Day 10 Lake Maggiore

Oh what a contrast in days.  Wonderful warm sunshine virtually all day with temperatures in the 80’s and glorious views around Lake Maggiore, taking in both Italy and Switzerland. The lads cycled some 45 miles around the northern lake and the photos are all you need – stunning in places so much so that they might not do it justice.  

 They started the ride at Laveno

passed through Maccagno

and crossed the Swiss border at Dirinella

Where locals have nice garages

then lunch near Locarno

The only blot on the day was me solo in the van having to negotiate the streets of Locarno and Ascona – grim but with a lot of cursing I finally made it.  

I met up with them then at Brissago just before the Italian border

Here Smith was amused by the local bus company!

Tonight camping in the small town of Baveno with the prospect of Smith’s famous leek and pancetta to look forward to – with just maybe 1 glass of wine.

Tomorrow we leave Italy and head to Southern France for their (next and final) big climb on Tuesday on L’Alpe-d’Huez not far from Grenoble.

And then to cap it all having finally got wi-fi access this evening to do the blog we find that the mighty Spurs won 3-2 at Old Trafford  - now there is a reason for a glass of red wine!!

Day 9 Giro di Lombardi

What a stinking wet day for the race.  It drizzled all morning, then was a tad heavier as we strolled the couple of miles into centre of Lecco where we waited (some in more anticipation than others i.e. me!) 

only for the heavens to actually open in full force for the final 20 minute wait with thunder and lightning rolling around the lake and us soaked through to the skin.  I have to say for the actual riders this heavy rain seemed to have followed them for the entire 255 km and 6 hours from Bergamo but at least they were getting paid.

For spectators, you stand for eternity drowning and then whizz the riders are passed you within a nano second and across the finishing line.  You then trudge the couple of miles back to camp with the rain still precipitating down at full force stopping 

only at a small shop to buy bread and milk – the lady in the shop being horrified we wanted a whole loaf which she sold by weight.  To add insult to injury the rain stopped within a 100 yards of the camp only to start again an hour later and thrash down all night. 

I may have mentioned this before but Italy does not do light rain!

The question I know all your lips – Why?  Me – I have no positive answer to give but the other 3 were orgasmic so I’m outvoted.  

Day 8 Madonna del Ghisallo

A drive of some 15 miles from our campsite to the charming village of Bellagio on Lake Como left our driver with even greyer hair – by jeezus it was narrow in places as our friendly (?) hosts live up to their reputation of crazy driving with phones welded to their ear and displaying a desire to drive on the left of the road like us Brits.  Good job that even if you went over the fence into lake the drop would only have been a few feet.

Bellagio

From Bellagio the intrepid trio rode the climb to the cycling shrine of Madonna del Ghisallo, a climb that features on the Giro di Lombardia although without wishing to offend the boys the pros tomorrow may be a tad quicker.  I stopped on route at the village of Civenna admiring the statue to celebrate the centenary of Alps Brigade -

They were waiting when I arrived with the van and we all then spent an hour or so in the small church and the adjoining cycling museum.  

 including Vince’s joy on hearing cycling to work scheme finally announced -

Geoff and Andy then decided they wanted to cycle the descent back to Bellagio

 whilst Vince and I meandered back in the van taking in (again) the stunning views at Civenna. 

I'm no longer convinced in the merits of this cycling lark but am always prepared to muck in for the right impression

It took us some 20 minutes to drive back to Bellagio (with a dreadful smell of burning brakes) whilst they came down in only 11 minutes with Andy’s speedo giving up the ghost in horror.

I’ve been instructed to say Vince then displayed his usual skills in whipping up rolls filled with ham, cheese and tomato – he does get so sensitive!  Coffee and cake were then partaken of – desperate plea for further fruit cake being couriered out – before returning to the campsite via a supermarket for more wine. 

By the way – it was a gorgeous sunny day!

But rest under no illusion it's not all fun - these pesky biting insects everywhere 

Day 7 Solico to Lecco

A short day with only a 29 mile ride down the eastern side of Lake Como from our overnight stop at Solico to Lecco where we should be based for a couple of nights at least.  Following the torrential rain which had lasted some 15 hours until about 7 this morning, the rest of the day has been a pure delight with very warm sun and no wind. We had a very leisurely morning indulging in Smith’s delight of coffee in little cups at the small camp cafeteria - 

– mainly though in an attempt to try to get some of the washing and their riding kit dry.  We eventually left the campsite just before 12. 

A short drive took us to their start point at the small town of Colico -

The northern part of the trip down the lake was a pure delight with the road fairly quiet and well provided with spots for me to stop the van, although these became non-existent the nearer to Lecco I traveled.  

For the cyclists there were even more photographic opportunities and I will post as many of their pictures as I can when downloaded.  For now I include a few of the many I took but more are likely to follow.

 The last two are our campsite at Lecco.

Day 6 The Stelvio Ride

For me this was a slow meander up the mountain with strong wind gusts smacking the side of the van but the lads have more to tell so I’ll pass the baton on –

 The start -

I have been delegated by the boys to give an account of our ride up the Passo dello Stelvio the 2^nd highest Alpine pass……in the Alps, 2758m for those who go to pub quizzes. The best adjective to describe the climb was attritional at the bottom we all kitted up and set off in a degree of warmth and hoped to get to the top in similar conditions to the Tourmalet - how wrong we were the clouds rolled in and the rain began and soon the high winds, sleet and very fine hail. 

View down valley -

Geoff was blown off, Vince and I were shunted from one side to the other and forced of once each and I was almost blown into a ditch for a second lesson in Nature v us Humans. Sadly Geoff succumbed to the elements rather than his cycling legs and retired to the Van with 6k to go having heroically climbed the most difficult parts, from those of us who rode it agree it was a valiant effort. Eventually with only 21/2 K to go Vince and I went into the Van to change clothing put on warm kit and try to warm up, the pain in my fingers from the cold is hard to describe for those of you tempted to Vote for Mo Farah in the sports personality award think on-professional bike riders are the hardest boys on the planet to climb the peaks and then descend down at the speeds they do is exceptional. We eventually arrived at the 500m to go and what a long 500 it was before we rounded the last bend to cross the line remembering to look over the other side this time.

We then had photos by the Fasto Coppi memorial before we managed to dive into the souvenir shop 5 mins before the guy closed for the day to purchase some hard earned cycling jerseys. The trip down was an eye opener as you can’t believe you have just ascended the climb.  All in all a very hard earned summit but what an experience- Smith

Thanks Andy but now for the actual detail………………………..