Bikepacking - Bellinzona (Ch) to Milano (It)

Day #

17

State of Legs

:-)

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	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	93 miles	km	3100 feet	metres	0
Trip Totals	843 miles	km	36166 feet	metres	0

Today's Route

Route So Far

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Travelogue

After a huge day of cycling, I am now in..... (drum roll).....Italy! I keep having to pinch myself as it's really hard to believe that with 14 days of cycling, I've travelled from England, across France, across Switzerland, traversed the Swiss Alps and am now in Italy. Brilliant! :-)

There were about 50 miles of cycling ahead of me from the campsite in Bellinzona to the Swiss border town of Chiasso and then about another 40 miles from there to Milano. I knew that there was a significant climb about 10 miles from my start point but after that, was expecting it to be largely downhill which was why I was prepared to commit to such a long ride. As a reminder, here's the profile of my entire route across Switzerland. Bellinzona is at the third red dot from the left.

The profile for today's ride looks like this (and as you can see there were plenty of uphill sections after this first big climb!):

The ride started out through farmland and at this early hour, before the sun had managed to work itself up to frying my brains, it was very pleasant.

But then the climb began. It followed a fairly major road but it had a wide cycle lane and there wasn't too much traffic. It was pretty demanding and I think it took me about 40 minutes of churning away in bottom gear to complete it. According to Strava it's mostly a Category 3 climb, so not the steepest but anything that gets a category number is steep in my opinion!

Not far from the top, there was a cafeteria (hooray!) so I stopped for coffee and not one, but TWO croissants. For UK-based readers, in continental Europe, this is the equivalent to having three shredded wheats for breakfast at home! ;-)

Somewhere along the way I passed through a small town called Toricella-Taverne that had created an outdoor art gallery from the wall along the route. It was very cool and there must have been at least 100 paintings there. 

I continued, following the excellent signs which I would soon be in mourning for in Italy as they disappeared once I crossed the border! Some of the route ran by a noisy road but at least I was separate from the traffic.

I arrived at Lake Lugano, one of several large lakes the area, the best known perhaps being Lake Como which was a little further to the east. The route then hugged the coast of the lake which certainly added to the miles but made for a very scenic section for which my terrible photos just don't do justice.

I passed through various villages along the lake and stopped every now and again.

Not too far from the border, I was getting hot and my legs were hinting they might start to fade (they'd had a very tough few days!) so I stopped at that unsung hero of bikepacking, a petrol station! These places often sell food and drink and are generally open when nothing else is so they're an absolute lifeline!

With a sugary, fizzy drink inside me, my legs came bike to life and on I went getting closer and closer to Chiasso and my next border crossing.

After entering Chiasso, it wasn't long before I saw this:

This way to Italy!

Not far from here I arrived at border control and once again prepared my documentation for inspection. With only one place for me to stay booked so far, would this be a problem for the authorities?

Border control kiosks

It was not a problem, largely because the border control kiosks had no people in them and once again I crossed an international border with no bureaucracy. And that was it! I was in the city of Como, Italy!

It has to be said that cycling through Como, especially after the quiet roads of France and Switzerland was a bit of a nightmare! Lots of traffic and an entirely different attitude to cyclists which I very quickly understood. I now assume the worst of every driver. If a car pulls up to a junction I'm approaching, I assume they will pull out in front of me. It doesn't happen every time of course, but it definitely happens often enough for this to be wise! 

The Eurovelo network is a great idea. But one of the major problems with it is that it is not finished! Different sections are at different states of development. The Eurovelo map indicates this with a key.

And as you can see.....

....on crossing from Switzerland to Italy, I'd gone from a well developed route with signs to one which is described as "purely hypothetical"! So, you take your chances.

I was following the EV5 route for Italy that I'd obtained from the official website (albeit it's hypothetical!) but very quickly ran into difficulties with non-existent, mystical roads on the map, perhaps the stuff of legend but not something I could actually cycle down. It was getting hot and I still had 40 miles to go so I gave up trying to follow the hypothetical route and noting that my phone had a healthy battery level, asked Google Maps to plot me a route to the campsite in Milano.

This started well enough, the roads got less busy and I passed a few photogenic places like this one in Carimate in the province of Como.

The temperature had been steadily rising. I think it was about 37 Celsius. My phone, that most critical of bikepacking tools is carried in the small frame bag in front of me. It has a transparent cover so when the display is on, I can see the map and my location. But that frame bag acts like a very efficient greenhouse it turns out because my phone started displaying messages about over-heating and applications like my navigation apps start to be shut down! This was a bit of a problem!

I passed a cafe that boasted a selection of ice teas on its window and screeched to a halt. I went in and ordered two cans of beautiful, cold lemon tea and sat down to enjoy them. The lady who served me spoke no English so she drafted in a teenage girl I assume was her daughter to help. Between us, we got by :-)

I might have mentioned that it was hot or maybe it was just obvious looking at me that it wasn't just my phone that was over-heating because I was given a tumbler full of ice cubes to put in my water bottles and they were filled with fresh water for me. Thank you nice lady in the cafe!

And as for my phone, I'd brought it in with me but couldn't hold on to it for long as it was burning hot!

But then I had an idea. I checked, and one of those cans of iced tea would fit in the frame bag under the sleeve the phone usually sat in. I could liquid cool my phone! I bought another can of icy cold drink and installed it. It worked and my phone worked fine from that point on :-)

Google Maps next routed me into a wooded area of national park along a trail. It was great to get off the road and it was here that I met Michael and Laura. Michael and Laura were out mountain biking in their local park and we soon got talking. I think the bags strapped to The Mule tend to be a conversation starter! Michael it turned out was an Austrian man who had married the Italian Laura. They asked me where I was going and on explaining, they chatted to each other in Italian for a moment and then said "We know these trails really well and think we can help you get to your destination far better than Google Maps and with as little road as possible". We were still about 20 miles from my destination. Michael said they lived nearby and that Laura would soon head for home but that if I wished it, he would be happy to be my guide and cycle about 15 miles all the way to Milano to a point where I would have no problem completing the journey to my campsite. How incredibly kind was this? I gratefully accepted! My legs were doing very well but it was hot and I was undeniably tired. Anything that might ease the final miles was welcome!

Before Laura branched off, they took me to a cold water tap strategically placed in the woods and I filled my depleted bottles once again. More local knowledge proving its value as I would never have known about this.

Michael and Laura or as I called them, my "guardian angels"! :-)

Onwards we went, with Michael chatting with me and pointing out things of interest, like how little rain there has been in these parts and the impact it was having. We took a detour to see this amazing palace on the outskirts of Milano, once again something I would never have known about had it not been for Michael.

Michael and I said our goodbyes about six miles from my destination and I continued alone, finding the campsite without problem. I can't say I like this campsite. It's really for motor homes and caravans with only a few campers with tents. The ground is really hard and there's no grass so everything gets pretty filthy quite quickly. But here I am. To be honest there was little choice. Campsites seem few and far between in this part of Italy so I'm having to take that into account as I plan my accommodation for the next week or so. 

I found a seating area later that evening and ended up talking for an hour with a young German man who was cycling from Valencia in Spain back to his home in Germany. He showed me a photograph of his road bike and the way it was set up for bikepacking. It was quite the thoroughbred compared with The Mule. But hey, The Mule has got me this far :-) 

Update: the campsite also turned out to be absolutely teeming with mosquitos. My legs made for a very popular mosquito buffet and were absolutely covered in bites that took an age to clear up. Be glad there are no photos! My least favourite campsite of the whole trip to be honest! On the plus side, the staff in reception were really nice and helpful. But I'd have happily put up with grumpy and unhelpful staff if it had meant there were no mosquitos! :-)