Four days on Lake Maggiore

"If you have a heart and a shirt, sell your shirt and visit the surroundings of Lake Maggiore"
This maxim uttered by Stendhal accurately reflects the beauty of these places. Gregory and I sold the shirt but we bought two dry suits from Mutable . With the excuse to move to withdraw we have the opportunity to paddle with friends Tatiana , Mauro, Guido and Andrea on Lake Maggiore .

In the late morning of Thursday, we reached the town of Cerro Laveno the lake and here with great pleasure we found Harry, Scotch friend and traveling companion of Maiorca.Il time for a toast and a couple of slices of panettone and kayaks were already ready for boarding. With a couple of paddle strokes we crossed the imaginary border between Lombardy and Piedmont: Lach Magiur in Lombardy, Piedmont Lägh Magior always in a subalpine lake of glacial origin is.

Passing by Pallanza , town surrounded by mountains, I doubt arose to find myself walking through mountains and hills. A slight roll of the hull immediately reminded me of being in a kayak to paddle through the mountains and villages of the past.
We chose Feriolo as the basis for our movement.
The next day we devoted to exploring the archipelago of the Borromeo Islands . In the fourteenth century Borromeo, powerful feudal lords of the area but originating in Florence, became the owners of the islands and today the family still owns the Isola Bella and Isola Madre.

On these islands were built splendid palaces and while on 'Isola Madre is a large fauna of birds on' Isola Bella there are beautiful gardens, famous throughout Europe for the treatment and the variety of plant architectures: roses, orchids, bulbous , magnolias, fruit trees, azaleas, gardenias, wisteria.

Landed on ' Isola dei Pescatori , the only permanently inhabited, although a small community of about 30 people, we had lunch surrounded by ducks that we were literally eating in hand, unaware of our thoughts "predators" against them ...!
A brief tour of the lovely country, with wisteria trees and cats with cravings for pampering.
To us there is enough hot chocolate to take to sea. While the moon peeped out behind the mountains, illuminating the lake per day, we arrived at our base camp.

Wake up to a bright day and a "sky aviation" we headed to the tube that connects the lake with Lake Maggiore Mergozzo. This too is surrounded by mountains and with a picture-postcard village.
Returning to the lake we got up the Toce , one of the major tributaries of the lake along the Ticino and the Maggia. Until 1850 the Toce was navigable up to the height of Anzola d'Ossola throughout the year and locally produced materials such as marble and granite could be transported to the Navigli in Milan and be used for the construction of palaces and churches. Example is the marble Candoglia , used for the construction of the Cathedral of Milan.

At dusk we turned the bow in favor of current and returned to the lake just in time to play hide and seek with the moon in the hills.

The last day, with a nice cut of the lake, we reached the ' Hermitage of Santa Caterina del Sasso . A monastery built on the rocky coast, consists of three buildings, dating from the fourteenth century, and currently entrusted to the custody of a community of Dominicans.

A few more paddle strokes, and we are back to square one, we always different but always after a trip, even just a few days.

A few photos: