piece of focaccia bread drawing there a dog and thus making fun of the devil.”

Dan had found a Tuscan villa on very cheap on bookings so we had a luxury night at a budget price.

We are just 20 km south west of Florence or Firenze as it is in Italian and we only have to ride about 80 km to the rally site, but we had all day so we rode up and down several of the Tuscan passes including the Passo della Futa.

This is wine country for sure!!

These are all narrow winding steep roads and so a lot of fun both up and down.

We arrived to the Meeting spot in a remote spot north of San Lorenzo. Here we were treated by our friend Enzo who had invited us to the meet. He was all set up and had saved us a camp spot and brought dinner and wine! We had met him on his way up and our way down from Nord Capp at a camping spot just below the arctic circle.

We had a bit of a chilly night at about 4 -5 degrees, but we woke to a sunny day for the ride out. There were about 60 bikes and we met another 25 on the way out at a secondary start spot.

This is a very hard task with this many bikes, small villages and all the round abouts. The ride was 100 km on a lot of tiny narrow roads. Thanks so much to Gionata Nencini ( far left) from Partireper for doing an amazing job! http://www.partireper.it/ There were bikes and riders of all kinds. This is the 9 th such event they have organized.

Some were very steep and could be a challenge on the hairpins with a long line of bikes.

There was a traditional lunch served at a remote lodge and we had Tuscan deer stew.

The last 10 km on the way home the weather changed as predicted and then it practically torrentially rained all night. Luckily Enzo’s friends Alex, Bruno, and Stefano whom he had met in the Lofoten Islands of Norway had showed up and Alex the “professionista” architect rigged up a shelter for us. This left the “amateurs” standing under the eves of the bathrooms. The rest of the evening we huddled under the tarp drank red wine and grappa, they sang Italian songs, and grilled large pieces of meat on the one burner grill. Making expresso with rain water was a first.