Day 10 – Abbadia Lariana to Baveno – 217 km

Lake-hopping today. Or, the title of todays post could be Italy/Switzerland/Italy/Switzerland/Italy/Switzerland/Italy/Switzerland/Italy.

Breakfast outside this morning was accompanied by the staff fussing around us, as they said rain was coming, and suggested we eat inside. We held off, but as we finished, the heavens opened up, and a deluge the likes of which have not been seen since Noah hit Lake Como.

Our bike was under covered parking directly accessible from the hotel, so we packed up, and retired to the room with iPads and laptops to wait out the storm. An hour later, and it was still raining, lightening and thundering, so we gave up waiting and headed out. Aiming south again, we re-traced our steps to the south of the lake, and then turned west.

After half an hour, we took the Lake Como motorway, and headed towards Como, but followed the road up to Chiasso, where we crossed into Switzerland. North and a bit west-ish, and we hit lake Lugano, which we crossed by bridge. We rode along the shore for a while between Paradiso and Lugano, and meandered cross-country until we got to Lake Maggiore. We crossed between Switzerland and Italy about 4 times during this bit of the day, and lost track of which country we were in.

We intersected with the east shore of Maggiore at Luino, and then hugged the shoreline heading north. A nice lunch at San Nazzaro, and then rounded the north pole of Maggiore and trekked south along the shore to Baveno, where our lovely hotel is situated. Another immensely pretty lake, every bend and turn offered new and stunning views. And again, we have got amazing views from our room balcony, and entry from the hotel garden directly to swim in the lake.We are looking onto 2 islands in the lake, Isola Superiore, and Isola Bella. They are indeed beautiful, and superior.

We got here late-ish for our “usual” – about 4pm. We had a lazy afternoon swimming, sunbathing and beering. Now it is time to consider an evening meal somewhere in the magical land of lakes and peaks. Laters….