Como Cycle Tour (3) – Menaggio loop

Welcome coffee stop at Argegno

Link to detailed route page and map click on route title 

Click on play above to see photos from our ride. A slowish start this morning as we wanted the temperatures to warm up also we needed to go shopping for our supplies over the next few days. First things first a coffee and croissant at the café owned by Nicole (our apartment host), only to find that she needed to get us a key to open the garage where we had stored our bikes. Her Dad had to bring it over from their home. Good thing we were not in any  hurry!

The sun was out by the time we set off, only to very quickly discover we had forgotten our water bottles. I went back to the apartment to fetch them – (Mike didn’t fancy climbing the 3 stories yet again!) whilst Mike chatted to some Canadian tourists who were admiring our bikes. They kindly offered to take our photos over the lake. Very romantic too.

The first section of our ride down to Argegno would be duplicated on our ride to Chiasso at the end of the trip, so we were keen to explore it and have an idea how long it would take. Beautiful ride through lots of small villages bordering Lake Como with plenty of view points across the Lake. I could see why the rich and famous like living here. Some stunning large villas, as well as a few being renovated and others ripe for a bit of tender loving care. The road was fairly narrow in places and although the drivers were very considerate to us as cyclists it would be hair raising driving here. A number of blind corners on roads really only wide enough for one car, no traffic lights to manage the traffic and some drivers seemed to play chicken by getting through the sections as fast as they could and hope no one was coming the other way!

We stopped for a very welcome coffee at Argegno to fortify ourselves before we tackled the one major climb of our day. It was about 9km with 550m of elevation. Although the maths gives that as an average 6% grade the first few km were much steeper and the bike computer didn’t seem to go below 8%. We plodded up, had a few breaks, ignored the route directions when it tried to divert us off the main road onto smaller steeper side trails and thanked our lucky stars we were not doing this in high summer with the heat and (most likely) traffic.

Wary of running out of water, with a distinct lack of (open) shops, we stopped at  a nice looking hotel in Castiglione about two thirds of the way up to buy some water. Tempted by a couple of pastries and the owner was kind enough to suggest we had a rest in a sunny spot in their garden. A very welcome break. Only downside was Mike left his sunglasses there and by the time he found out we had completed the climb, including a steep cobbled section which we walked up, and had no desire to go back! They had served him well.

Names of those lives lost in active service from this small town in WWI

Our next proper stop was at the top of the climb. We saw a small park with benches to the side of the road and thought it would be a perfect spot for our sarnies. It happened also to be next to the WWI and WWII memorial. Very touching and evocative, sobering at this time with the war between Russia and the Ukraine.

The ride down seemed even steeper than the ride up so we were glad not to be going in the opposite direction. A very good surface and little traffic with fun hairpins to navigate so I enjoyed the descent. We were able to look across to the far side of Lake Lugano where we had cycled yesterday. We were on the shady side of the Lake today, steeper slopes right down to the water giving very little space for building so there were far fewer villages. Upside was we had a good lake views.

Decided on a short detour once we reached Porlezza to get ice creams. Very nice Ferro Roche lollies, ate one in the car park and then saved one for the small nature reserve we cycled round yesterday. They were only small! Very nice sitting by the boat house watching the ducks doing their thing. En-route we had to give way to a farmer crossing his herd of goats across the bridge we had arrived at, hence the name goat bridge in my photos. Fortunately our ice creams did not melt.

More relaxed climbing over the pass back to Megannio. I knew what was coming, and enjoyed the ride up the cycle path through the trees. We also made sure we took the cycle path down from the top which we missed yesterday. This was an an enjoyable ride down, more so than being on the main road with traffic. So much easier when you know where you are going.

Back in time for a couple of glasses of wine in a lovely café on the main square looking out onto the Lake. Tucked into the complimentary crisps and nuts, very welcome. Dinner-in at our apartment, very tasty fresh pasta which Mike pulled together. Luxury of having a small washing machine which after a few goes I managed to get to work meaning we would have clean cycle clothes for our adventure tomorrow.

Click on the play button below to see a video of our ride