Italy 1 - Lake Como

Hello again, and it’s been a few days, but here we are in the small Italian town of Sorico, on the northern shores of Lake Como, and beautiful it is too; check out a few photos below.

We decided to park up for three nights to relax for a couple of days and nights, and we have done just that, except maybe yesterday, when I did hire an e-bike and spend a few hours exploring the mountainside, as you can see from the pictures, and covered about 25 miles in all. I doubt I could have done the trip using my bike and my legs, and the e-bike was a great piece of equipment, and as mentioned, I am sure I will have one someday, rather than not cycle.

What has happened since Chamonix? Well, we messed up there, and it was a pity really. You can put this down to lack of proper investigation and planning, but there’s not much we can do now, and we try to learn from it. But please remember that little bit.

The town was lovely, and we spent time walking round, but we wanted to go up the Aiguille du Midi on the cable car, but of course we couldn’t take the dogs. We were happy to leave them in the motorhome for a couple of hours, but when we got to the ticket office, we found out it was an hour's wait, a 30-minute trip each way, and a 2-hour stay at the top, so all in all it was over four hours on their own, which wasn’t so good, so we decided to give it a miss.

At the information office, we found out there was a small train that went up into the mountains, and we could take the dogs. On looking at the map, I could see there was also a road that took us up over the mountains, and it was going in the direction we wanted to drive, so I suggested we take the road and have a slow journey up over the top and take in the scenery – but no!

What we didn’t know was that this road took us up so far and then through the Mont Blanc Road Tunnel, some 11 km under and through the mountains, and it was a costly one too at €6.60 per kilometre, or €73 in total, and that is a money spinner, as the queues were endless. Based on research, they are making nearly €400,000 each day, and that is nearly €20m each year – not bad, if you can get it!

But it was taking forever to get to a booth and pay, and that is when we found out the cost - at the booth. We hadn’t seen anything on the lead-up, and of course we didn’t research it as we didn’t know we would end up in the tunnel, not so good all-round.

We waited patiently, and we waited, and from joining the end of our queue to getting through the barrier must have taken us about 15/20 minutes, if not a bit longer, and then it clicked. They have about 5 or 6 queues to get through booths and barriers, but they all go into one lane, and it is all controlled by releasing the barriers in order. And as we are told to stay 100m from the car in front when in the tunnel, I assume the barriers are released accordingly. It is the complete opposite of the toll road race when exiting the barriers on the M6 toll road!

Back to my map app, and all it showed me was this road going over the mountains, and I never even thought to look into it any further, because a road is a road, and it was on the map. It just so happened to have this tunnel included, which wasn’t visible on the app unless I zoomed right in on the road, which, of course, I found out after the event, but something else to remember.

The next problem being the price was that we had no idea of the cost until we got to the booth, and by then it was really too late, so we just had to go. And I couldn’t help but think when we got to the other side that going to Chamonix was a bit of a disappointment due to bad planning and preparation, but there was more road expense to come.

Before that, let’s talk more about poor preparation. Would you believe that I thought the tunnel took us from France into southwest Switzerland (it’s close,) so you can understand why there was a little confusion when, on exiting the tunnel, we found ourselves in Italy, with no customs barriers or checks!

We had already decided we were heading for the Lake Como area, so this was okay, and we stopped overnight in a little double settlement of Hone/Bard. We got into a lovely little Aire that ended up costing us €11 and headed off into town for a walk.

It was a lovely little village, or villages, and I say that because if you look at a map, there are two names, and they are joined at the hip. We went for a stroll and sat at an outside hotel bar and ordered two drinks. They were quickly delivered along with a glass full of salted peanuts and quite a decent-sized glass too, a sort of oval champagne glass.

We were surprised even more when a minute later we had our first experience of Italian hospitality when the waiter brought us breadsticks with canapé-style snacks on a board. Checking if they were 'gratis,' they were and very nice too. Being a hotel, I assumed the drinks would be quite expensive to cover the cost of the snacks, but I was surprised when I paid the bill, and it was €13!

Walking home, we found a more traditional small bar and stopped for another drink. A pint of lager and an Aperol Spritz for my co-pilot. They were followed by another board of snacks, but this time the bill was only €10, and so there was no hike in prices to cover the cost of the snacks, and this has been a theme and a nice one too.

Last night we had a barbecue at the motorhome. I had to take the e-bike back, and so we went into town again and found a nice little bar, and we had three drinks. Again, reasonably priced, and again, each round was accompanied by snacks. I mentioned to the wife that if we stayed for about 6 rounds, I wouldn’t need to strike up the barbecue when we got back, but of course that was never going to happen, but we certainly didn’t need to cook quite so much!

But the second motoring mistake of the day was deciding that the road from Hone/Bard to Lake Como, avoiding tolls, was just too long, and so we decided to use the A4/E64 toll road for once, heading towards Milan. On entering the road, the co-pilot was obviously in charge, as the booths are on her side of the vehicle. I couldn’t see, but she tells me there were no obvious signs to take a ticket, and so instead she pressed the ‘help’ button, and what happened was the barrier just went up. There was no offer of help or anyone speaking to her, and of course the barrier going up to me is an invitation to drive, so I did and assumed a nominal fee would be paid on exiting the barrier at the other end, as you do when using the M6 in the UK – but no!

When we came off going onto the SS35 to the lakes, we were charged €93! What a rip-off. Seemingly this is because we didn’t get a ticket when we joined the toll. I understand why they do it, as we could have been on a toll all day, but they need to make it clearer when you join a toll that you need to get a ticket. You know, maybe a green flashing ticket dispenser at window level, and when there is a ‘help’ button, maybe give us some help, rather than just raising a barrier – I don’t know, but what I do wonder is if this is a money-making rip-off, but be warned, please get a ticket before joining a toll road!

I have appealed the cost online, as we believe it should have been no more than €15, so we shall see, and I hope to hear this week.

The other mistake was a €15 wrong turning. On another road there were two junctions very close together, and I took the wrong one, ending up at another toll booth. Everything okay this time? We ended up going back about 9 miles in the direction we had come. Thankfully, an exit road and back onto the same road we had just travelled, seeing sights for the second time in about half an hour.

Again, it seemed a very expensive and frustrating toll journey, but by this time we just wanted to get to Lake Como and chill out.

But let me tell you, the scenery has been picture-postcard beautiful. It makes driving more enjoyable, even on the motorways. The Swiss chalet ski house type properties have been all along the route, and we haven’t even been to Switzerland yet!

The route from Chamonix over the mountains was through the Aosta Valley to Milan, then north towards Lecco, and then we followed the road up to the north of the lake.

The one thing I find strange while being in the town is that it is quite small, but it is very busy with traffic and very fast traffic at times too. Sitting at a roadside bar, the traffic can be non-stop, with some idiotic overtaking (both cars and motorbikes) at fast speeds too and with one HGV driver using his handheld phone and all sorts, including a motorised scooter overtaking at the pedestrian crossing to go through the red lights as if they weren't there. I realise it is the only road around the north of the lake, but I didn’t and wouldn’t expect all this.

However, to finish, I can only say one thing: they are doing it all on pothole-free roads, or pretty much pothole-free. Sure, there are some, but as with France, nothing like we have to put up with in the UK! Take note, UK!

But if you're thinking about coming down this way, please do, and enjoy the beautiful Italian scenery and, of course, their free snacks with your beer!

Thanks for reading

DJ