Castello di Andraz

The first part of the route follows the trail Arabba -Pralongià. When you get to Malga Cherz, though, we take a sharp right and after a brief downhill we cross the Rio Salvazza and follow along the well-marked dirt road until we come to the hamlet of Contrin. Here we meet the asphalt that is a rolling ride to the neighbourhood of Corte. Heading East and following the traces of a trail that is not always well marked, we get to the hamlet of Livinè. We continue along this path, avoiding the provincial road n° 48 that winds its way just below us, we pass the hamlet of Brenta and ride down to the main village of Livinallongo. Once we pass the centre, and before crossing the Rio Chiesa, we turn left and take a steep asphalt road in the direction of the Col di Lana.We continue the climb until we get to the hamlet of Palla, here we avoid turning left (which would take us towards the Col di Lana), but continue straight on, heading towards the hamlet of Agai. Before actually entering the neighbourhood we turn left along an irregular, steep trail which in no time will force us to get off our bikes and push them over one of the rare stretches where this will be necessary. After frequent stretches of pedalling alternated with areas where we will need to push, we reach the highest altitude of the tour (1912 m) and descend on the challenging yet wide trail towards the village of Castello. Here, coasting the Northern wing of the ancient manor, we will take the well marked, downhill path that will cross the parallel provincial road n° 48 several times before bringing us to the hamlet of Cernadoi and then to Andraz. Right at the entrance to Andraz we turn left and, crossing over a little wooden bridge on the Rio Andraz, we head towards the village of Foram. Here we turn right, heading towards the bottom of the valley that will take us past the Military Shrine at Pian di Salesei: this monument is in memory of all the unknown soldiers who were killed during the 1915-1918 War. We meet the provincial road once again, and at the first sharp turn in the downhill we turn right, following the bike path which starts out in a slight uphill but soon becomes quite steep, taking us up to the village of Ruaz to meet up for the last time with provincial road n°48, which we will follow back to Arabba.