[Banana finger]

I know its a bit late but im off to magic wood this thurs, getting into bergamo at 930. Im gonna hire a car n drive to the woods so i just thought i'd see on the off chance if anyone's in the area at the time n wants a lift......
Peace

[Jim]

Book car hire now. you'll struggle (read:more chance of winning lottery) to book one there and then.
No Joke

[Somebody's Fool]

It sounds like you would do well to listen to the pater jimilias on this occasion.  When a dense loner was relaying the story of the car hire people he was cursing like you would not believe.

For such a mild mannered man to react so strongly, his treatment at the hands of those car hire receptionists must have been dispicable.

[Jim]

This was not the first time either. first time we ever went they screwed up the car hire and we tried to get a different one from all the companies and they were all booked out. fortunately we got a taxi to a hotel, had beers, a comfortable nights sleep then got car next day and got it all for free
Sweet!

[Banana finger]

Book car hire now. you'll struggle (read:more chance of winning lottery) to book one there and then.
No Joke

Cheers for the word of warning but i booked my car last week. Got it from argus car hire. Thought i was getting a pretty good deal untill i found out about the 'young person's charge' which is basically if you're under 25 they bung on an extra 6 euro per day! The cheeky sods, even though ive been driving for 6 years man n boy, someone who's over 25 n has been driving for 2 years doesn't get it! Is this a common thing in europe? Its an outrage!

[Jim]

a common thing with car hire companies and also insurance companies.
Youth = more risk

[mowern]

Off to MW in a couple of weeks, flying to Bergamo and have car booked.
Does anyone know about the window sticker (tax type thing) that is needed to drive in Switzerland. Can the car hire place in Italy provide this, is it only needed for motorways.......... and how much is it?

[Jim]

You only need to buy this is you cross the border on the main road and you buy it on the border crossing. Its 30 euro's.
If you want to avoid paying this go the splugen pass way. ie through lecco and over the mountains.
It takes approximately 20 minutes longer this way and is all hairpin bends. Some good scenery as well

[dobbin]

You only need to buy this is you cross the border on the main road and you buy it on the border crossing. Its 30 euro's.
If you want to avoid paying this go the splugen pass way. ie through lecco and over the mountains.
It takes approximately 20 minutes longer this way and is all hairpin bends. Some good scenery as well

Complete lies. You'd have to drive like Colin Macrae after a three day long speed binge to reduce the time difference to a mere 20 minutes (its a full hour for mortals). It is very pretty and does feature hairpin bends heavilly however.

[dave]

that road is well brown. its so twisty Cofe pretty much didn't need to use the windscreen at all.

We gets to the border at the top, through the italics, over the top and down to the swiss side. Swiss border guard motions for us to stop. We hand him the passports.

Guard: "Where are you heading?"
Cofe: "Switzerland".

No shit.

Genius.

[RASTATA]

Its also good to know that the border on Splugen pass is open only till midnight.

[John Cooke]

Has anyone good knowledge on cheap car hire? Flying into Geneva.

The people driving will be over 25 so don't have to worry about that one.

[neil h]

i will be driving down there, mid of next week, but going over to mellobloco area for a few weeks, might have space in car if anyone needs lift

[LucyB]

Apologies for hijacking the thread...

I'm out in mello next week, flying back friday but I may not have a lift back to the airport. Has anyone gone from mello to bergamo on public transport? Is it easy, and about how long would it take?

Cheers,
Lu

[Jim]

If you can get to milan train station ok, there is a bus that goes straight to bergamo for 7 euro's. takes about an hour tops

[Nibile]

i found out that there are a few trains from bergamo to thusis, thats quite close (20ish kms) to the boulders. theres one that leaves at noon and arrives at 20,30 so prolly useful for those who fly into bergamo.
hope this helps.

[LucyB]

Thanks Nibs,

We've compromised, we're going to leave Thurs night and stay in Milan - the driver was really keen to take his son there, but I didn't want to lose a days climbing! I'm quite looking forward to it, do you know the city? Anything I really should do/ see in just one morning?

[Nibile]

just one morning?
i hate milan. its full of posers. it has the biggest surf club in italy and is hundreds of miles from the first rideable spot.
i would sleep til late and have a good breakfast.
im leaving friday morning with the van.

[LucyB]

  Thank you for your advice! I'll go for the rest and good breakfast. I'll try not to think too much about the mornings climbing I could have had in Val di Mello instead.

Getting psyched for being there, though!  I hear it's pretty hot over there, will have to go for morning and evening sessions.

Lu.

[Nibile]

the (insane) mind is a powerful tool.
despite feeling a bit tired in todays hot and humid weather, the thought of magic wood approaching gave me energy to clock in a powerful session.
very happy.