Dear friends and followers this post is an unabashed dedication to Moto Guzzi. My Brevas have carried me faultlessly for near on 200,000km in Australia and 100,000km in Europe over the last 10 years. Many of you have followed those adventures.
Coming to Mandello in many ways is the culmination of my European Adventure. An adventure that started in 2016 and has taken me from the west coast of Ireland to the Romanian coast of the Black Sea and from the Actic Circle in Norway to the edge of the Sahara in Morocco. And so many places in between.
It was a huge celebration in Mandello. The official estimate is that 60,000 people attended the party.
A celebration of the great marque Moto Guzzi and motorcycling in general. The party had been delayed a year due to the pandemic so everyone was ready to celebrate.
A must view part of a visit to Moto Guzzi is the refurbished museum.
There is even a mighty Breva in the museum.
But the main action was in the streets.
And of course Mandello put on the food and wine.
Absolutely amazing gelato cups
Local wine and Pizza with my mechanic mate Baldrick
And a spit roast oven big enough to roast a whole cow!
Saturday night the music played loud. As the locals and visitors alike tucked into the cow with polenta.
Five amazing years travelling Europe, meeting beautiful people who are now friends. Falling in love in Europe with Europe, guided by the goddess Europa.
Thank you Moto Guzzi the motorcycle marque on the Lake Como, the Lake of Dreams. Happy 100th Anniversary!
My father drove a red Guzzi too, in his younger years.
A man of very good taste
Hello Mick,
I can’t believe we are not getting any more terrific photos? Maybe you
just mean, not for now?
Tell me, was there a significant Ozzie contingent at the celebration?
The pictures from around Lake Como always remind me of the very similar
countryside around nearby Lake Maggiore where the Adamis hail from.
Also, like where you are, above Stresa there is a large hill, Mattarone,
where our family used to climb up and picnic on weekends. Nowadays there
is a cable car goes from Stresa up to the top.
Recently we have done a bit of expeditioning here, but nothing like your
efforts. Not having left the state for about 3 years, on 1 August we
turned the Skoda north, eventually reaching the tip of Cape York, and
back; almost exactly 8000 km in 35 days; with the Skoda doing an amazing
970 km to the diesel tankful…
Along the way we had 2 or 3 mini holidays; staying with friends in
Brisbane, for a week by ourselves in Mackay and later staying with
family on holiday at Trinity Beach north of Cairns. We cheated on the
last bit up from Laura to Bamaga. I was happy to do it in the Skoda but
Di was not so happy; so we flew with Rex from Cairns to Bamaga and
return. While we are up there we took a four-wheel-drive out on the road
and through a few creeks and up to the Tip. We also made a day trip to
Thursday Island.
Just to prove we did actually get there I’ll send you a pic. Stay safe
and look forward to comparing notes when you get back.
Love from all at Filbert Street, Tony A.
Hi there Tony and all, there will be a few more photos yet to come as I work my way back to England. I about a week or more behind on the blog. Great you got away and went up to Cape York would have been beautiful. I’ll be back mid Oct and look forward to catching up then. Mick
It must have been a fantastic celebration! Looks like everyone was having a wonderful time and well worth the wait! Is this the end of this adventure? Cheers Pauline
In many ways this was the high point of the trip and the reason I bought the bike in Europe. Who knows what the next adventure holds. Still have to get back to England and then home. The bike is starting to show its age and the years of hard riding. Maybe able to get another year out of it. I will see.