Ring of Paiedo

The right opportunity to visit its surroundings with an unprecedented overview of Valchiavenna under the gaze of the southwest face of Pizzo di Prata. In addition, for those who use a full bike-that is, one that has both front and rear forks-and have downhill skills, there is also a chance to ride a technical and fun track. Starting from the traffic circle in Era (a hamlet of the municipality of Samolaco) on the Trivulzia Provincial Road, we turn into Via Roma pointing to the parish church of Sant Andrea (210 m), uphill on the road that has become a consortium road in a beautiful chestnut and locust tree forest, we immediately encounter challenging gradients around 10 percent and after about two kilometers we come across a small chapel and a sign indicating that we have now arrived at another building dedicated to the saint of the same name: Sant'Andrea al Mot (elevation about 400 m). We follow the short turn and leave the bike on the rise dominated by an imposing horse chestnut tree and housing the church, its bell tower, the parish house, the 1821 cemetery and the ancient ruins of a castle. After the short visit is over, we resume pedaling through a succession of thickets. The climb is always challenging and is surrounded by chestnut and birch trees until we reach a small fountain located at about km 4.5 that allows us to fill our water bottle and catch our breath for a moment before the last effort. A little less than 7 km after the traffic circle we reach the pretty village of Paiedo (900 m): centuries-old stone buildings alternate with more modern ones. We get back on the bike and descend on the consortium road we have just traveled, lowering our altitude; after riding the first hairpin bend we notice on our left a dirt road that will take us to the hamlet of Santa Teresa. At first the road is easy and practicable by anyone then the route becomes more challenging for physical and technical abilities: up to Piazza Caprara (800 m) in fact the hike is within everyone's reach, neophytes included, who after reaching this small nucleus can safely backtrack and descend again following the same road used uphill. For the more experienced, it is possible to continue carrying the bike luggage up to Santa Teresa (950 m, about 20 minutes) from where begins a breathtaking descent that plunges through the woods via a narrow path to the village of Monastero.

We strongly recommend a full bike and some familiarity with the descent techniques because the bottom is very bumpy and there are numerous steep sections with no protection until about 430 m where the road becomes paved again and you can safely descend back to San Pietro.