Mottarone

Today was all about cycling. Besides a trip to the small grocery store and bakery for breakfast, and another trip to the big grocery store for some things for before dinner, all we did today was ride our bikes. 

It was a big ride. Sixty miles with the climb up to Mottarone. Mottarone may be the biggest climb around at 4600ft. This is the highest elevation we’ll get on the trip. The pass of Alpe di Neggia between Switzerland and Italy, which we will do sometime this week, is a little over 4500ft, despite the mountain that it passes between, Monte Tamaro peaking at over 6000ft. Mottarone is a long climb at just over 20km from Baveno. The descent down to the Lago d’Orta on the other side features a nice wide road that can be a joy to descend. The way back featured a winding road through some valleys with only a few grades above 5%. The descent back to Stresa on Maggiore has potential to be really fun as well. 

The climb itself went well. We only stopped once very briefly to pee, and it wasn’t nearly as steep as I remembered it. It was a very enjoyable and scenic climb. The early slopes out of Baveno featured sweeping panoramic views of Lago Maggiore with Verbania in sight beyond the Borromean Islands. Those views were replaced first by quaint mountainside villages and finally dense pine trees. Things opened up and the sun shone brightly at the very top, with increased human activity at the funicular, ski bars, hiking trails, and rollercoaster. A massive radio tower topped off the mountain to remind you that you were at one of the highest points around. 

After spending a few minutes in a clearing at the top, catching our breath and having a snack, we proceeded down the mountain. Our descent was paused only a few hundred meters down to see some grazing cattle, resplendent with giant cowbells, eating along the side of the road. These cattle were eating to produce milk for the famous Toma Mottarone cheese. Mottarone is known for it’s cheese, with Toma being one of the most known. 

When we finally reached the bottom, we contininued on some tiny roads through yet another mountainside town, over some train tracks an onto the lakeside road, which we rode to Orta San Giovanni. There we stopped for a snack and some water at a bar/gelateria. With gelato in our stomachs we gingerly made our way up and out of town, eventually ending up in what could easily be considered Italian hillybilly land. It’s quite interesting the juxtaposition of the glamorous villas in Stresa and the sunbeaten farms of the hills just outside of town. 

The final descent down to Stresa should have been fun, but traffic was heavy and a cyclist can easily descend faster than a good driver on switchbacks, no less a tentative one. At one point, we came to a complete halt because someone’s child had dropped an inflated beach ball out of their car window. As the beach ball was so valuable and important they decided to stop in the middle of the road with no regard for the rest of the drivers/ cyclists on the road. I was able to unclip one foot and kick said beachball out of the road. I hope I popped it. Idiots!

Our arrival back in Stresa was stressful, especially since we were greeted by ominous clouds over the lake. With only seven miles separating us and our apartment in Verbania, it was full gas on the mostly flat road back around to our side of the lake. Luckily the clouds passed up an over the mountains to the north and we were spared being rained on. 

All in all, the ride was quite nice. I am glad we did the longer route. Perhaps next week we’ll do Mottarone again, only the shop loop back through Omegna. We’ll see. There are still lots of great rides to do here. 

Tomorrow we’ll explore another town on the other side of ValGrande. It’ll be a much shorter ride, and we’ll leave time to visit some of the local bike shop in Intra and Pallanza. 

For now, I’m calling it a night. After the big ride, quick grocery shopping, and cooking dinner, I’m wiped out. 

By the way, this is the view into the courtyard out our windows, which we keep open pretty much all day, only closing the shutters at night, when we’re gone, or during the late morning/ afternoon when the sun wants to shine in. No need for air conditioning here, just good shutter/ window management.