Day 4: Lovere-Toscolano Maderno (93 km, 360 m uphill)
After two workdays in Lovere at Lago d’Iseo, I have to say that this was not the best place to stay for three nights because (a) west bank and surrounded by high mountains means that the sun is gone quite early, and (b) it’s September and all the tourists are gone. So the place was quite dead in the evenings. I did find an alright pizza restaurant though where I had dinner the last two nights.
Today, I continued cycling. This was my longest day so far with 93 kilometres. First I circled Lago d’Iseo, and then I went via Brescia towards Lago di Garda.
In Brescia, I stopped for a lunch break in an idyllic Lidl parking lot. Descending towards Lago di Garda was very nice. I’m staying here for one night in Toscolano Maderno in a very nice hotel.
Tomorrow, I’m going to go around the whole lake and stay in Peschiera in the southeast corner before I continue towards Padua on Sunday.
It was raining all night in Bergamo, but the weather report said that it should stop raining in the morning and get sunny later today. After a rest day/work day yesterday (I work every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and cycle the remaining days), I had to check out of my apartment in Bergamo at 10:30. When I left, it was still raining slightly. I put my rain jacket on for a bit, men packed it away soon after because there was really only slight rain and a bit too warm under the jacket.
At 12 o’clock, I reached Lago d’Iseo and took a short break for a ciabatta and some water. Then, I continued along the west bank of the lake. Unfortunately, it started raining quite heavily after a while. But since I only had around one hour left at that point, I did not care too much.
Here in Lovere, I have an apartment again, which was a bit difficult to find. But after ringing my host who does not speak any English, and after some messaging on WhatsApp, we figured out that I was indeed standing in front of his house. After I took a warm shower and changed to dry clothes, the sun did actually come out again.
Today, I’ll have a pasta dinner at home and save some money. I did buy a Sicilian Nero d’Avola though to accompany the dinner.
The next two days will be work days. Then from Friday to Sunday, I have three days in a row with distances between ninety and one-hundred kilometres. So I will find out whether I am well not trained or not (which I sincerely doubt).
Yesterday, I left Como around 11 o’clock, took a small detour to the lake and then started my way towards Bergamo. The first part was a steep climb I knew from last year, but thanks to the croissant and coffee from breakfast, it was not too much of a challenge. When I arrived at the top, I took a short break at a bus stop to drink water. I also took of my helmet, and when I did that, I saw something small and white fall down and disappeared under the rear wall of the bus stop. Behind it was a pretty steep hill. I first wondered what it could have been, but didn’t come up with an answer. So, I told myself, probably it wasn’t anything important, and a few minutes later I continued my ride. After one minute though, the light of truth suddenly struck me: It was my AirPod that I have in my ear for navigation. That was quite essential and expensive. So, I turned around. Now, the Airpod seemed to be on this steep hill behind the bus stop. And around the bus stop, separating the hill from the road, was a thick, thorny hedge. But I needed my AirPod back. So I put on some jeans, climbed over/through the hedge and found it indeed where I expected it. I came back a bit scratchy and itchy, but it was worth it.
From there, I continued Lago Pusiano and Lago di Annone. At one point, I was directed towards a motorway, but according to the sign, there was a parallel road that cyclists could take. Unfortunately though, this road was a construction site and blocked with a fence. There were already four other cyclists, an Italian and a German or Swiss couple, standing in front of it with question marks above their heads. Finally, the Italian guy said: Well, there is a small hole in the fence, so we can try. And we all agreed that it would be better than the motorway in any case. So, we lifted our bikes and me also the luggage through this small whole and climbed through. The road was partly a rideable gravel road, and partly, we had to wheel or carry the bike. Parts of this road were also flooded, so even though this part was not long, it took us quite a while. But eventually, we reached the end of this road construction and could continue.
Now, my trip was supposed to be a bit more than 60 kilometres. After 45 kilometres already, I started to get cramps in my thighs. I had to take a lot of stretching breaks and take it very slowly, but I finally reached Bergamo. I even found a Decathlon store here which was open on Sundays. Now I have a new phone mount for my bike – the previous one was damaged when I reassembled my bike at the airport.
In Bergamo, I will stay for two nights. Today is a working day. Tomorrow, I will continue towards Lago d’Iseo.
Hello from Como in Bella Italia where I just finished the first day of this year’s bicycle adventure. I’m planning to go from Milano to Istanbul, while working remotely three days per week, meaning that four days per week are bike days. Inshallah, I’ll be in Istanbul by mid or end November.
This trip was originally planned together with my friend Udo. But due to unforeseen circumstances he could not join the start, but will join asap.
Today, I took the plane from Oslo to Milano Malpensa. The trip to Oslo airport was quite relaxed – I ordered a taxi to the central station and took the Flytoget train because it’s more relaxed with a huge bike box. On the train, I facepalmed myself when I found out that I had packed my bike lock, but had forgotten the keys.
After landing at Malpensa, all went smoothly first, too. I got my luggage and bike quickly and had it reassembled within one hour. The problem was that my mobile charging contact has stopped working. So when I plugged in the charger, it would not charge. Shortly after leaving the airport with low battery, the phone went black. Now I had to navigate to Como just looking at the position of the sun and bypassing wild geese on their way to Africa. Or as a better alternative, I figured, I should try to buy a wireless charger because it’s only the Lightning contact that doesn’t work. After visiting many stores, I finally found a Gigante hypermarket, and it was so gigante that I found both a phone charger and a new bicycle lock.
So, then I charged my phone a bit so that I could navigate again. And finally, after darkness had already settled over Lago di Como, I arrived in Como. The hotel is alright. The fresh pasta and the red wine were delicious.
