Mike at Lake Lugano, our rest stop
Link to detailed route page and map click on route title
Bellinzona to Menaggio
- Distance 67 km
- Time 0 s
- Speed 0.0 km/h
- Min altitude 202 m
- Peak 557 m
- Climb 1140 m
- Descent 1165 m
The train took the strain, and then our legs had to work hard to climb about 1,100m over 64km.
First off we had a simple breakfast at our hotel and thankfully made some ‘take-out’ sarnies, plus 2 boiled eggs which we had thought would be our mid morning snack on the train but ended up being our only food until pizza dinner in Menaggio! A short (cool) cycle down to Andermatt train station – so glad that we had decided to get the train down to Goschenen and not cycle down the gorge in the early morning shade. As it was we had a painless train journey to Bellinzona.
All went well until I found I had left my spare cycle top at the hotel. I thought we might be able to find a spare in Bellinzona but no such luck and that wasted half an hour. Mike was very patient. That was after I had spent half an hour at the ticket office trying to sort out bike passes for our return train journey from Como. Upshot was that on Italian trains one needs to book the bicycle in advance and there are restricted numbers allowed. So the sales agent eventually found me a new ticket from Chiasso (just inside Switzerland) which I was able to link up with my existing return ticket from Bellinzona. All in all a bit of a frustrating start (all caused by me) to our tour and why we did not get any extra lunch provisions!
The day was beautiful, warm and sunny with no wind. Perfect for cycling. We started off on the same route we had taken in 2020, a good 10km warm up through the farmland west of Bellinzona towards Lake Maggiore before heading south towards Lugano over a high pass. The climb was a hard as I remembered, fortunately a bit cooler, and we were fresher than on our last tour. Was glad to get to the top of our first climb (350m in 5.3km averaging at 6.5% with full paniers). Found a garage shortly thereafter where we topped up our water bottles and added a bar of chocolate to our lunch provisions. The climb was up a fairly busy road so we were both happy to turn off onto quieter tracks for the descent. Stopped at the same shrine as before for our lunch. Very nice except Mike was not so keen on his cold soft boiled egg!
Just before Bedano (where we stayed in 2020) we headed off on a shorter climb up into the hills above Lugano to get down to the lake. Must admit that this was where the route suggested by Ride With GPS seemed to go a bit awry as it routed us on a complicated trail, including down some steep steps on a footpath (I was still smiling though as you can see in the video). After a bit we decided to ignore the route and head down to the Lake as we knew we then needed to cycle round its northern shore to Porlezza and the start of our final climb.
The ride along the lake was very beautiful, we had a pretty much needed stop on the shore at Cassarate, admiring the sun glinting on the water and the views across the lake. Must admit I was a bit tired on this section, not helped by the hills. We took a short cut through a long tunnel to the head of the lake rather than going round the cycle path (which we missed). That was probably a bit of a mistake as I think it would have been much nicer.
It still felt a long way to go to get to Menaggio from Porlezza (about 15km), with another climb and I had lost confidence in the route after our earlier challenges and I had a bit of a meltdown. Not great for Mike as he had planned the route and we were in a really pretty section along a lovely bike path. However I got to enjoy it all over again a couple of days later, so all was not lost!
The drop down to Menaggio was a special ride in late afternoon sun. We missed the bike path and decided to stick to the road as it was a very good surface. Lots of hairpin bends and fortunately the drivers were respectful and did not crowd us or overtake at dangerous points. Saying that we both pull over where it makes sense to allow cars past. Bit of a challenge finding the flat. Not helped by my phone battery dying. Anyway eventually we found it tucked down a small lane. Next challenge was finding the owners so that we could get access to the garage to store our bikes. Popped into a few bars asking if they knew who the owners of Apartment Nicole were. Eventually we struck lucky. A waitress spoke excellent English and helped translate what we needed. People can be really helpful.
The apartment was very well located, near the square, lake front and a supermarket where we could stock up on supplies. We had a well-earned pizza and couple of beers at the family owned restaurant and slept very well. A good end to a long challenging and beautiful day.
Click on the play button below to see a video of our ride
