Monday 27th May to Sunday 2nd June
Mon 27th – Bolzano Nth Loop – 155k
3 Passes – Penser Joch 2211m, Sterzinger Jaufenjoch 1998m, Passo di Monte Giovo 2094m.
It’s a beautiful day as we brave our way through the morning school drop-off, except in Europe they don’t clutter the road with their badly driven SUVs, but they escort their kids to school on their ‘all over the road’ pushbikes.
We eventually got out of town and had a roadside peak at the mid 13th century Castel Roncolo and it’s smaller sibling Castello Reid.
Castello Reid
Castel Roncolo
We then followed the SS508 north. It gets really pretty along here as we climbed towards Penser Joch or Passo Pennes.
At the top of the Pass we ran into a bunch of guys on their tiny noisy 50cc two stroke motorbikes. They straggled in in 1 and 2s from the northern side of the pass and their reactions showed it had been quite a feat for their little smokers, which is understandable as the pass is 2211m
There were about 15 of them. Just a couple of pics.
We headed down.
This region is known as either Northern Italy or South Tyrol, but what ever you call it, it’s definitely Austrian in architecture. EVERY house looks like this or a slight variation on the same theme. It was originally Austrian but was annexed by Italy following WW1.
We drove around Vipiteno Sterzing looking for a car park. It must have been market day because there were more cars than parks. Plenty of motorbike parks mind you! We kept going and turned south west towards home.
First stop was Jaufen Pass, the lower part of Passo di Monte Giovo.
Where we stopped amidst a number of those smug motorbike riders. We had coffee and delicious apple strudel – as you do.
This picture is where we indulged in coffee and cake. But the significance of it is the big doll/manikin of a Marmot or large ground squirrel (left), which live up in these high passes – we did see a couple scampering around as we descended from Penser Joch.
This lone establishment not only sold scrumptious delights but also Marmot Ointment, a proclaimed miracle working Marmot extraction, better known as snake oil. We left it on the shelf and headed south and down, down down.
These two guys on their ancient tractors, holding up traffic and sponsored by a prominent finance company. I know this because the pic I took of the rear tractor’s trailer had a QR Code that triggered said sponsor’s web page on my phone. Technology hey!
A line of dawdling Harleys. They sound good though.
We stopped beside this thaw laden stream for a brew and lunch.
Before dropping into Merano where we found a place to park our limousine.
The heavens opened as we headed back to Balzano, but we’d had a good day, and we were dry.
Tues 28th May – Bolzano
These corner bay windows are a very common feature on city buildings in this area.
Mussolini’s Bolzano Victory Monument
13th century Maretsch Castle
City Hall and Monument dedicated to King Laurin Denkmal
Wed 29th – Bolzano to Bormio – 205k
4 Passes – Passo della Mendola 1363m, Forcella di Brez 1398m, Passo del Tonale 1883m, Passo dell’Aprica 1176m
After buying a new pair of shoes, it was a bit of jungle escaping from Bolzano only to find the push bike riders had gotten out of bed way earlier than us as we climbed to Mendel Pass – there were dozens of them.
Ascending Mendel Pass
Going down the other side.
We’ve seen vast amounts of these crops in this greater region. I suspect they’re apples or stone fruit trees
Forcella di Brez was next on list of Passes for the day. It was a disappointment, so we joined the main road and headed west. We stopped for a brew and some lunch outside of Dimaro
Before climbing to Passo del Tonale which had some spectacular views.
Military Memorial Passo del Tonale where the remains of 847 Italian fallen soldiers are collected in the shrine, fifty of which are unknown.
Across the road from the Memorial
Going down
The intention had been to cross the Passo di Gavia which is one of the ‘must do’ passes in the region. It was closed. I’d tried to time our visit to this area so as to be able to cross these famous passes, but it seems my timing is out for this year, because they’re usually open by now.
Passo di Foppa was also closed so we had to take the long way around, adding 60k to the day, via Passo dell’Aprica which is nothing significant.
We found our pleasant apartment in Bormio.
Thur 30th – Bormio NE Loop – 85k
3 Passes – Passo Torri di Fraele 1930m, Foscagno Pass 2291m, Passo Eira 2208m.
We were to do Stelvio Pass, at 2757m, today. But it’s closed, and will be for quite a while by all accounts. Which is very disappointing for all the bikers and push bikers in town, and one Panda driver, who’d all hoped to enjoy the famous hairpins. The live cameras tell the story.
So we headed West for the day. First port of call was Torri di Fraele, or Fraele Towers which are 14th century signal towers.
And it’s an impressive climb, or would have been if we’d been able to see where we were going for the cloud cover. But this is what it should look like from the top looking down.
Torri di Fraele – from Wikipedia
Google Maps
16 hairpins
And believe me, they are sharp. My pics
And the sun came out, just for this at the top of Torri di Fraele
We descended as we’d ascended
and continued to Foscagno Pass and Passo Eira where we had some lunch.
Foscagno Pass
Passo Eira
It was very quiet in terms of traffic, which was odd because it was the only way into the region from the north. We retraced our steps to Bormio.
Fri 31st – Bormio to Mandello del Lario – 170k
1 Pass – Passo Agueglio 1167m
It was bucketing down as we exited Bormio heading for Lake Como. There were a number of bikers leaving town as well and I felt their pain because not only hadn’t they been able to enjoy the amazing passes in the area but they were getting seriously cold and wet for the pleasure.
It rained all the way to Lake Como, then stopped.
We dropped into the tiny village of Coreano Plinio
Arche degli Andriani
We took a slight detour by way of Passo Agueglio which is really just a (narrow) loop off the main road, but an enjoyable drive. With some nice views down to Lake Como.
It was 3pm when we pulled up at Mamma Ciccia’s apartments and rooms, and found that the Moto Guzzi Museum was open so we went and had a look – again. I’m a bit of a Moto Guzzi fan and have owned 4 of them over the years, having taken 2 of them to Europe, in 2016 and 2019. Maybe I should have brought one this time 😦
We’d visited the museum in 2016, when we were riding a Moto Guzzi Stelvio.
We were so much older then –
We’re younger than that now 😉
The original 1919 Moto Guzzi
Moto Guzzi factory circa 1958 – output 36,500 units a year.
The latest Moto Guzzi Stelvio.
And as I sit here typing this, this little beauty is right in front of me.
And any visit to Mandello wouldn’t be complete without saying “Gidday mate” to Carlo Guzzi, one of the three founders of the Moto Guzzi marque.
Sat 1st June – Lake Como
Today’s looking pretty good so we catch the ferry to Como via Bellagio.
Mandello del Lario
Looking north on Lake Como. We’ll be up in them thar hills next week.
Bellagio
Bellagio
Bellagio was wall to wall tourists, doing what tourists do best
And then it was the next ferry to Como, which was pretty much continuous views of the homes of the rich and famous, or even not so famous I guess. But we’d all like to own one of these.
Como was wall to ceiling with tourists. We wandered for an hour.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta. 1369 to 1770. That’s a long time.
Chiesa di Santa Cecilia
There’s a lot to see in Como, but we didn’t have the time. As it was we’d (I’d) misinterpreted the ferry time table so we missed our connecting ferry from Bellagio back to Mandello. So we continued onto Varenna and caught a train back to Mandello.
From Monday we’re in Switzerland. See you week.
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