Day 45+46: Biella to Stressa and Rest Day (46mi/74km and lots of climbs)

Lots of good news today - bright sunny skies, the endless PPPP (see previous post) temporarily avoided because the Giro d'Italia came through in May and so they had to repave a bunch of the roads, and a gorgeous, if busy ride overall. A little bad news / Italian lesson for Eric, the route planner... Words to avoid if planning a cycling route in Italy: monte, panarifico, comune di Alta Vertiginosa. We went through / up / over all of these today and so we're very ready for a real rest day.

First the ride... In the clear sun we could see it was mountains to the north of us more clearly. They were pretty big! The big one on the left we disagree about, but Arah thinks that's the Matterhorn.

We also found the sister city to Lexington (MO)

And the leaning tower of Pisano.

After a final grueling climb, during which Arah got a hands-on assist from a strong Italian cyclist (I was like Sandy Pittman to his Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa), we crested the hill and saw Lake Maggiore in the distance.

A three-mile brakes-on ride brought us down to the lakeside, then a steep hill back up to our lodging, B&B Serena. We couldn't bring ourselves to walk back down to the lakeside for dinner, so we found the very local and very family friendly pizza place, La Cascina. Then back to our beautiful deck with a view.

Our rest day was a true rest day, with no hiking, biking, or cultural activities. Eric had a cold coming on, and Arah had one going, so after three hard cycling days, the rest was needed.