May 31, 2022
Cannobio day ride
The plan for today had been to ride the triangular loop around Monte Limidario that Scott and Rachael Anderson did in 2018. however, when our hosts asked last evening about our plans for our day in Cannobio and we told them, they said the road might be closed. We checked on the map and yes, that’s the road closed by a landslide last week. They didn’t know as they didn’t travel that way, but maybe we could get through on bikes? [I’ll interject here to say that our hosts live in Cannobio but work in Switzerland, as they say about 80% of working people in Cannobio. Outside of tourist services, there’s not much local employment.]
So this morning we decided to ride up the Cannobino valley and see how far we could get. If we had to turn around, our ride would be on what appeared to be the quietest leg of the triangle, avoiding the busy lakeside highway.
It was a nice climb, with a few gentle descents as well, which we hadn’t expected. And the road varied from very narrow to two wide lanes and back again. The surface was all paved but the surface quality varied greatly, from farm-track rough to off-gassing brand new.
At the top was a stone naming it Passo Marco Pantani, placed there by the Magico Pantani Fan Club of Cannobio. There was also a book to sign. As Al was writing in the book, a German couple on ebikes arrived. I asked them if they knew anything about the road closure and they said we could get through on bikes at 12:30. If was then 11:20 so the timing should work.
After a short discussion about cycle touring in Germany, we set off on a fun descent. We soon arrived at Maresco, where we bought some sandwiches and drinks to take along because we had no idea where the closure might be or whether we could actually get through. While we were doing this, the German couple passed us with a wave.
The route was mostly gently down. We came to Re but didn’t dare stop to look inside the church for fear of missing the window to get through.
We came to the “road closed” barrier but it was clear people had gone around; in fact, some of the barrier was moved to enable this. We continued down. We saw a teenager on a bike coming out way, doing something on his phone as he rode. When we asked, he indicated that yes, we could get through on bikes.
We started seeing cars parked on either side of the road, and then, around a corner, the real barrier, a fence across the road. Parked cars lining both sides of the road but nobody in sight.
It was 12:15 and so we broke out the sandwiches, wondering if anything would happen at 12:30. What happened was a young man on a motorcycle with a large backpack arrived, Aldo wondering if he could get through. While we were chatting with him, a new person arrived and he had a light (unlit) on the roof of his car. He would know, I thought.
And so he did. The road was closed but the other fence was only 70 metres away. There was a footpath around but it wasn’t safe. Since the workers were all at lunch, he would open the fence and walk us through but not see a thing. Perfect. Al stuffed in the last of his sandwich, grabbed his chinotto, and off we went. It looked to me that the road would be reopened very soon.
Back on our bikes, we continued down, into Switzerland, and down more to the lake. Our RWGPS route had us going through a tunnel so we deviated from it to cruise the waterfront through Ascona. It led us to a separated bike path beside the highway and, too soon, dumped us on the highway once again. A fast cruise with traffic back to our B&B for hot showers and cold beer from Carrefour.
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Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 1,369 km (850 miles)
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2 years ago
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