It happened! The meteorologists were right! Damn them!

I lay awake in bed overnight listening to the rain hoping it would stop. It didn’t.

I contacted the Zwift Italy group for their thoughts about a possible ferry from Bellagio to Lecco. Most thought it would be ok, space permitting for the bikes.

So we donned our thermals and wet weather gear and headed off in the rain.

It is about 15 km to Bellagio. The cars were not that frequent until we got closer to Bellagio. There were a couple of short climbs that we welcomed as it helped to warm the large leg muscles up.

The lady at the ferry station told me the ferry would be at 12 noon, take 90 minutes, but could not confirm that the bikes would be accepted until the ferry was there and the captain confirmed.

We were not sitting around for 2 hours in the rain getting colder on a ‘might be ok’ scenario.

Another option was to take a different ferry across the lake then a train to Lecco.

We decided to ride on but take a shorter route than originally planned meaning we would miss out on the Museo del Ghisallo.

The photos below, it is pouring with rain, but you just can’t see that in the photo. At that time, according to the weather reports the rate of rain was in excess of 5 mm per hour.

Leaving the waterfront we saw this old painting of the area.

Steep alleyways. We actually ended up riding above this alley on our climb out of the city.

The closer we got to Lecco the more it rained.

Our chests and arms were dry, but we were wet everywhere else. Tony had to wring the water from his gloves numerous times as he had long fingered gloves on, but I stuck with my open fingered gloves. There is less glove to get satched!

We knew that there were two long tunnels on this route and could tell from strava that it had heavy bike use.

When in the tunnels we lost satellite contact for our bike computers, hence the dead straight lines, but you can see the tunnels either side, Galleria Melgone and Galleria Pale.

Melgone is 2200 metres in length, and two lanes wide. Pare is about 1600 metres long. They are both close together so we had quite the adrenaline rush.

The sound inside the tunnel is huge as it reverberates. So a single car can be deafening, let alone a truck.

I think both are ok for cyclists if sensible. We had our rear red Garmin radar light flashing, plus we had our front lights flashing too. The tunnels are reasonably well lit.

The huge bonus of the tunnels? It did not rain on us for 4 km!

Popping out at the end is the sight of Lecco and surrounding geological formations.

We had arrived in Lecco at 11.30 am, so 30 minutes before the ferry was even leaving Bellagio. What to do in the rain ? Check in was 3 pm.

We found this large undercover area and parked the bikes. No one was sitting in the outdoor restaurant, but I did wander over to see what food I could buy.

I checked our emails and noted a message from Fabio at our accomodation asking what time we planned on checking in. I explained our situation and he responded shortly after stating that we could check in now!

Whoot woo…..but we were glamping! How would that be? We had brought our bathers as there is a beach there to swim from.

We were super cold riding the last 5 km. The puddles were enormous and there was a breeze.

We were delighted to arrive to a warm ‘tent’ complete with bathroom and warm shower. Our clothes are all dry courtesy of the air conditioner.

Huge thanks to Fabio for allowing us in early.

My daughter Hannah face timed us so I got to ‘chat’ with my granddaughter Willow. They are only a few hundred km away at Lake Garda. We get to see them in two days.

The photos below are from the Air BnB listing, obviously taken on a nicer weather day. This is a first for us using a glamping option but we have similar on Elba Island on our last week.

It is better than I expected. The bonus is that they have a bar area with food available, and Fabio’s dad prepared pasta for us and a hot drink for dinner.

Mine was nice, made from a local black pasta with vegetables.

I grabbed this as a treat, opening it to discover I could practice my Italian.

What will tomorrow bring? Seemingly an improvement in the quantity of rain, and we intend to leave here early if that is still the case in the morning. We will find some breakfast in the first 10 km or so, before our first hill climb.