Among the first things my host suggested me to do was to visit Mottarone. "It's good for motorbike" he told me in his full Italian accent. Weather is getting hotter next days so I grab the chance for a (promised to be) nice ride today.
Heading South on the SP229 leads me into a single lane tunnel due to roadworks, a straight line in the mountain of several kms with a speed limit of 50km/h. Could be better but... 1st world problems. As I see the light of day again, things get much better as I start riding up the mountain heading West.
The road crosses Agrano, a small kinda time machine village and the GPS takes me through tiny streets and single lane bridges that if it wasn't for other vehicles ahead I would have stopped to cross check things. Good move to start early, I don't wanna know how this is during peak time.
The pure driver fun starts a little later when the road heads up North offering several kms of endless bends till I arrive at the parking of the local ski resort:
Amazing ride, wish I could share my joy with this cat but I guess she doesn't speak any of the languages I do neither fancies bikes:
There's also this tiny lake up here:
The parking lot offer plenty panoramic options but the merciless light of the early morning sun is not always a friend:
Local facilities:
Cute:
At the base of the ski slope I get the chance for the following shots:
Sorry for the redundancy, I had a hard time picking plus a full pano is not exactly my kind of party.
Here's the view looking to the other side West, where some peaks are still snowy white:
Same North West:
Time to walk up intrigued by the view it will offer:
Unsurprisingly not too bad right?
The early morning haze doesn't like pictures at all but other than that the view is fantastic looking East at the lake Maggiore:
Snowy peaks from up here look even better:
"But why?"
Interestingly enough, from up here I can see the town I stay at, Gravellona Toce:
If you manage to see a helicopter in the next image you don't need an eye doctor as it's 2-3 pixels big (more about it in the video at the end):
Just to get an idea of the inclination:
Great ride, great place, absolutely recommended. A helicopter going back and forth to bring stuff (for construction I guess) became the attraction of everyone around. When I arrived there was only 5 vehicles but now the parking is almost already full so time to go down.
Lake Orta is next. And what a sweet one it really is:
I try to find an easy view point so I roll down the road of this peninsula in the middle of the lake:
Turns out I can't have such a chance unless I leave the bike and walk around but it's already kinda too hot to be pleasant so I grab a few shots before I leave it behind:
I owe you a video right?
Last but definitely not least good news of the day, I finally got my right shoulder healed. After an operation I had to remove a sebaceous cyst I got my rotator cuff restricted. I visited a couple of doctors and fortunately soon I discovered they were clueless before spending more money (I'm all into doctors, don't get me wrong). So I spent time searching online plus ask advise from my friend Makis Gioulis who, being a top notch drummer, has faced such and even worst challenges. I did exercises for months and now after almost 2 years this thing is almost gone. To be honest I mostly feel like it healed itself rather than than I help it that much (definitely avoided things to make it worse) but super glad I didn't spent time and money on more doctors, unnecessary exams, cortisone and such. I can now reach my left hand with my right one behind my back again!
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