Of course she knows the way. But she will never, ever set foot on it again. Carmen swore this back in the 1960s, when the more convenient road was finally completed. Until then, there was only the old mule track from Domaso to Livo: 450 metres of steep ascent on bumpy cobblestones. As a child, she had to stumble up and down it several times a day. It was awful, says the owner of the campsite, and she doesn't know any locals who mourn those "good old days".
But there is this old network of paths Around Lake Como, an old network of paths branches out in the mountains. These mule tracks - or "mulattiere" as they are called in Italy - were once the only connections between the communities. The paths were painstakingly carved into the mountainside by hand using dry stone walls. Many are still in good condition today and are being maintained again - a playground for mountain bikers!
You can download the GPS data below.
These are the five top tours for mountain bikers on Lake Como:
Tour 1: Grotto-Dangri tour, 23.1 km/607 metres in altitude, riding time 2:15 h
Fitness: 2/5
Riding technique: 4/5
Panorama: 5/5
Difficulty: medium
Tour 2: San Bartolomeo, 22.3 km/1021 metres in altitude, riding time 3 h
Fitness 4/5
Riding technique 5/5
Panorama 5/5
Difficulty: difficult
Tour 3: Monti di Vercana, 18.9 km/900 vertical metres, riding time 2:40 h
Fitness: 3/5
Riding technique: 3/5
Panorama: 5/5
Difficulty: medium
Tour 4: Santa Anna Trail, 16.3 km/700 metres in altitude, riding time 2:05 h
Fitness: 2/5
Riding technique: 2/5
Panorama: 4/5
Difficulty: easy-medium
Tour 5: Passo il Giovo, 40.6 km/1550 m elevation gain, riding time 4:30 h
Fitness: 5/5
Riding technique: 3/5
Panorama: 5/5
Difficulty: medium-difficult
You can read the detailed travel story about Lake Como from BIKE 5/2014 in the BIKE app (iTunes and Google Play) or the issue in the DK-Shop reorder:
