Italy Part 4 - Mals to Mandello - 120 miles - 8th July

It was pretty nice to wake up to the amazing views from our balcony, and after showering and packing the gear we toddled off down to the main Agropobitzer for a rather lovely breakfast washed down with multiple strong Italian coffees. By the time we had finished that and walked back to our house the Africa Twin parked next to the Guzzis had gone. Quite mysteriously, the night before the rider had spoken to us quite happily, but his wife never showed her face. Maybe he should have been paying attention to her instead of speaking to us and drinking whisky!

First job on leaving the B & B was to go into Mals town and sort out a few things; painkillers and hay fever tablets for me, and a different card for Jeff's helmet cam, and he’d been sold the wrong one and therefore recorded zero footage. In the pharmacy my bad German and bad Italian (almost none) were supplemented by gestures, smiling and pointing, and the young lady behind the counter seemed to get the message and we both laughed. I was quite impressed by what facilities were available there, it was quite a happening place with all the mod cons.

We left Mals pretty late about 1030AM and headed for the Stelvio Pass, the first surprise being the walled town of Glurns just down the road. The buildings were really impressive, both in their age and their architecture, and the whole town was buzzing even early in the day. Its the sort of place that would great to visit again for a proper look but we had our first alpine pass to ride and time was getting on.  The approaches to the Stelvio from Glurns are very pretty, with picture postcard cottages by the road, and a very weird museum/display of carvings, streams and forested hillsides. There were plenty of bikes on the road, and plenty of other traffic, not all of it moving quickly. We soon reached the start of the climbing hairpins, at that altitude surrounded by a conifer forest. Each corner is numbered, and as we climbed up through the forest, it became clear that this would be a much easier ride with only motorcycles on the road! Camper vans were a particular bugbear. Why don’t you just overtake them I hear you say? Well, that's all well and good but the straights are often very short, steep, and there is oncoming traffic as the Stelvio is very popular. The idea is to try and see what’s coming down as you are going up, and when this is possible you can swing wide on the 180 degree bends to make them less steep. This worked most of the time, but one time I was caught out and found myself facing a 4WD on my side of the road, on a very steep corner, but all was well. We passed a guest house pretty much at the edge of the forest, and then the stark bare mountainsides and the serious peaks ahead revealed themselves properly. Jeff managed to get past a doddering 4WD that I got stuck behind, so I just stuck to it despite the oil warning light coming on from time to time (first time in 15 years). People pulled off to the side of the bends on the upper reaches and I don’t blame them, the views were amazing. I saw 2 Harleys on the way up and they would have been a handful on the climbing hairpins. Finally the corners counted down, 3, 2, 1 and then I was at the top and Jeff waved me into a parking spot near a bratwurst cart. We had done it - number 1 big goal reached - ride the Stelvio. We were both pretty ecstatic about it. 9055 feet above sea level. We didn’t fall off. The top of the Stelvio is a cacophony of bikes, sports cars, bratwurst stands, souvenir shops, pubs and a couple of restaurants, one of which you have to walk up the mountain to get to, in an ancient stone round building/tower. We got some brats and Jeff's looked a hell of a lot better than mine, but its got to be done. I got a postcard for Mum, and a sticker for both bikes, which was put on at once. We then rode up to the higher point, carefully parking the bikes and soaked up the view in the 9 degree air…..what a place to be and I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else, or with anyone else - Jeff is a great rider, an expert on ales, and the finest of friends. 

Time to head down the other side and we realised that the Bormio side was the easier, and good thing that was as my back brake went all the way down and did nothing (too hot) and Jeff's rear pads were down to the metal….The run down was pretty nice, though tunnels with corners take some getting used to, and it was striking how much the temperature rose as we went down into the valley. At the bottom we stopped and as I hadn’t used my rear brake for most of the way down, it was now fine. Water was drunk, and we set off towards Mandello via the valleys through Sondalo, Sondrio and Morbegno. I have to say it was very hot, and although we were surrounded by mountains, the traffic was heavy and it wasn’t fast riding. Quite a lot of light industrial along the road; not inspiring riding. Somewhere along the route we decided petrol and cold drinks were in order and we pulled into a service station with café. A van pulled up with motorcycle stickers on it and we had a chat with the rider who was an Italian hill climb rider, in fact a hill climbing champion. His advice was to NEVER SPEED IN SWITZERLAND, which we took on board. He said he had learned this from bitter experience. We asked him about the speed limits in Italy, and why it seemed nobody obeyed them? He just said just don’t be an idiot, everybody speeds, and he mimed the “turning the throttle all the way” style of riding. Fair enough! In the café, the cold drinks were greatly appreciated, as was just getting out of the sun.

After some more miles along the valleys a bit past Morbegno a sign appeared that was wonderful to see  - Lago de Como and just a bit further along Mandello del Lario!! There was a choice of going through a tunnel, or going along the lake, we chose the lakeside route and it was soon clear there was serious money along the lake, and it was stunningly beautiful, as lakes go. The villages were all rather nice, and the idea of sitting beside the lake drinking beer suddenly became enormously appealing. We reached Mandello late in the afternoon and parked opposite Restaurante Grigna, where we hoped to stay. Jeff  went in and secured accommodation for 2 nights. While he was inside I saw about 10 Guzzis ride past so the idea that nobody rides them was completely wrong! Parked next to us was a fine old Laverda.

We dumped the stuff in the room, moved the bikes to the underground and excellent parking space, got changed and ambled about the town, going to the famous gate at the factory of course first! It smelled of paint, or was I imagining that? It certainly looked freshly painted, nice of them to arrange that for us. Pizza and beer followed, both extremely good. The day finished with us drinking beer in the company of fellow bikers back at Restaurante Grigna, looking up at the mountains. All in all, a very fine day. We had MADE IT.