Our Stage 1 route took us from Lake Orta, across Lake Maggiore, along Lake Lugano, across Lake Como, and the full length of the Valtellina, a name known throughout Italy for diary and meat products, including the best yoghurts, bresaola, salami and much more. For the first part of this stage we were entirely on roads, then from Colico at the north end of Lake Como we took the Sentiero Valtellina cycle path.
Our Stage 1 route passed from Piedemont to Lombardy. In terms of provinces, we cycled from Novara province, through Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, to Varese province, then into Canton Ticino (Switzerland), then the provinces of Como, Lecco on the east side of Lake Como, and Sondrio province in the Valtellina. (After Colico, still in Lecco province, we must have briefly gone back into Como province somewhere near Sant'Agata, because we later passed a sign saying we were leaving Como province and entering Sondrio province.)
Day 1 (Vacciago to Luino) is just 58km, Day 2 (Luino to Varenna) is 50km, and Day 3 (Varenna to Tirano) the longest at 93km - a day which went quickly as we cycled much of the Valtellina with Attilio, a local skiing instructor.
In terms of elevation, we started at Vacciago (just under 500m), descended down to Lake Orta (290m), and descended further to Lake Maggiore (193m) making an easy first day. From Luino on Lake Maggiore it's a gradual climb up to Lake Lugano (271m), then an overall drop down to Lake Como (198m), the final descent down hairpins to Menaggio making an exhilarating finish to day 2. In the Valtellina, Sondrio is already at 360m, and we climbed a little more to finish Stage 1 at Tirano (441m).
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