What a trip, what an adventure and what a marathon. Our road trip, which consisted of an all day hop through France and Switzerland before winding our way through the hairpins of the northern Italy warrants a write -up all to itself! So let’s concentrate on day 2 of the trip – the marathon itself.
We were out taking some pictures of the lake before dawn broke and could already tell that it was going to be a magical run, albeit a challenging one. The scenery was stunning, made all the more so by the mist gradually lifting from the lake as the sun got up. After a “runners” breakfast which included bread, honey, tea and coffee we were ready for the off. As usual all our ‘planning’ (and I use the term loosely) was pretty rudimentary – a quick scan of Google Earth – water..check, green space… check, exciting & different place … check, but we had some really good advice form the brilliant Hotelier, Mattia, who said we could run right along the shoreline in a 10k loop. Despite October drawing to a close, it was already pleasantly warm in the sun as we pounded along the lakeside path, marvelling at the views and trying not to stop every few minutes to take yet more photos and videos. We passed some magical sights – old buildings with gardens stretching down nearly to the waters edge, fish strung out on wires drying in the sun and rickety old bridges that looked as though they wouldn’t take our weight and give way at any moment. We were well into our stride now and before we knew it the path had petered out and it was time to retrace our steps.
We came to the end of the loop and then it was decision time – we could either re-do the loop, after all there was so much to take in, or we could venture off into the unknown and head towards the hills. With Marlena leading the way there was never really a choice – a trip into the unknown of course! We wound our way towards the top of the lake and then crossed a busy road (perhaps giving us a precursor for what was in store later when we tackled Milan in the rush hour – but that’s another story!) before heading down a deserted road towards a little village which seemed to consist only of a tiny hotel and lots of half finished dilapidated little houses. A quick pit stop for water in the hotel bar and we headed towards the hills.
It was really warm now and the path was steep but we were rewarded with some stunning views over the whole of Lake Como in one direction and towards the mountains at the head of the valley in the other. Marlena took some stunning photos which we will upload to our Flickr stream later. We reached the summit and then turned for base down a narrow switch back road with yet more spectacular views. As we got back to base we checked our watches – perfect a final 10k loop along the shoreline would see us home and that is exactly how it turned out.
The job done, we headed back to the hotel to see our friend Mattia and after a restorative cup of tea we reflected on the run – we were both feeling fantastic after what was a truly epic and spectacular day with some amazing scenery and perfect running trails with plenty of variety. The Lake Como experience was a big thumbs up for us and we would be back again soon for sure!
Click on the icon below to see a video of the whole amazing experience!
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