Showing posts with label Lombardy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lombardy. Show all posts

Friday, January 15, 2010

San Pietro al Monte


Maddie, Mr. Bentley and me
January 2nd, the first excursion of the new year.

Weather was wonderful although there was a strong and cold wind.
At the exit "Civate-Oggiono-Lecco lake" of the highway SS36, you follow for Civate and pretty soon you meet the brown signs directing to "Abbazia di San Pietro al Monte". At a certain point you drive on via del Pozzo. At the hairpin

Lake Annone-Oggiono
bend, the straight, narrow road (at left) becomes forbidden for non-residents. After the curve there is plenty of space to park your car.
Here the hike starts on the residents-only road, signed with trail marker #10. After the last buildings of the village you enter the forest in an area named "Valle dell'Oro" (the reference is not to the precious metal ["Oro" in italian means "Gold"], but it comes from the latin "oris", or water-source, in fact there are some fountains along the path). The path is well kept, paved with stones, and it is very easy, if not for the annoying wind and for being a little out of shape.
At the end you reach a slope a little steeper, where you can already see the walls of the abbey.
Over here you find an incredible place: it looks almost extraordinary that they wanted to build such a building right in this spot.

There are written proofs of the existence of the abbey till IX century, although it looks that it was built much before. The complex is composed by the

Resegone
wonderful St. Peter church and St. Benedict oratory, right next to a meadow that invites you to lay down in the warmth of the sun. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the church was closed (it's open 9 to 12am and 1.30 to 4pm). In the facade of the church there is a beautiful portico that opens on a view of mount Resegone on the left and lake Annone-Oggiono on the right.

From this point the trail follows, uphill, entering the forest again. We, instead, after a stop for some photos, traced our steps down the same path.
One of the first houses encountered going down is an attractive restaurant, "Il Crotto del Capraio" that was unfortunately closed. It looks like one needs a reservation...




Outward:
  • Time: 1:02
  • Distance: 2.81km [1.75mi]
  • Difference of level: 345m [1132'] (364m [1194'] uphill, 19m [62'] downhill)
  • Altitude: 323m [1060'] to 696m [2283']

  • Backward (on the same path):
  • Time: 0:51
  • GPS track of the excursion.
    A: Start point of path #10; B: Crotto del Capraio; C: San Pietro al Monte abbey

    Friday, December 11, 2009

    Where the hell is that wooden stairway?


    Buco del Piombo
    October 11th, 2009
    We leave the dogs at home and head out for nice excursion. We found some informations on the net to reach the "scala di legno" [wooden stairway] from Capanna Mara (a refuge), but we decide to hike the path backwards. We park the car at Albavilla, next to a strange building, the "Alpe del vicerè". This building was built infact by the vicerè [the viceroy], as a rest station for his horses. The building then was transformed to a hotel and now it is just a ruin falling apart. Here there is a huge parking lot, closed by a barrier (it looks like when it is open there is a fee to pay). Anyway, there is enough space at the side of the white road.
    From here the path starts on a carriage road downhill, in the chestnut forest. A lot of people hike this path, maybe for the easiness of the hike, and for the attractive of the destination. The path, infact, ends up at a rocky stairway with 200 steps that takes you to the Buco del Piombo museum. It is a cave where they provide guided visits. To enter you have to pay five euros, but our destination is another. We ask the

    View of the path coming from Erba
    directions to the guide, who is waiting at the ticket shop, for the path to go to the Scala di Legno and Scala di Ferro [iron stairway]. They are connections between two paths at different altitude. I already was imagining myself with shaking legs due to my dislike to extreme heights, although the guide reassures us about its safety. After the stairways there should be a terrific view of the "Orrido di Caino".

    Following the directions of the guide, we go back on our steps and take from the main carriage road a detour that takes us to a stone bridge ("ponte Romano"). Over here the path divides in three directions. The first one, just before the bridge, looks like going back to the Alpe del Vicerè, along an alternative path. We see coming from a second path some people that tell us they are coming from the city of Erba. Next to the bridge there is a trail marker pointing to a third path, but unfortunately it doesn't indicate any "Scala di Legno". We follow anyway this alternative, but after a while, coasting the river, the path arrives to a dead end just after a ford.
    A little disappointed we decide to go back, with the intention to try again another time, maybe following better the directions from the web.
    Round trip:
  • Time: 3:47
  • Distance: 17.1km [10.63mi]
  • Difference of level: 666m [2185']
  • Altitude: between 442m [1450'] and 864m [2835']
  • GPS track of the excursion.
    A: Alpe del Vicerè; B: Buco del Piombo; C: ponte 'Romano'; D: ford
    Statistics of all the excursions during year 2009:
  • Total time: 30:20
  • Distance: 118.39km [73.56mi]
  • Difference of level: 6188m [20302']
  • Minimum altitude: 343m [1125']
  • Maximum altitude: 1550m [5085']
  • Thursday, June 18, 2009

    At Somana, on the Sentiero del Fiume

    [The Path of the River]

    June 2nd, 2009.


    Little waterfall with an inviting pond

    Another waterfall
    After Somana (LC), up to the first hairpin bend, there's a crossing with via dell'Acqua Bianca ["White Water road"], start-point of a wonderful excursion. Here there are clear indications for homonimous Bed and Breakfast. There is also a parking lot, but it is really small, and when we arrived it was already full. Going back downhill we finally found a space for the car, adding an extra piece of hike on the asphalted road. As soon as we parked the car we met a nice old man who upon seeing our preparations (backpack, hiking boots, knee-pads, hiking sticks and waterbottle) all of the sudden asked, in a kind of teasing tone, "Where are you going at this time of the day?" (as if to say - at 11am isn't it a bit late to start an excursion?). "Eh, we wanted to go up to the waterfall!" - "Ah, the Sentiero del Fiume! That's ok, at least there should be some shade!". Actually good thing that a good part of the path is in the forest, because the sun that day, was really burning. "Be careful!" he warned, "you'll probably encounter some biscie..." [A biscia is a small, harmless grass-snake in italian country sides]. Now, Grandpa was beginning to be a little too much... "Hey, this way you'll frighten my wife!", I say, to lighten the mood, "...then she'll change her mind and she'll not be wanting to go up anymore". "Oh, well...", he smiles, "you have the sticks to chase them away!", he tries, a little clumsily, to encourage her.
    To tell the truth, R. was not frightened at all. Grandpa waves wishing us a good hike. We won't meet any terrible monster (anyway, what's wrong with biscie?). Later we will laugh for his thoughtful suggestions.

    Unfortunately Maddie recently broke a crossed ligament and that day she was waiting for the operation. Now she is recuperating and, even if everything will be ok, she still has to wait few months before she'll be able to hike again. Thus, this time she stayed home, and Mr. Bentley decided the same for keeping her company. Good thing, since in some points the path would have been impassable for them.

    Entering via dell'Acqua Bianca you can find the first signs, with trail marker n. 15B pointing

    I, climbing on a point with chains
    to "Sentiero del Fiume" that, along with the red dots painted on the rocks, were a constant help to find our way. The asphalted road, after the last houses of the village, slowly descends on a carriage road. Here we met some animals (donkeys and goats) in a corral. Soon the carriage road becomes a small path and in the ups and downs, it arrives to the level of the river. Here it starts the most scenic part of the excursion, that coast the river and crosses it several times in easy fords. Here you find also some little waterfalls flowing in small ponds, so much tempting that i was almost ready to dive in.

    one of the many fords
    The hike, in some points, then becomes more difficult. Impossible to pass some tracts without clinging to the chains nailed to the rocks for that purpose. To tell the truth it's not that terrible an experience, if not for somebody like me that suffer for dizzy spells. Once one hangs to the chains it is pretty easy, but the cliff, in some points about a dozen meters high, was not encouraging at all.
    The hardest part of the climb is when we arrived to the bottom of the wonderful waterfall Cascata di Era. The path is very steep, the top of the cascade, where path n. 15B ends up crossing with n. 15.
    Going right from here, within another fifteen minutes we could go to Alpe di Era (mountain farmhouses) where there is also a small chapel. We cut this part and went back to Somana following the yellow dots along path n. 15. This part of the excursion, more flat, is much easier than the outward. This path dominates, on one side, the canyon where the river flows, and in some points it is possible to see the path 15B we covered before, much lower on the other side.

    Niche at one station of the Cross
    All of the sudden there is a little church with some rooms that volunteers run as a refreshment point, collecting money for the maintainance of the chapel. Thirsty, we stop by for a coke (the one-liter waterbottle has been dried up a long time before!).
    After a quick visit to the cool interior of the church we restart our hike. The last part is a very long descent on irregular steps, marked at intervals by the stations of the Way of the Cross (that, going down, we cover backwards). The path terminates on the main road, at one hairpin bend after the crossing with via dell'Acqua Bianca.

    The excursion, although long and hard, doesn't have insuperable difficulties, apart the small tracts with chains. The 15B is anyway labeled with a double E (Expert Excursionists). Since the river can have sudden floods, it is not advisable if there is the risk of rain. Because of the frequent fords (we got water till the ankles) it is suggested to wear waterproof hiking boots.
    Outward:
  • Time: 2:41
  • Distance: 15.5km [9.63mi]
  • Difference of level: 591m [1939'] (1146m [3760'] uphill and 555m [1821'] downhill)
  • Altitude: from 343m [1125'] to 934m [3064']
  • Backward:
  • Time: 2:06
  • Distance: 8.16km [5.07mi]
  • Difference of level: -591m [-1939'] (214m [702'] uphill and 805m [2641'] downhill)
  • Altitude: from 934m [3064'] to 343m [1125']
  • GPS track of the excursion.
    In red the outward on path n. 15B, in yellow the backward on n. 15.
    A: parking lot; B-C: Era waterfall; D: chapel-refreshment
    Cumulative statistics of the 5 excursions from the beginning of this year:
  • Total time: 16:31
  • Distance: 58.39km [36.28mi]
  • Difference of level: 3646m [11962']
  • Minimum altitude: 343m [1125']
  • Maximum altitude: 1550m [5085']
  • Monday, April 20, 2009

    From Ballabio to Soldanella refuge through Val Grande

    One of our favorite sources of information for hiking excursions is the Diska's, which accurately describes an impressive number of mountain hiking paths in our area. Also, for the excursion we made on Monday the 13th we referred to that website.

    The path climbs Grignetta mount to a hundred+ year old refuge. Some maps, including Kompass n. 91, list the old name "rifugio Cavalletti" (Kompass n. 105 that overlap n. 91 on that area, instead the new name "Soldanella").


    mount Grignetta; the glacier
    that gives birth to Grigna river
    Coming from Lecco by car we reach Ballabio after the new tunnel. At the roundabout, drive for Piani Resinelli, and following the main road you reach Ballabio Superiore. Here there is a little parking lot at left and the skinny road Via Grigna, that follows the homonymous stream, on the right. This is the starting point of the excursion. We left the car a little before.

    The path begins on a carriage road open to local car traffic, but not far after a little bridge, it starts to climb on a path in the forest. Except for a couple of points it is easy to find the right way because at every fork or the wrong path, there is a clear marker pointing "piani Resinelli".

    The first doubtful intersection is when you exit from the woods, where you'll find another carriage road. Here you must go left uphill. The road changes direction soon (because it is closed by a chain), and re-enters the woods on a steep slope at right. At a certain point the vegetation starts to thin away and you reach a meadow where you can enjoy a scenic landscape both at right and left.
    This is the second doubtful point. After the meadow we reached a mountain house, where we asked for directions. Maddie made friends with their dog. Mr. Bentley barked to the "enemies" that didn't belong to his pack. The lady indicated the refuge, a white house that looked very close (but sometimes what you see is not what you get!). The lady explained the path for us, but she forgot one fork, where we decided to go left, passing next to a scenic waterfall (the other option looked like connecting to our choice a little above).
    After the waterfall, the path goes to a steep slope and asks for one last effort. That's the strain of the first excursion of the season! Finally we reached the top next to a villa where four young people were enjoying a rest, shattering the peace of the mountain with loud music. We asked a confirmation on directions.

    Just after the villa we were surprised to notice around us a place crowded enough that can also be reached by car (Piani Resinelli). Here i managed in hiding myself from a particularly sassy female colleague that i see refreshed and rested coming out from a car with some friends, all well dressed with designer hiking boots, clothes and backpack. Fortunately they didn't stop at the refuge! At the refuge we rested with a good bottle of water and a plate of cured meats.

    The excursion doesn't have any particular difficulty, if not for the fact we were coming from months of lacking physical exercise. This past winter in fact, the weather was so ugly we were not able to make any true excursions on the snow.

    The return was definitely easier.
    GPS track record:
    A: start point; B: waterfall; C: refuge
    Outward:
  • Time: 2:30
  • Distance: 4.04km [2.5mi]
  • Difference of level: 645m [2116'] (659m [2162'] uphill and 14m [46'] downhill)
  • Altitude: 715m [2346'] to 1359m [4787']

  • Backward (on the same path):
  • Time: 1:53
  • Friday, January 30, 2009

    The Giubiana 2009

    ...E sicome la stabilìss la legg quaranta dal voccént-sesantòtt
    che dopo 'l procèss gh'è la lugànega e 'l risòtt,
    la sentenza a la fin la pö vess pronunziada:
    la Giubiana, stasira, ca la sia brusada!

    ...And since law 49 of year 1868 decretes
    that after the process there is the sausage and the risotto,
    the sentence at the end can be pronounced:
    let the Giubiana, tonite, be burnt!
    (From the Sentence of the Process to Giubiana)

    The Giubiana and the executioner
    Also this year, as in the last, we went to the folk event of the Giubiana of Canzo, that happens every year on the last Thursday of January.

    They stage a process for an old witch (the Giubiana) who symbolizes the evils of the past year. But there won't be any surprise in the sentence: at the end the Giubiana will be judged guilty and so condemned to the stake.
    The ceremony opens with the parade of some characters of popular alpine tradition that in procession, brings the old woman to the main square. Once there, the process is celebrated in strict local dialect (so strict that, although a Lombard since several generations, I have a hard time understanding).


    Mr. Bentley
    Particularly worth mentioning are the words of the first witness for the defense. She asserts that the charges (year by year the bad news: this year the economy, the high rated loans, the increase of unemployment, the wars in the Middle East...) are not, strictly speaking, to be imputed to the Giubiana like a scapegoat, but to ourselves, as constituted matter of this society in which all those evils generated.
    The spirit of the event is to accept the past and restart with optimism. The stake of the Giubiana is in fact a propitiatory rite for the year just begun, in the awareness that we are the authors of our own destiny.

    The words of the final wills, written by the Giubiana, and read by a loyal friend, the gossip lady of the village, threaten evils also for the next year, and represent the consciousness that it won't be for the propitiatory rite that our future will ever change. So, the stake is the symbol of our acceptance of destiny, but also the commitment to improve. The Giubiana in fact promises to rise just after the stake, to reappear, in one year, as the renewed sacrificial lamb.

    After the process, Maddie was excited, but Mr. Bentley (much more shy) was frightened for the confusion and noise. "Fajah, let's go home please" he tells me with that baritone voice (Mister Bentley speaks in American English, often mixed with some Hawaiian Pidgin expressions).
    So we preferred to forgo the burning at the stake and the typical risotto with sausage and vin brülé (hot spicey wine) and we went back home.

    Thursday, November 27, 2008

    Pass Pertüs and mount Ocone

    After a couple of days with a strong wind, the cold coming from north, Sunday was promising a very clear day.
    Maddie and Mr. Bentley were already excited when i was still clung to a nice dream. "C'mon, Fajah, wake up and let's go for a hike!" they incited me shaking my arm with their front paws, dangling tongues and standing ears.
    Still snuggling under the covers, i first open one eye, but i close it back all of the sudden, pretending to ignore them. But they insist. Howling and barking they convince me that it's time to start the day.
    The sun is not yet risen from behind the mountain, but the sky is really clear. Let's go, then.

    Mr. Bentley
    I open the door and let them out in the garden for their morning pennies to spend. One freezing wind blast almost convince me to go back to my bed. But the word is done, it's a matter of honor, now.

    Maddie
    With a quick talk we decide to follow a path that is the natural continuation of the one that climbs up mount Tesoro. Infact if from the end point of that excursion you continue on the same path, you reach, at Forcella Alta, a parking lot in a panoramic view point next to a hotel, a couple of houses and a little lake (frozen) used to water the oxes.
    In this point, reached by car (i drove), there is the start point of this excursion. Some people (not really sporting looking) is there to shoot photos and to buy mountain cured meats and cheeses from the usual merchant on his van.
    Maddie and Mr. Bentley are already very excited, while i am still a little regretting my cozy pillow... but stop dillydellying now, lets go!
    The hike starts on a dirt road that after a few ends up in a wood. Then the path is not very clear, but there are visible signs of red and white paint on the trees. The difficult thing, in this season, is due to the dry leaves on the brushwood that completely hide the harshnesses of the ground under, which thing makes it easy to subside with an ankle between two rocks.
    Maddie and Mr. Bentley had the worst of it, and some times they looked almost drown in the leaves accumulations.
    Soon, anyway, the woods opens in a nice meadow, where you must coast the ridge next to the valley. Then you go back in another wood (the path now is more clear) where you meet some buildings used in the past for fowling. You reach then a disused convent which

    View from the peak of mount Ocone.
    From the bottom you can see the lakes of Garlate,
    Oggiono, Annone, Pusiano and Alserio.
    The highest snowy peak in the background is mount Rosa
    little church is being renovated. From there it starts another dirt road that goes down very steep, but we follow the signs towards pass Pertüs (in the local dialect this name means "narrow opening"), and infact after about ten minutes we reach a little bridge that links the two faces of the pass. Here there are some other ruins of structures used in the past for catching migrating birds, activity that is well described on some uselful display signs.
    Till this point the path was entirely in a light descent and enough easy, but now it begins the steep ascent to the peak of mount Ocone. Sometimes the dogs aren't able to jump up to the rocks and i have to help them, obtaining in change wide licks as thanks. After twenty minutes uphill here we are finally on the peak. A breathtaking sight. I shot a set of photos and i put them together with Photomerge of Photoshop to create a 360 degrees panoramic picture (click on the photo to enlarge).
    It is very cold, every pond we meet is completely frozen, but right for that reason the air is really clear enough to see mount Rosa on one side and the Piacenza's hills after Milan on the other. In the panoramic photo, the peak that look higher, on the left, just after the TV antennas at Valcava, is mount Tesoro.

    Ten minutes of rest, Maddie, Mr. Bentley and me, snuggling each other listening an almost deafening silence, contemplating the rest of the worlds, just under there.

    The way back on the same path, in the opposite direction.
    • Total time: 2:09 (1:22 ro go, 0:53 to come back)
    • Round trip distance: 5.3km [3.3mi]
    • Difference of level: 20m [66'] (140m [459'] downhill, 160m [525'] uphill)
    • Altitude: from 1305m [4281'] to 1325m [4347']
    GPS track:
    A: Peak of Mount Tesoro; B: Little lake of Forcella Alta; C: Convent; D: Pass Pertüs E: Peak of Mount Ocone

    Monday, October 20, 2008

    Mount Tesoro


    Mr. Bentley

    view along the path
    There it goes another weekend as a single guy (R. went for a period to her homeland). Saturday it was a cloudy day, and i used it to make some shopping and some works in the house, which maybe i will tell you about in another post. Ah, and i also planned some other works for the day after.
    Yesterday morning i woke up early enough and, as a first thing, i looked out of the window. It was still a little dark, but i could see the sky completely clear, in the crisp air. I decided for a change of program, and all of the sudden i called a family meeting.
    "Pack mates, did you see what a beautiful day? What about a hike up to the mountains?" - Mr. Bentley started jumping enthusiastically left and right, and with his baritone voice: "Oh yes, Fajah..." (Mr. Bentley and Maddie call me "Fajah" because... Well, let's not start with digressions... maybe i will tell you about this story another time). "Oh yes, Fajah, let's go hiking, you and me, and leave home the stupid girls. We are boys and we always gotta stick together. Then we could also stop for a beer someplace..." (Mr. Bentley is a little male-chauvinist, actually...) Maddie instead doesn't take me seriously, and, irritatedly swinging her eyes goes: "You are really dumb, Mr. Bentley, Fajah is not serious... Majah is not here, and everybody knows you stupid boys give up soon for laziness and you stay all day with your butts on the couch and a beer can in your hands watching the soccer match." (Majah, obviously, is R.).

    Maddie at the peak of the mountain
    So i took the floor to clarify. "No, no, i am very serious" i reassured Maddie, who begun to wag her tail: "Fo... fo... for really?!?" "For really!" I tell her, and then, to Mr. Bentley: "we ALL go to make a hike... as for the beer, maybe we can speak about it later". Mr. Bentley, a little deluded, but still excited for the hike: "Mmmmh... mmmmh... stupid girls... okay, Fajah"

    So, i decide to give up with the home works, backpack on my shoulders, full water bottle, hiking boots, hiking sticks, GPS and photo camera (Mr. Bentley and Maddie, who go much lighter, always look to me with curiosity in this preparatory stage), and go, for a short excursion, just ten minutes by car from home.

    Olginate and Garlate lakes
    (bulges of the Como lake, at south of Lecco)
    With R. and Maddie (Mr. Bentley was not born yet!) i already made this excursion in a snowy day, following then for a much longer distance on a path that, from south, approaches the southern slope of mount Resegone. This time, with the pack, we were happy with the ascent till the little chapel at the top of Mount Tesoro. In my memory the path was longer, maybe the snow did make it much more difficult.
    Walking in the snow is really very nice, and it gives a strong sense of silence and peace. In the fall, instead, colors are really touching, from deep green to yellow and red of the leaves, to the brown of the undergrowth, in contrast to the limpid blue of the sky. This path, following the ridge, has views both on the Adda river valley of Lecco, on one side, and Orobie Alps of Bergamo on the other.

    It is impossible get lost. The car can be parked in a little lot next to the hairpin bend (shown on the map). The path to take is well marked with arrows to "Monte Tesoro". After a couple of hundreds yards there is a fork on a mule path. This is the only tricky point (in fact we took the wrong way, ending up at a private property). A left must be taken, but just after the fork there is the start point of the path, a little hidden, towards right. The path is partially in the woods, partially on the rocks, til a first peak, where there is the stick for a flag, then it goes down for few feet and then up again till a higher peak with the little chapel of the Alpine soldiers, the war memorial, a little cemetery and a little heliport for the alpine aids. Time for some photos and back at once by the same way.
    At noon we were already back home, and in the afternoon i also managed to make all the works i planned. Efficient eh?

    other views of the path
    • Total time: 1:42 (about half an hour of walk uphill and twenty minutes downhill plus the rest break)
    • Covered distance: 3.94km [2.45mi] (round trip)
    • Difference of level: 115m [377feet] (214m [702feet] uphill, 99m [325feet] downhill)
    • Altitude: from 1301m [4268feet] to 1416m [4646feet]
    GPS track
    A: parking at the hairpin bend; B: peack of Mount Tesoro; C: Olginate lake; D: Garlate lake

    Tuesday, September 30, 2008

    Strada Régia


    View on the lake
    Here is another path we hiked some times ago.
    On one side i liked it a lot, because it is in the forest and it offest here and there some suggestive lookouts on the Lake of Come (of the best part of it!).
    On the other side i don't like the fact that it can be very busy. We didn't actually found a big lot of people, but it is clear that the path, also for the easyness, it is very popular.
    We had tried it already some months before, but for some back-ache of mine, we gave up.

    Como funicolar railway station can be easily reached by train. We went by car. A suggestion is to leave the car at the parking next to the "Fontanone" (it's a big pitoresque fountain). The fee for that parking is much less than the other parkings of the area (with few euros one can leave the car for the whole day).
    It is forbidden, in Brunate municipality, to drive on SUV cars, but i would suggest not to go even with small cars. The roads are very narrow, but the main problem is the parking.
    The funicular consists of two wagons that leave contemporarily one from Brunate and the other from Como, at every hours and halves. Their path is, for both of the wagons, on the same rail, which double in the middle to allow them to cross each other.

    Pietra Pendula
    When arrived to Brunate you walk on the road that, from the steps of the station, goes towards right. After few hundreds yards, after a left turn well signed, you arrive to the ground and finally, after coasting it, there is the start point of the hiking path named "Strada Regia" (="Royal Path").
    The path is well kept by the local volunteer service and it doesn't have any big difficulties. It is almost completely downhill, and anyway the slope is never too steep, but it is very long. On the left of the path, from Brunate all the way to Montepiatto, you can enjoy a lot of views on the lake.
    About at the half to the path there is a little church, where some benches offer a good occasion for a break.
    Once reached Montepiatto follow the indications for the Church, which little square looks like a balcony, hundreds of feet on the lake. All around the square there is a little path to Pietra Pendula, a weird rock that looks like a contest to the gravity forces.
    At Montepiatto it begins the descent, kind of steep (and so a little hard), even if on a path well settled with steps. This path takes you to the town of Torno, where you can go back to Como by bus or by boat. We preferred this last option, really more suggestive. The boat stops about every half an hour (the exact time schedule can also be found at the funicular station) and, from Torno, after a couple of stops, you reach Como pier, not far from the funicolar station.

    More infos on this path at R's blog
    • Time taken: 4:11 (except the boat ride).
    • Difference of level (from Brunate to the lake): 581m [1906feet] (the lake is at 143m [469feet] altitude above sea level)
    • Covered distance: 28.3km [17.6mi] (excluded the boat ride).
    GPS track:
    in green the part on the funicolar, in read the hike, in yellow the navigation.
    A: Como funicolar station; B: Brunate funicolar station; C: "Strada Regia" path start point; D: Chapel for the break; E: Montepiatto church; F: Pietra Pendula; G: Start of the last steep descent; H: Torno pier; I: Como pier