Fancied going over the Stelvio Pass today. The bloke who runs the campsite said there's three options to get to Bormio and then on to the pass. Quickest is back to Tresanda and take the S38. We could also go over the Foppa Pass before joining the S38. The most scenic route and the one he recommends is over the Gavia Pass. One of the highest passes in Italy apparently. That's the one we took.
The views south of the pass are stunning. Stop several corners before the top for all your photos. The best roads are definitely north of the pass though. Super fast and grippy. Roads to the south, or what's left of them are dreadful. Single file, covered in gravel and full of craters.
Stopped in Bormio for a quick coffee. Needed to find a post office too but the signs, where they could be bothered to place them, pointed in completely the wrong direction. How very Italian. The nice lady in the coffee shop saw us right though so all sorted.
Had a mint run up the pass. Very little traffic which was soon picked off then had a clear blast to the top. The western side is awesome.
Obligatory bratwurst at the top and a bit of tat shopping. Got talking to a Swiss couple who were heading towards Bernina. Told them we came that way yesterday and they asked us if it had reopened. Don't wanna alarm anyone back home but apparently it was recently closed for a couple of days after an avalanche had blocked the road! We thought there was an awful lot of roadworks when we rode over it yesterday.
They also told us to watch our stuff around Lake Garda. Said there's been a lot of theft in the area.
Rode down into Switzerland. The eastern side of the Stelvio is tighter than the west but it's still great fun.
At Spondigna we turned north then picked up the S41 and 28 to Zernez, which is officially my favourite road so far this trip. The road west over Ofenpass is mint.
Stopped for a quick coffee and a chill at a restaurant on the way into Zernez then headed south west down past St Moritz and back into Italy.
Ignore what I said a couple of paragraphs back - the 27 down past St Moritz then the 3 down to the Italian border is now absolutely definitely my favourite road. No doubt about it. That entire stretch between the Italian borders at both ends is amazing. It's like a video game. Jaw dropping scenery, perfect tarmac and fast sweeping predictable corners. I have to go back there. It ends nicely with Passo del Maloja.
As soon as you cross the border into Italy the road literally falls apart. It's the same road but the Italian and Swiss sides are chalk and cheese. In fact I think the Italian side is actually made of chalk and cheese. You really couldn't make it up. We rode through border control from perfect roads straight into Italian roadworks. Although 'works' is pushing it a bit. It just comprised of two Italian blokes, one of them lazily kicking a cone across some crappy tarmac while the other one watched him and smoked a tab. Priceless!
Dropped down towards Lake Como. It was getting late in the day, the heat was insane and we were starting to get tired. I knew just the answer.
Rode into Domaso and straight to the legendary campsite that we found last year. Right on cue our friend Vicky was there to greet us, as were those huge bottles of ice cold Peroni. And they were still only €2 a pop.
'Hey, that's not Catherine'! Indeed Vicky. Meet Sam. Can't believe she remembered our names from last year. Said she knew it was me as soon as she saw the 'Mad Max' bike ride in!
Her and Mikey are on holiday for 2 weeks with Mikeys mum. They go back to Freiburg a week on Sunday. Just pure luck that our holiday times crossed.
Rang Catherine and put Vicky on to say hi. They had a bit of a chinwag then I disappeared to cook tea while Vicky went back to watch the Germany Spain match. They invited us in to watch the game with them but I was chewing my arm off so declined.
Quick dip in Lake Como then a Peroni night cap before heading to bed for a proper good nights sleep.
186 miles
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