After a relaxing night in Lovere, the day got off to an unusual start. Parking bans had already been put up everywhere yesterday, which is why I had to re-park the old lady. The reason was quickly found: Filming.

When I looked out of the window in the morning, the set-up work was already in full swing. Trucks, technical vehicles and lots of equipment were ready. While I gathered my luggage and prepared for the day, part of Lovere slowly turned into a movie set.

As a precaution, I gave the intercom a little spa treatment. After the water drama of the past few days, I didn’t want to take any risks. So I put it in the oven for a few minutes at 50 degrees circulating air. Others bake bread rolls, I bake communication devices.

The first surprise awaited us shortly after setting off. The carabinieri had closed the road. A long queue of cars formed in front of me. Nobody spoke English, the translation app mainly produced creative gibberish and somewhere I understood something about a 30-minute wait. After about ten minutes, it suddenly moved on.

A little later it became clear why. The road led directly through the film set. While many cars were diverted, I was allowed to drive the old lady between camera cars, technical trucks, tents and production vehicles. I didn’t spot any celebrities, but the backdrop right by Lake Iseo was impressive enough.

After that it became much quieter. The route took me along smaller and smaller roads towards the mountain region above Albino. At some point, I ended up in Vall’Alta di Albino at the Santuario. High above the valley, it was suddenly quiet. After the film set, roadblock and traffic, the place seemed almost surreally quiet.

From there we continued along the so-called Strada Verde. I don’t know whether this is actually the official name or not. It was green anyway. No one in front of me. No one behind me. The roads got narrower and narrower. Some of them were steep, narrow and not in particularly good condition. Potholes, chippings, gravel and lots of tight bends meant that the old lady and I had to work hard today. We often only made progress at thirty kilometers per hour. Nevertheless, this was exactly the kind of route I like. No tourist buses, no crowds, no ticketed attractions. Just small roads that meander through the countryside.

Today, however, I had to consciously slow myself down. There was a reason to stop around almost every bend. A view. A small village. An interesting road. At the same time, the sat nav still showed over two hundred kilometers to the accommodation. So at some point it was time to drive on.

But we still had to take a break. With 21 degrees, sunshine and a light wind, the weather sounds pleasant. However, anyone who is on the road in full motorcycle gear knows that you immediately start sweating when you stop. The cappuccino made up for it: five out of five coffee cups. The Italians just know how to do it.

What I also noticed on the road: Fiat Panda. Fiat Panda everywhere. Old Pandas, new Pandas, well-maintained Pandas and Pandas that have probably seen more mountain roads than their owners. The narrower the roads became, the more the concept made sense to me.

Later, the route led me to the Passo San Marco. This pass has connected the Bergamo valleys with Valtellina for centuries. As early as the end of the 16th century, the Republic of Venice had a trade route built here. At the top, several plaques and monuments commemorate the history of the pass and the Alpini. The landscape up there was impressive. However, the clouds were getting darker and darker and already gave a hint that the day was not quite done with me yet.

I then reached Lake Como. Beautiful scenery. Rather strenuous driving. The roads were full. Buses, camper vans, cars and motorcycles were fighting their way through the towns. In some places, traffic wardens were regulating the traffic because nothing else was moving. It was there at the latest that I realized again why I prefer the small roads. The area is beautiful, no doubt about it. But this mass tourism is simply not our Pawtrail style.

There was another surprise on the coastal road. I saw the motorcyclist again that I had met a few days ago in Prad. The one with his Honda, the three weeks’ vacation and the 4500 kilometers ahead of him. With all the traffic and the many motorcycles, it was strange to suddenly see him again. I raised my hand briefly in greeting. I don’t know if he recognized me. Sometimes the world is surprisingly small.

Because at some point I got tired of stop-and-go on Lake Como, the route took me back up into the mountains towards Col di Tremezzo. According to the sat nav, this was an old military road. The road got worse and worse. Asphalt became gravel. Potholes got bigger. The clouds got darker. When I reached the top, I realized that everything was closed. So there was no food.

Instead, I met a German hiker who was there with a tent and was cooking his soup. While he wanted to spend the night up there, I preferred to make my way towards my accommodation. Shortly afterwards, the rain started.

I rode the last seventeen kilometers to Laimo in the wet. After the masses of water of the previous days, however, this was almost harmless. I finally reached my accommodation in Laimo between Lake Como and Lake Lugano in the evening.

Conclusion: Of course, places like Lake Como are impressive. But for me, memories are not made between souvenir stores, coaches and lakeside promenades. They are created on small roads where you don’t meet anyone for hours. On old military roads, on gravel paths, in places you didn’t know before and would probably never have looked for specifically. That’s exactly what Pawtrail is for me: less mainstream, fewer sights to tick off, but more nature, more adventure and more of the paths in between. Because it’s often not the big names on the map that stay in your memory, but the roads that you find by chance.