velotel
05-06-2017, 12:22 PM
Seven hours in the car across Italy to San Marino near the Adriatic coast, autoroute all the way, flat and straight, mostly boring, except for the traffic. Italian drivers keep things interesting. Sometimes too interesting. I’m not good for that kind of driving anymore. Four hours and I’m ready to call it a day. Which means two stages to get to San Marino.
Four hours puts us in the Asti / Alessandria region or, by swinging north, in the area around Lago d’Orta. That’s what we did this time. I’d found a hotel on the hill above Lago d’Orta that struck a chord. A family run hotel with an odd name, Battle of Britain. Turns out the name has nothing to do with the war, or at least not directly. The couple who opened the hotel went to England after the war to work and apparently succeeding there was a battle. Then they returned to Orta where they were from, bought the property with the money they’d saved, opened the hotel. Nice people.
Good hotel though nothing extravagant. What makes it are the views out over the lake with Monte Rosa, at 4634 meters (15,203 ft) the 2nd highest summit in the Alps, soaring over the hills to the west. Their restaurant is also excellent. Finding the hotel isn’t easy but hey, it’s Italy, small roads wandering through villages, sometimes marked, sometimes not, sometimes clear, sometimes a total puzzle.
Evening, light fading, but just enough for a quick spin, check out where we are. I’d seen a church on top of some hill so headed off to see if I could find it. I did, but only after spotting a trail that looked like it could be great fun. It was, but way, way too short. It circled back around the hill then ended. Just like that. Nothing there, just the end. Rode back, found the road up to the church which turned out to be a monastery with, of course, excellent views. Followed by a gravity burn back down and a fast spin through hamlets and a village back to the hotel with me grinning like a madman, even if the ride wasn’t nearly long enough. I knew that going out of course but needed the fix after the drive.
Woke early to a fine wash of pink on the slopes of Monte Rosa. Stood on the balcony watching the light creep down the slopes then spread across the lake. A couple of small boats heading somewhere followed by soft V’s spreading over the mirror surface. Wanted to do a ride to do some more exploring because obviously there’s some good riding to be had but time was limited. We packed up, dropped down to the village of Orta San Giulio on the lake for a quick walk through and coffees at a restaurant on the lake. Beautiful place, and we were there at a good time, off-season. Must be transformed into a squirming sardine can in the summer. But off-season, sweet.
One of the owners at the hotel told me we ought to take the road up to Mottarone. From the summit he said seven, or maybe five, I’ve forgotten, lakes were visible, including Orta and at the base of the other side of the mountain Lago Maggiore. So we did. And my bike went crazy. I could hear it in back inside it’s bag moaning and groaning and cussing me out rather rudely. Couldn’t blame it, has to be one of the all-time great roads to ride. Up and down. Around 1100 vertical (3600 ft) of climbing so not huge but sure looked like nothing but sweetness all the way to the summit. And yea, the views from the summit are outstanding with Monte Rosa dominating the views to the west. Apparently the Matterhorn is visible too but we couldn’t pick it out. I definitely need to return and ride this puppy.
And down the other side, down to Lago Maggiore. Had to pay to drive the road. The upper mountain on that side is a park. We didn’t mind paying to help support it. I think my bike made even more noise during the descent. Spent some of the time driving down thinking about which way to do a loop on the mountain. Some of the grades going down seemed seriously steep, like maybe steeper than anything on the Orta side. Thus a temptation to go down it, not up. But, while the climb up from Orta might be easier, I have this strong suspicion it’s also a totally insane downhill, like massive fun all the way. Only one way to find out of course.
Some pics
Four hours puts us in the Asti / Alessandria region or, by swinging north, in the area around Lago d’Orta. That’s what we did this time. I’d found a hotel on the hill above Lago d’Orta that struck a chord. A family run hotel with an odd name, Battle of Britain. Turns out the name has nothing to do with the war, or at least not directly. The couple who opened the hotel went to England after the war to work and apparently succeeding there was a battle. Then they returned to Orta where they were from, bought the property with the money they’d saved, opened the hotel. Nice people.
Good hotel though nothing extravagant. What makes it are the views out over the lake with Monte Rosa, at 4634 meters (15,203 ft) the 2nd highest summit in the Alps, soaring over the hills to the west. Their restaurant is also excellent. Finding the hotel isn’t easy but hey, it’s Italy, small roads wandering through villages, sometimes marked, sometimes not, sometimes clear, sometimes a total puzzle.
Evening, light fading, but just enough for a quick spin, check out where we are. I’d seen a church on top of some hill so headed off to see if I could find it. I did, but only after spotting a trail that looked like it could be great fun. It was, but way, way too short. It circled back around the hill then ended. Just like that. Nothing there, just the end. Rode back, found the road up to the church which turned out to be a monastery with, of course, excellent views. Followed by a gravity burn back down and a fast spin through hamlets and a village back to the hotel with me grinning like a madman, even if the ride wasn’t nearly long enough. I knew that going out of course but needed the fix after the drive.
Woke early to a fine wash of pink on the slopes of Monte Rosa. Stood on the balcony watching the light creep down the slopes then spread across the lake. A couple of small boats heading somewhere followed by soft V’s spreading over the mirror surface. Wanted to do a ride to do some more exploring because obviously there’s some good riding to be had but time was limited. We packed up, dropped down to the village of Orta San Giulio on the lake for a quick walk through and coffees at a restaurant on the lake. Beautiful place, and we were there at a good time, off-season. Must be transformed into a squirming sardine can in the summer. But off-season, sweet.
One of the owners at the hotel told me we ought to take the road up to Mottarone. From the summit he said seven, or maybe five, I’ve forgotten, lakes were visible, including Orta and at the base of the other side of the mountain Lago Maggiore. So we did. And my bike went crazy. I could hear it in back inside it’s bag moaning and groaning and cussing me out rather rudely. Couldn’t blame it, has to be one of the all-time great roads to ride. Up and down. Around 1100 vertical (3600 ft) of climbing so not huge but sure looked like nothing but sweetness all the way to the summit. And yea, the views from the summit are outstanding with Monte Rosa dominating the views to the west. Apparently the Matterhorn is visible too but we couldn’t pick it out. I definitely need to return and ride this puppy.
And down the other side, down to Lago Maggiore. Had to pay to drive the road. The upper mountain on that side is a park. We didn’t mind paying to help support it. I think my bike made even more noise during the descent. Spent some of the time driving down thinking about which way to do a loop on the mountain. Some of the grades going down seemed seriously steep, like maybe steeper than anything on the Orta side. Thus a temptation to go down it, not up. But, while the climb up from Orta might be easier, I have this strong suspicion it’s also a totally insane downhill, like massive fun all the way. Only one way to find out of course.
Some pics