Roads in the water, the embankment of the great Italian rivers

Last trip of the year, from the Oltrepò Pavese area to the Po delta, following banks, chasing boat bridges, dominating the surrounding panorama. It all starts from Rivanazzano Terme, not really, there is a preparatory appendix, a sort of road decompression chamber, we meet in Lucca, where we arrive in our usual way, along secondary roads and our favorite stretch of the Cassia. In the evening the group is already interesting in terms of numbers and a contagious euphoria probably due to the last experience of the season. In the evening we have dinner in an old butcher's shop, which Luca, the owner, defines as "Ciberia"......Saturday, the day to lead us to the established starting point, turns out to be a stopover between forgotten roads and Apennine passes, some of which unknown. An unexpectedly autumnal cold, slippery roads don't help and definitely slow down the pace. After months, the climate suddenly decided, after a very long summer, to remember that ultimately the alternation of the seasons still exists. At the end of the day, with Massimo we are the last to arrive just in time for the welcome aperitif: “Giovanni, even if it were to be the worst tour you organize ever, after today, I would be so satisfied…….. ” I observe it without speaking, hoping that the climate between the gloomy forecasts and the upcoming disturbances will give us some respite in the next few days...... It will be three days where variability will reign supreme. But despite a truly terrible Monday, the group's morale was not affected, thanks to a truly surprising variety of road and landscape situations. Always constantly high in search of the next embankment that would inevitably lead us to the end of the journey, the Po delta. And once we arrived in sight of the Adriatic, all that remained was to travel the last 160 kilometres, squeezed between lagoons, canals, nature reserves dotted with migratory birds, which follow one another and seem to never end. Unrolled roads, thrown into the water and which seem to timidly ask for permission for so much trouble caused to the great river. But the Po generously indulges in so much curiosity, giving us an unforgettable and sunny day!! We will stop in an oasis in the Mesola Forest, when the sun has now lit up with explosive colors before disappearing behind the horizon. An interesting epilogue to the season……..see you next year, we will start in Tuscany, on a cliff overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea near Antignano to arrive at the island of Elba.

But I couldn't end without heartfelt thanks to the participants:

Stefania YAMAHA MT09

Davide HONDA AFRICA TWIN

Enzo BMW 100 GS

Emiliano BMW 80 GS

Federico YAMAHA TENERE 700

Ferdinand BMW R 1250 GS

Franco BMW 100 GS PARIS/DAKAR ANNIVERSARY

Gianni BMW R 1250 GS

Giorgio BMW R 1250 GS ADV

Massimo KTM 1290 ADV R

Massimo BMW R 1250 GS ADV