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Entering St. Moritz
I started out on a clear and sunny morning. I followed the back road by a ski area up to St. Moritz. This was followed by a descent through town merging back to the main highway near Silvaplana. This became a lovely although somewhat busy stretch of road. Lake Silveplana was framed by the mountains.
Lake Silvaplana
Baselgia
Shortly after starting the steep descent from Maloja traffic was stopped for blasting of rocks that had rolled down onto the road.
Awaiting the road to open
Dam in the center is Lago da l'Albigna
Form St. Moritz to Chiavenna included an altitude loss from 1822 to 325 meters.
Almost all the climbing on today's ride would come at the end.
A link
to the area south of St. Moritz showing the elevation profile.
Castesagna
Crossing the border into Italy, I climbed the hill to Castesagna. I came upon a group starting the descent from the border station. I noted several nice American racing bikes including a Calfee. One of the riders was wearing a Terrible Two jersey. This is a double century held in Northern California. One of the riders noticed my jersey and yelled, "Hey, it's a Spokesman". I asked the last rider pulling though about the group. He said that they were from the Santa Rosa, California area and were being led on day rides by a local. The local was a friend of one of their club members.
Falls along the road
I continued on the highway to the south edge of Chiavenna. I was running out of options for a convenient snack. I found a bar and pulled in for a beer, bag of potato chips and refilled my water bottles. I continued south on the busy main road. Traffic was moderate, but the motorists were courteous. After Dubino, I turned onto the secondary road to Colio. I continued through the small beach towns sometimes having to backtrack when I came to a dead end. I was trying to stay alongside the lake. At Bellano I stopped at the ferry station. They told me I would need to go to Varenna to catch the ferry for Bellagio. I continued south to Varenna and purchased carriage for myself and the bicycle (about $3 total). Lake Como has an extensive ferry system covering the lake. I had a 30-minute wait and spent the time eating gelato at the expensive cafe adjacent to the ferry.
Back at Lake Como
Varenna on Lake Como
At Varenna I caught the ferry for Bellagio. I wanted to visit the Madonna Del Ghisallo shrine/cycling museum/church.
South of Varenna
Pulling in to Bellagio
Deboarding at Bellagio, I started the 5 1/2 mile climb up the hill to the shrine. It was hot and the sky was hazy. When I reached the 14% gradient sign, I felt it. The climb was pretty but much of it was exposed to the sun.
A beautiful colt trying to nurse
My picture from the same vantage point doesn't compare to the one at the cycling shrine.
Helipad serving the estates
Nearing Civenna most of the residences became estates. Several acres and privacy walls with nice landscaping. I wondered if these were the summer homes of the well to do in Milan.
View of the Lecco arm of Lake Como
The cycling shrine
Bikes on display
From Magreglio it was a good descent down to Canzo where I turned to Erba. Around Albavilla the road became busier. The last 5 miles or so was on a busy main highway. Traffic was very heavy; it appeared to be their rush hour. The air was filled with the smell of spent diesel fuel. I arrived back at the hotel at 6:30 pm and was very pleased to find they had held my reservation. I checked in, placed my bike in the garage and carried the panniers and bags up to the room. I took a shower then broke the bike down far enough to get it in the backpack suitcase. I placed it in the room then walked over to the McDonalds. Normally I don't frequent McDonalds, but when on the road I love their Cokes and I was hot and parched. I ordered a large Coke with ice, fish sandwich and fries. I ate the meal and ordered another Coke and fish sandwich to take to the hotel. This I consumed while finishing wrapping and packing the bike and gear. I called my wife to check in, watched a bit of TV, then off to sleep.
The next morning I enjoyed another of their breakfasts, checked out and walked across the street to await the bus to the Malpenza airport. This time there were about 15 other passengers to share the bus with. Everything went smoothly until departure time for my flight. It was boarding time and they weren't calling us. The flight was delayed 2 hours due to problems with the air conditioning. The agent wouldn't tell us how long the delay would be so the passengers were all grouped around the boarding area anxiously awaiting news. This delay put us into Washington, D.C. too late to connect with the flight to San Francisco. They ticketed us onto a smaller Airbus 320 with every seat full. There was a one-hour layover. The flight home was uneventful but cramped and my earphone connection wasn't working, no sound for the movie or music on the ride home.