Walking through the villages at the base of Monte Gambarogno

November 30, 2019 -- Final hike of the month on a sunny day. At this time of year and throughout the winter, our hikes aren't so much about distance, but rather about enjoying sunshine and discovering new places and something beautiful, such as artwork or clever architecture, or some interesting trail without snow that one can still walk on.

Back near Locarno we are finding it harder and harder to find trails we haven't walked yet. We probably should rather have "repeated" a hike in the sunshine again, but we chose the shady side of Monte Gambarogno, i.e. on the East side of Lago Maggiore, because there were villages here we hadn't discovered yet. And although it was the shady side of the hill, because we started at noon, we still got some late fall sunshine mixed with shade, and it wasn't really cold at all. 

We started at the Italian border again, across the lake from Brissago (a recent hike where we started at the border there as well), and walked up the hill to a village called Scaiano, from where we walked northward parallel to the lake, taking lots of time to discover several villages before descending to Gerra on the lake. Total walking time should have been about two hours, but we took much longer, walking up and down the alleyways and taking breaks in the sun. 

On the bus ride along the East side of Lago Maggiore, heading to the Italian Border. On the opposide side is Brissago, where we recently did a similar hike.

Heading under the railway line to hike up a steep and slippery trail to Scaiano (20 minutes)

With the recent rains and this being the shady side of the hill, the trail was quite wet and we had to step carefully.

Once we got to Scaiano, we had some sunshine as there is a perfectly situated side valley here, where the sunshine reaches through to this village

In front of the village church we found a bench exactly in the sun's path, so this is where we had lunch. Plus we wanted to wait till the villages on this side of the hill got a bit more sunshine. In the back across the lake is Locarno

Zoomed view of the church at Sant'Abbondio, which we will pass along the way. 

Village of Scaiano

View across Lago Maggiore to Brissago

Walking up and down the alleyways in Scaiano, enjoying the sunshine even on this shady side of the hill!

 

In many of these villages there is a huge communal washing fountain

 

Down the road from Scaiano is the next village called Caviano (and the next one over, called Sant'Abbondio with its church on the hill)

 

Walking up and down the alleyways in Caviano

We hiked up the hill a bit for a view over the village of Caviano before heading North to the next village of San Abbondio. The village on the promontory at the left is in Italy

The church in Sant'Abbondio. Here we stopped for a coffee break

 

Enjoying the sunshine and palm trees at the church in Sant'Abbondio

 

Village of Sant'Abbondio. Here we also walked to the top of the village before continuing North through a 45-minute forested section

Heading North with another view of the church at Sant'Abbondio

After 45 minutes on a very nice forest trail, we arrived above Gerra. Most of the section in the forest was in the shade, but when we got down to the village (where we caught the train) we had the last bit of afternoon sunshine.

 

Down in Gerra, this is called the "Public Beach Access".

This tree in the water was a surprise. Then we remembered that this area got lots of rain in the past couple of weeks, so the lake level must be about 30 cm higher than normal!

High lake level due to lots of rain in the past couple of weeks.

Short but interesting and pleasant (not too cold) walk along the base of Monte Gambarogno on Lake Maggiore. We started at the border with Italy, and ended in Gerra.

Hiking along the West side of Lago Maggiore meant quite a bit of late fall shade!