Italian TET Day 3

The Lakes

Breakfast wasnt that good, but the day was hot.  With heads hazy we packed leisurely in the sun and leaving Ghemme headed in the direction of the Italian lakes.

Ghemme - where everyone lives on bar snacks and beer

First stop for us was lake Maggiore, to catch a ferry to the opposite side.  Most of this section is road as youre in a populated area trying to catch pubic transport.    We arrived within 5mins of the ferry's departure and hopped straight on.

The TET climbs steadily as you leave the farm land behind and head towards the alps once more.  At the top of one of the hills the road promptly stops making way for a rocky climb and long decent into a forest.  The descent through the forest was technical by our standards and sweat dripped over my face under my helmet.

We broke free of the forest and skirted our second lake, Lake Lugano. Its so beautiful in this region, photo opportunities around every corner.

We continued to climb steadily towards Lake Como.  The map of the TET showing a what appears to be vantage point.

At the end of the road we found a bar sat alone at the top moutain, the air was fresh, a welcome respite from the heat of the day and we drank a beer and soaked in the splendor of our surroundings.

The bar uses a Fiat to ferry the kegs up to the top. 'The Ranger'

Panoramic from the pinnacle.

It was getting late and Jason suggested that you cant come to the lakes and not visit Como, it was decided.  Reaching Como we sat at the waters edge having a drink a looking for a hotel.  Jason had some pretty stringent criteria this night. It had to be a hotel he could see from that spot and have bike parking.  He wasnt interested in the Youth Hostel i pointed out, muttering something about pikeys, sharing, and not being a 50Euro type of guy.

We found somewhere more salubrious and he was happy.

... i had to do some bartering to get the price to a more acceptable level, i guess not really liking a guy covered in three days of track dust stood in the reception they relented.

:)