Lake Como Tour (5) – Bellagio to Varenna

On the ferry pulling out of Varenna on the way to Bellagio

Link to detailed route page and map click on route title 

The last full day of our cycle tour. Our initial plan was to take the ferry over from Menaggio to Bellagio and cycle up to the chapel to Madonna del Ghisallo, who was declared in 1949 the patron saint of cyclists. However, looking at the stats from the Cyclist magazine ( link to article ) which said you climb 465m over 8km with an average grade of 5.4% and a maximum of 14% we decided on something a bit more relaxed. We will have to save this for another time.

So instead we got the ferry to Bellagio as planned and then cycled round the shore of Lake Como to Varenna and then caught the ferry back to Menaggio. Overall we cycled 66km and the computer says we climbed about 400m so not an easy day! It was however very varied and I am glad we chose this option.

We started off with a fortifying coffee at a lovely café on the quay where an obliging fisherman held his boat in position for Mike to take an atmospheric shot of the harbour. Then after a quick wizz through the old part of town on our bikes we set off uphill to get over the hill behind the town and make our way along the shoreline. Most other cyclists seemed to be taking the road up to the Chapel, so another good reason to go a different route.

Interestingly the section of the lake we cycled round leads to the Adda river and is the only outflow from Lake Como. Como itself is at a dead-end finger of the lake and as a result is prone to flooding. The Adda river merges with the Po after about 300km and then they flow into the Mediterranean south of Venice.

Highlights of our day:

• Our ferry rides. The whole process is very easy and it was nice to see the towns from the lake. Going by ferry also gave me an added appreciation as to how big the lake is. The ferry tickets are very economical.
• The ride round the shoreline was very picturesque, looking over to the area we would be cycling along in the afternoon on our return leg. We thought it would be busier as it is a main traffic route. However this was not the case and there were long sections with little or no traffic.
• After Pare, the landscape changed as it became flatter and more urbanised with quite a lot of industry on the far side of the lake. Saying that the cycle path was well designed and took us through parks, and quieter areas.
• Tasty salad and chips at a café in Lecco. Much needed
• Cycling through the small villages from Borbino on the final 16km to Varenna, full of interesting buildings
• Enjoyable evening in with a nice bottle of wine and some fresh pasta. Much better supermarket pasta in Italy than anything I have had in the UK!
• Mike has captured the essence of the day in the video he pulled together.

See below for some photos from our ride

Lowlights on the other hand:

• Our route took us through a long (4.5km tunnel) rather than on a coastal path to get to Pare, slightly frustrating and not very pleasant
• Cycling along a busy dual carriageway for 3.5km to get to Borbino, fortunately we were able to find a quieter coastal route off it after an ‘ interesting ‘  debate in a layby. Misunderstanding by me thinking Mike wanted us to turn off immediately up a mountain bike path going the opposite direction to where we needed to get to, him meaning at the next turning. Shows what being tired can do to one!
• Horrible glass of white wine at Varenna whilst waiting for the ferry. Only had a small sip.

All in all an excellent day. Harder than I thought it would be. A key achievement was to have cycled round the whole of Lake Como with the exception of the shoreline from Como to Bellagio which I am not sure would be that great as I don’t think there are many cycle paths on that section. Would we come back here, probably not as I think we have done all the cycling we want to in the area. However, I would like to explore the cycling round Lake Maggiore another year.

Just to show I am happy to be proved wrong have just read an article in the Cyclist magazine about another epic ride in the area which definitely wets my appetite (November 132 The Mountain of Venice)

Click on play below to see a video of our ride