June 1, 2022
Cannobio to Varenna
Today’s challenge came first thing. Today is Wednesday and there’s been a a Wednesday market in Luino since the late 1500s. Apparently this is the largest market of its type in Europe and it’s world-famous, but we weren’t aware of it until we arrived in Cannobio and I saw signs for a water taxi to the market from Cannobio and noticed that the ferry schedule was slightly different on Wednesdays.
I asked our host last night whether the Wednesday morning ferry might be a problem and she said she didn’t know. So we asked at the ferry ticket office and were told it might not be possible to go with bikes on Wednesday morning due to the number of people. We decided to try for the earlier of the two workable options and if it was really bad, our Plan B would be to ride to Locarno and take the train to Lugano, then ride the rest of the way.
We arrived at the ferry dock about half an hour before the scheduled departure and only one other passenger was waiting. We bought our tickets (2 adults, 2 bikes, 14€) and waited in the sunshine (Cannobio is on the west side of the lake). When the ferry arrived, there were maybe 30 passengers and room for twice that many, so not a problem on this day. Two other loaded bicycles and three large strollers crowded the outside deck area. We had been told the next ferry, two hours later, was much bigger and had more room for bikes, but we didn’t want to start so late.
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The ferry had one other stop befor Luino; nobody got off but a few more people boarded and one more stroller and we were off.
The ride from Luino started with a steep climb. We didn’t bother trying to find and see the market since we weren’t buying anything and felt size doesn’t necessarily make a market better. After all, we spent 30 years living within walking distance from a very large shopping mall we rarely visited.
After reaching the top, there wasn’t much riding at elevation; the descent started immediately and we zoomed across the border into Switzerland. When we reached Lago di Lugano, we turned right and crossed back into Italy. We rode along the lakeshore, around the first southern bay, and into Switzerland again. This part of the ride was mostly pleasant and reasonably quiet in terms of traffic (but not birdsong) and there were many other cyclists, though not loaded. We saw today that Switzerland does have some bumpy roads, of course, despite our experience yesterday.
Turning north after rounding the second southern bay, we were on a busier red road. Not as pleasant but not too bad either since there was a parallel autoroute. Then we had a decision to make: continue along the lake, crossing to the opposite shore and riding the red road through Lugano to Porlezza, or turn off and ride the smaller road through Arogno?The latter included a climb that our Garmins showed as 9 km at an average grade of 10%. (How did we even consider this route? I looked again while writing this and see that RWGPS shows it as 9 km at an average grade of 6%.) At the decision point, in the heat, we opted for the red road.
The road was narrow, squeezed between a cliff and a rail line, with moderately heavy traffic—and several other cyclists. Most drivers were considerate as there’s only the one road and everyone must use it. They still pass closely but it’s (almost) getting to feel normal.
Lugano was a city on a lake with a bike lane part of the way through. The hard part was the climb up the shoulder of Mont Brè; maybe we should have looked into whether we could take our bikes up the cog railway? In any case, the worst bit was yet to come.
The worst was the Galleria Albogasio, a 3314 m long tunnel. Looking at the map now, there’s definitely a ride-around, and the route I’d created went that way, but we certainly didn’t see it on the ground.
We survived that adrenaline rush and then there was another. This time I saw the path around, but it was on the other side of a fence and appeared to be closed by a barrier. Al was ahead and already started into the tunnel so I followed. This one was shorter but still over a kilometre long. We emerged into Porlezza.
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Having had enough excitement for one day, we decided to take the cycle route around the town, which then became a marked cycle route to Menaggio. It ended at the top of the hill, technically in Menaggio, I suppose; we took the road down the hill.
It would have been a fun descent around the hairpins but there was so much traffic it backed up at each tight bend as cars slowed to make the corner. I was hoping the truck behind me had good brakes!
At the ferry terminal I bought our tickets and we had only a short wait for the next sailing to Varenna. There were signs everywhere that FF2 masks were required to board and someone ahead of me at the ticket counter asked where to get them. “At the bar,” was the answer and Al went to get us a couple. In Cannobio this requirement hadn’t been strictly enforced, our surgical masks from Canada were accepted, but why risk being denied boarding for such a little detail?
The crossing was uneventful, we found our B&B, cleaned up, and went in search of a well-earned drink. As has happened to us before, it was 5 p.m. and all the bars were full (except, of course, the ones that charge 15€ or more for a drink). We had made a full circuit of the town centre and ended up at the Piazza San Giorgio, near our B&B and where we’d started. We sat down at a bar/restaurant that had a couple of open tables and were surprised to be told that, if we wanted just a drink, we needed to go elsewhere. So far in Italy, no restaurant has had food available before 7. We looked at the menu and decided this place was as good as any and we’d have an early dinner—after our pre-dinner drinks.
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1 year ago
Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 1,444 km (897 miles)
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