September 22, 2022
In Baveno: a damp day
Leaving the restaurant last night we had been considering the weather forecast for the next day and were quite satisfied that it was only forecasted as a cloudy day. Most forecasts did not show any precipitation and the evening sky was still clear.
When we went for breakfast it was very cloudy but still dry. We returned to our room to organize the bags that we needed to store as we were switching rooms for our last night`s stay at the hotel. With all our belongings organized and as we were preparing to leave our room, it started to rain. We hoped it would be a passing shower. We headed to the front desk with our bags and were told there was a room available right now if we wanted it. As this would greatly simplify the room change logistics we agreed and set ourselves up in a building across the street. The room would be perfect.
It was still raining; that heavy mist that can get you very wet in a fairly short time. Departure for our ride was now postponed until noon but the light drizzle was relentless. Yes, we could ride in it, but the cycling would not at all be enjoyable.
By mid-afternoon we had decided the ride was to be abandoned and we decided to catch a regional train to Stresa which is just a few kilometres south of Baveno. Stresa has a reputation as one of the ¨go to¨ places on Lago Maggiore. Pat grabbed an umbrella from the hotel desk and we headed to the nearby train station. The ride was short with some nice views of the lake.
Stresa has a very nicely developed waterfront with large paths and a park like green belt next to the lake. The waterfront has many large historic hotels. The kind that offer a lake destination vacation for the well-to-do. Many of the hotels looked like their grand days were in the past, but their extravagant designs were still clear. We did think that the covid years must have been very hard on these large old hotels.
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We made our way to the back streets to the retail shops and restaurants. The weather was turning and conditions drying out as we wandered around the tourist area and stopped at a restaurant for a pizza and beer. We thought that Stresa was what you would expect from a historic touristy town and we were very happy to have chosen to stay in Baveno.
The late lunch threw off our appetite schedule and dinner was just some snacks in the room where we snuggled in and considered our options for the next few days. We will be riding north and criss-crossing the lake by boat tomorrow on route to Cannobio.
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