Lunga Via delle Dolomiti: Longarone - Caralte

I've been wanting to explore the bike path from Alpago to Austria and  today I finally rode a segment.  After riding up Valcellina to Passo Sant'Osvaldo, I descended through Erto to Codissago, across the Piave River from Longarone.  After a brief stretch on the busy main road, the bike route turns off and follows the old roadbed of SS51.  It's a wide, well-paved road, much more scenic than the bustling new route with its long narrow tunnels.   I continued up through Ospitale and Perarolo di Cadore .  Just after crossing Torrente Boîte I made a wrong turn, heading up to Caralte and the junction with the crowded new road.  So I turned back to Perarolo and located the correct road.  It's called Cavallera and has just recently been repaved for the bike route.  I'll come back and continue this route to Pieve di Cadore next time.  May start at Lago di Santa Croce so I can also try another segment which bypasses the narrow bridges between Ponte nelle Alpi and Longarone.  

Snowy Passo di Sant'Osvaldo (830 meters)

View to the east with mountains above Cimolais

Waterfall on the road from Sant'Osvaldo to Erto

Close up

The bike route signs

Tall steel arch bridge spanning the Piave River near Pieve di Cadore

Go straight here; do not turn right

Follow the blue and purple dashed road, not the road to Caralte