From Italy Lake Orta to Geneva and starting down the River Rhone

Our train journey across the Alps and out of the Italian lakes from Omena on Lake Orta to Geneva in Switzerland began at 5.30pm after an already tiring day cycling; during the 25 mile ride, not long in itself, we had pushed our bikes up a very long and very steep rutted mule track.

The ride round the lake anticlockwise from Orta started off in quite heavy traffic with lorries thundering past us.   We then had a stretch on the Southern side that was beautifully quiet and picturesque. Lakeside leafy paths followed after Peotra by a long stretch on a quite and smooth tarmac road that unfortunately ended in a small village with just the steep mule track out of it.   At this point we should have accepted that we had to go back, but retracing ones steps is always harder than exploring further.  We have learned that dead end signs invariably mean dead end for a car and that a footpath follows and besides out map showed a road or at least a cyclable path up to the village higher up.  Living in England, it is difficult to conceive just how vertiginous the pre Alps are and how villages perch on what might seem an impossible place for a house to be sited, let alone an entire village.

Once on the train we travelled through a wide river valley from Omenga to Domodossola (which advertised skiing) and from then bought a ticket to Geneva.  Snow capped mountains behind tree covered slopes of fir then Chesnut and Oak have made a wonderfully scenic backdrop during our entire journey through the Italian lakes. The rivers have been torents of water, waterfalls visible high up through the trees, and frighteningly deep gulys all flowing with the Spring snow melt. Frightening when viewed over small bridges that seem supported on thin air when standing on them - from that angle the supporting structure is not visible just the deep drop - so deep it seems bottomless!

The man at the ticket office in Domodossola told us that we could not use our 24 hour (3.5 euro each) bike ticket on this train and would need to buy new bike tickets on the next train to Switzerland. So we purchased our own tickets, 130 euros for 2 tickets to Geneva (quite expensive we thought) and watched the fast train leave as it would not take bikes (after asking a very grumpy Italian railway employee), and got on the next one at 8pm.  The train off course departed and arrived dead on time and at 11pm we found our hotel, the Hotel Central.  It was one of those dreary and depressing city hotels with reception 6 floors up and no where to store bikes (and no word of this when we requested bike storage when booking on booking.com) all made more depressing by the constant rain and our tiring day pushing the heavy bikes laden with our luggage up the mule track.

We were told that an exception could be made and they could be stored on the balcony in our room. Well, the lift was too small to fit the bikes and even if we had lugged them up 5 flights of stairs, they would certainly not have fitted on the balcony!  So they stayed in the lobby downstairs, well away from the receptionist 6 floors up, and I, who would normally worry about this, was just to tired to be bothered and went to sleep in the bland little room costing £139 euros.  Breakfast was on a tray in the bland little room - great!

Heading out of Geneva. Surprized but pleased they allow swimming on the river.  Maybe not in the rain and and with water in spate. 

68 euros including breakfast served by the owners.  Lords serving labourers. Surely the wrong way round.

After a few false starts due to signs starting us off then disappeared (cycle path signs can be very ambiguous. If only they gave the destination we could be confident we were continuing in the right direction rather than simply following another route back from where we came). More rain, and we finally found out way out of Geneva and along the Vale de la Rhone cycle path.  This started out as a roadside cycle lane through long suburbs, climbing gradually rather than staying on the waterfront.

Eventually the suburban sprawl disappeared and we were on a fairly busy main road but safe on the cycle lane and were beginning to see some good views of the upper Rhone valley.

There followed a beautiful stretch where we cycled along a fairly quiet road cut into the side of the valley, high up with spectacular views but quite frightening as there was often no barrier and the drop, although covered in trees,was near vertical and very deep.

Seyssel

Once I get a slight feeling of vertigo, it won't leave me, and I feel like I might topple over the edge, even when the edge becomes not so frightening.  This makes me want to cycle in the middle of the right hand lane rather than near the outer edge.  So when a car comes fast approaching from behind, all I can do is slow to a walking pace and creep a little nearer to the edge to let it pass.  If the road is straight this is fine as it can easily overtake.  But if on a bend with either a sheer drop or a cliff face for me to hug, it is quite terrifying!

Unfortunately I don't have many photos of these drops as I'm too busy trying not to fall over them.

The afternoon brightened and we had lunch in the delightful tourist 'honeypot' of Chanaz. Canal, lock, boats, bikes, motorbikes, restaurants and brilliant sunshine!

Chazan

A beautiful B&B. Old house with arcaded rooms surrounding courtyard built 1752.

We have spend an interesting and sunny few days in a village of Maisino above Orta San Giuilo.  Cycling through the forested hills where there are small bridges over incredibly deep ravines.  Roads that drop away down deep gorges so I feel I need to cycle in the middle of the road.  Not a good idea as Italian drivers live up to their reputation

Walking in Lake Mountains. Thoughts about travels so far.

Although our travels have taken us to well worn tourist places and routes.  The Luberon, Corfu, Italian Lakes, we have stayed away from tourist hot spots on the whole. 

In many villages most streets are not wide enough for cars

Waterfall taken from Ponte Romaine near Cossangno 

In the Luberon we visited the less well known hilltop villages, here in the lakes we have not been to Bellagio on Lake Como, or any of the gardens or villas that are open to the public.

The Lakes are spectacular in their setting.  High snow capped mountains, then lush green slopes dipping down to colourful lakeside villages.  Some areas remain very rural as soon as you move a few yards from the tourist centres. Of course they all follow the same pattern and so it is possible to have two much of a good thing if you just visit one tourist village after another.  This is why it is good to have a mixture of lakeside tourist centres and boat trips, and nature in the unspoilt mountains.

Rugano holiday village with no road access

At present we are in one of the higher hilltop towns of Mazzania.  It is quite a bustling place as we found out when we entered the local bar and pizzeria at 5.30pm yesterday.  It was absolutely full of people - well men.  The only women were serving behind the bar.  We struck up a conversation will a tall Amercan former baseball player, Charlie Yelverton.  He was amused to hear that his second name is also a place near where we live on Dartmoor. He had lived in the area for 40 years after arriving here on a baseball coaching trip.  

We also speculated that we have struck up conversations with a few ex pats in our travels.  Single men whose life revolves around the local bar, and we reminded ourselves that cafe culture does not last all year - even on the continent.

Everything looks so much more attractive in the sun, and we have had mixed weather.  So our impressions of one place or another are probably clouded by the weather to some extent.  We are lucky to always have a place to go to, so unless we are cycling through heavy rain or wind, we can have enjoyable travelling days even if its not sunny.

The same day whilst we walked in the woods we met a man who spoke no English, and we speak only a word or two of Italian.  Anyhow, we told him we were heading back from our walk towards Mazzanio, and he immediately became our guide.  Taking us on the most direct route back.  Although we were delighted that he wanted to be our guide, he was like a mountain goat and we were a lot slower of the uphill mountain tracks. Italian have loved giving us directions.  Our B&B host spent ages yesterday trying to explain how to get somewhere in Italian when I had a very detailed map in front of me which was obviously going to be a lot easier to follow than her Italian that I did not understand.  But we appreciated that she wanted to help, and she also pressed many left over breakfast items on us which we had for lunch.

In this area below the Val Grande there are the remains of many small settlements and terracing where crops were grown, now all overgrown with great trees growing through them. Most of the roofs and some of the walls have collapsed, but here and there the remains of doors, porches and windows remain.  One village we found Rugano nearby is still intact and the houses seem to be holiday homes.  Most of the stone roofs have been replaced with tiles, and the dry stone walls of the old houses have been stabilised by render.  We speculated how they got the building materials up there as there was no road to the village just a track.

We always try and be as eco-friendly as possible when travelling.  Being conscious of what we throw away and minimising rubbish is hard enough at home, but here we are always being offered plastic bottles in the rooms and we accumulate paper and compostable things like apple cores and banana skins etc. This is always a problem, even on the boat.

We are still using the plastic bottles we took from home and have probably used another 5 on our travels.  In Italy there are drinking fountains in all  places we have stayed so we have been able to refill them easily.  In other places we have boiled the travel kettle at night and filled up the bottles when cooled in the morning.

We have found plenty of corner grocery stores in Greece and Italy where items are sold in paper bags not plastic packets. 

Moving West from Lake Como to Lake Maggiore and B&B in mountains. Walks to abandoned villages in Mountains.

Agrotourism Pension near Porlezza

This B&B was in a typically lovely valley in the foothills of the Alps.  We are doing 20, 30 40 miles a day depending on where we are going and what accommodation we find.  We usually wait til lunchtime then look on Booking.com and find somewhere.  It's easy as you can see the prices and book instantly on line.

Near Porlezza

Car tunnel entrance with old side road for local traffic and bikes to the left

Entering the old road on north side of Lake Lugano

Tunnel on old road

Lovely villages along this old road

Lugano town 

Lavena Ponte Tresa.   Border. Swiss left Italy right. We stayed Italian side round corner from this photo