Day 60: Lake Como to Lake Maggiore

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Leaving late, around 2.30 as Pam was trying to catch up on work we headed off towards lake Maggiore, again via the back roads, the roads around the lakes are very very narrow with many places where two cars cant pass and it is a matter of getting through when you can. Winding down lake Como we were looking for a road over the mountains, through Switzerland then over to Lake Maggiore. Getting through Lugano was a nightmare at 5.00 but we finally got some clear road towards Luino, we passed the Swiss border where we were stopped and sent onto a weighbridge. This little Swiss/Italian man then proceeded to ask us if we wanted a 3 way on the autobahn, Pam and I cracked up, we had no idea what this border guard wanted, we tried to tell him that we no understand and he finally got frustrated and sent us on through, welcome to Switzerland. Smiling all the way to Lake Maggiore we found a very nice little "sosta” on the lake front where e spent an great night with a British couple in another camper. Jill and Tony were amazing folk, they have spent around the last 10 years traveling around the world, sometimes in their little camper, sometimes backpacking, they are both in their late 60’s and have even back packed the Himalayas. A great night was had by all drinking wine and Limoncello by the lake. Talking to Gill and Tony it became clear that the border guard wanted us to buy a Vinetto, which is a Swiss pass to use the motorways as they don’t have a toll system, oh well we will just play dumb for now and worry about a pass later if we need to. The 3 way on the autobahn must have been “are you using the freeways or the autobahn”? Great camp stop but traffic in the early morning woke us early. N 46°4.40 E8°43.15

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