We have four full days on Lake Como. The first two are gone, playing tag with the thunderstorms. Now we have two days with clear, sunny weather in the forecast. What to do? Lake Como is surrounded by mountains. These mountains have trails. Yesterday, after consulting with the Travel Information office in town, we picked a hike that should give us tremendous views of the lake from thousands of feet above. Here is the plan: with the round trip bus tickets we purchased yesterday, we will ride bus 12 up the side of the mountain to the village of Breglia. It is the end of the line for the bus. From there we will hike about two and a half miles, gaining about 2100' to a mountain hut clinging to the mountainside called Refugio Menaggio. There we will buy a soda or beer, ogle at the scenery until satiated or darkness, which ever comes first, then retrace our steps to the bus stop and ride back to town, wherein we will walk back to our hostel and celebrate. And that is what we did.
Riding the bus, we found the road switchbacks up the mountainside, passing through small villages clinging to the hill. The road is one lane wide, but with the small cars everyone drives here, two can squeeze past. The bus driver certainly knows his vehicle. There were times we had less than an inch of clearance as we pass cars. At one point we caught up with a line up of cars. At the head of the line was a semi-truck. Our first thought was some poor driver took a wrong turn and is stuck on these hair pin turns, unable to go up or down. But, slowly he continued up. Soon, he pulled into a water bottling plant on the hillside where a fork lift was filling up another semi. Wow, what a place for a bottling company.
Breglia is a village perched on a flat piece of ground formed where a ridge sticks out of the mountain. We got off the bus. He turned around in the church parking lot and headed back down. Following the printed directions we got from the TI office we began following a single lane paved road up the hill. After two switchbacks the instructions had us leave the road on the uphill side. In essence, the trail cut the switchbacks of the road. Now, the road was steep to begin with. This made the trail very steep, even by trail standards. We crossed the road on our upward journey half a dozen times until we reached a parking lot, the end of the road. Here, as we took a break, a couple cars drove up and parked, but not before spinning their wheels in some mud on the road and straining to make the final 100' up into the parking area.
From here the trail continued up, switchbacking until it finally started an angling traverse across to the hut at Refugio Menaggio. All the way up we had been getting peek a boo views of the lake and surrounding mountains, but as on the traverse we came out of the trees and could now see Lake Como spread out below us and the majesty of the surrounding mountains. Spectacular.
At the "hut" we bought Sally a beer and we shared a piece of cake, along with a couple rolls and the rest of the whole roasted chicken we had purchased the day before. We chatted with a German couple in their early forties before heading out to the ridge to the west and above the hut that promised a view of Lake Lugano and a slice of Switzerland. This trail was on very steep open meadow.
The view from the notch and the point just beyond was as expected, amazing. From here we could see into Lake Lugano to the west and up and down Lake Como, plus the mountains beyond. We stayed here for half an hour enjoying the view before we wandered the 15 minutes back to the hut. From there we returned on the same trail. But, the shortcuts on the road switchbacks were so steep, we found it easier to just walk the road down instead.
Once back in Breglia, we caught the 4:35 pm bus down to Menaggio.
We had so much fun walking in the sunshine today, and Sally'a back was a total non-issue, we decided to walk to Lake Lugano tomorrow. All the time spent on surgery and recovery is culminating in a big positive payoff. Even though we walked over 7 miles total today with lots of elevation gain and loss, she is feeling great!! That has not happened for . . . 15 years? Wow!!
After dinner, we walked back to town, got the bus schedule to allow us to ride back to Menaggio once we get to Porlezza on Lake Lugano tomorrow. In the morning, we will stop at the Visitors Information office, thank the sweet lady there for today's excellent hike and get her advice on a route between the two lakes. We are beginning to see that five nights here are not enough. Menaggio has five bus routes and all the ferries make stops here. It is a great place to base out of for at least a week. Hiking. Tons of rock climbing. Kayaking. Cycling. Swimming. Exploring. This is an awesome place.
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