July 15, 2024
Day 2: The Canton of Ticino
Bellinzona, CH to Rodi-Fiesso, Ch
Successful night of camping. I rolled at 1000 after having a cafe americano- just like me.
The Canton of Ticino, as I understand, is the only canton located fully south of the Alps. It was also one of the last ones in the 1500s (annexed from Italy).
For that reason everything around me: the signs, the shops, the speakers, all still Italian.
Pretty interesting and I feel many people don’t remember this part of Switzerland if they’ve only been to the biggest cities up north.
The countryside continues to be beautiful. Today is also the baby climb (2500 ft) while day 3 will be the proper final climb up to St Gotthard Pass.
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I realized my navigation device was low on battery so decided to have a real breakfast besides coffee. I guess real is a hard word to use given it’s just biscuits but food is fuel.
For lunch there were more carbs and sugar involved. My dentist said I should stop cycling (jokes ) but also trying to incorporate more fats and other nutrients in my touring diet. I generally eat fairly healthy in real life but on tour all bets are off.
At this point it was 1300 and the sun had come out to play - but I still had at least 1500 ft to climb. It was warm and I was breaking for water fairly often. Slow and steady tomorrow would be the real deal.
Finally in the evening at about 1630 I had to use my lights to get through a small tunnel. I feared not being seen if I didn’t use those even though sunset wasn’t till 2100. Mental note to wear the comically oversized orange safety vest tomorrow.
Tonight I stayed at the Dazio Grande an old guesthouse from 1561 for travelers through the Alps. Pretty darn neat. It’s not quite the Grand Budapest but, it’s way more interesting.
There was a bit of a language barrier as I thought the hotel was closed entirely but turns out I was just there 45 mins before it opened. And also nobody but the guests stay there overnight. Luckily one of the other guests arrived early and was friends with the hostess/owner so was able to translate for me and get me squared away. Everyone was very kind and patient with my very stumbling Italian too (30 words grown to 35?) and when all else failed google translate saves the day.
Finally, I rode a km down the road for another pizza. The town really only had two restaurants but the one I happened to pick , Hotel Baldi, was quite good. My hotels hostess recommended it too and said it was molto bene.
The owners of the restaurant did not seem to believe me when I told them I was riding from ~Milan to [redacted] but they were all smiles and seemed to tell the other guests while pointing at me. Again very nice folks.
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The pizza was a banger.
Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 125 km (78 miles)
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