The best cycling routes around Roveredo (GR)

The San Bernardino Pass connects the Misox with the Rheinwald and is located at 2,066 meters. At the pass summit, there is a restaurant and a bus stop, making the location easily accessible. The open high mountain landscape with small lakes and wide open spaces is well suited for a break.

At the bridge in Roveredo you have a beautiful view of the Moesa, which flows calmly through the valley here. All around, historical buildings, churches and towers shape the townscape. Everything framed by the mountains.

a beautiful bike ride immersed in nature between woods along the Ticino

San Vittore Station - (1907-2013) History of the BM Bellinzona–Mesocco Railway The Bellinzona–Mesocco railway, also known as the Misox Railway, Misox Line, Misox Route, or in Italian as the Ferrovia Bellinzona–Mesocco or Ferrovia Mesolcinese, is a former meter-gauge narrow-gauge railway in the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Graubünden. The 31.3-kilometer-long line ran from the Ticino cantonal capital of Bellinzona through the Graubünden valley of Misox to Mesocco. The line was opened in 1907 by the Società Ferrovia elettrica Bellinzona-Mesocco (BM), which became part of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) in 1942. Passenger service was discontinued in 1972, and freight service in 2003. Until 2013, the Società Esercizio Ferroviario Turistico (SEFT) operated a heritage railway, the Ferrovia Mesolcinese (FM), on a 12.7-kilometer-long remaining section. A project to improve the residential area of Roveredo and an expansion project by the Canton of Ticino at the Castione-Arbedo public transport hub led to a further shortening of the line to 3.9 kilometers between the Grono level crossing and Cama in 2014. The concession for this remaining section was returned by SEFT in 2016. Text / Source: Wikipedia https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahnstrecke_Bellinzona%E2%80%93Mesocco#Literatur

Station, Grono - (1907-2013) History of the BM With the inauguration of the new San Bernardino motorway (1970), the small, narrow-gauge Mesolcina railway, with no direct connection to the nearby Gotthard railway, appeared obsolete. Starting in 1972—amidst lively protests from the Moesa population—passenger service was discontinued and replaced by P.T.T. buses. After the loss of three out of five electric locomotives due to serious accidents (1969) and the damage to the Soazza-Mesocco section in the 1978 flood, the length of the railway line was significantly reduced on the Castione-Cama stretch. The Rhaetian Railway (which had absorbed the BM between 1942 and 1943 during the severe economic crisis) decided to store its rolling stock in a disused factory in the Grono industrial area, which became a large depot and workshop for overhauling the bogies. This space will be the starting point for the redevelopment of what remains of the Bellinzona-Mesocco electric railway for tourism. In 1985, the Friends of the Mesolcinese Railway Association (AAFM) was founded, and in the summer of 1995 the first Sunday passenger service was inaugurated, a service that continued every summer for the next 18 years. In 2000, the Association transformed into the Tourist Railway Operations Company (SEFT) and recovered an original BM electric locomotive (purchased by the Gotthard Railway Club in 1980), built in Prague in 1909 before being sold to France. In 2003, the Rhaetian Railway also discontinued its freight service, and SEFT was granted another decade of passenger transport. On October 27, 2013, the last tourist run between Castione and Cama took place, definitively ending railway operations in Mesolcina. Since 2020, a Swiss electric locomotive with first and second class seats (1933) and a Belgian freight car (1889) used by the BM have been on public display in the Al Pascolet industrial area on the site of Fratelli Censi SA Tecnica Ferroviaria, not far from the former SEFT depot-workshop. Text / Source: visit-moesano.ch https://www.visit-moesano.ch/sites/moesano/files/2024-04/Storia%20BM.pdf

Stage 7: San Bernardino – Bellinzona An exhilarating descent through the Mesolcina Valley. Eagerly absorbing the mild southern climate. In Mesocco, cyclists enjoy the largest ruin in Switzerland and, at the end of the tour, in Bellinzona, the defiant towers and walls of the tre castelli. Refreshed, they follow the rushing Moësa River out of the lively resort town of San Bernardino. The 46-kilometer-long tributary of the Ticino rises at the San Bernardino Pass and gives its name to the Mesolcina Valley (Misox). Although Italian is spoken in the valley, as in the Poschiavo and Bregaglia valleys, it has always maintained close ties to Graubünden. In the smaller villages, where many of the houses are covered with stone slabs, time seems to have stood still. You hardly stop on your bike during the rapid descent towards the south. Surrounded by rocky cliffs, you roar along a well-maintained road with countless skid marks. The highway, which practically hangs from the mountain, seems a bit surreal. Later, a varied side road leads down to Mesocco. Magnificent views of the valley are revealed. Below the village, perched on a rocky outcrop, are the ruins of the Castello di Mesocco, the 11th-century ancestral castle of the Count of Misox. It is considered one of the most important in Graubünden and the largest in Switzerland. Roveredo is the main town in the lower Misox Valley. And what could be nicer here than a break in a cool grotto, enjoying a typical lunch menu and a glass of local wine? The village also boasts several beautiful 17th-century houses, such as the one designed by local architect and builder Enrico Zuccalli. A secluded stretch follows near Lumino, just after crossing the highway and the river. A forest path leads along the Moësa River over hill and dale. Passing an inviting forest garden grotto and some secluded swimming spots, you reach Arbedo-Castione. Here, the Moësa flows into the Ticino River. Text / Source: Schweizmobil.ch https://schweizmobil.ch/de/veloland/route-6/etappe-7

Mesocco Castle San Bernardino Castle Mesolcina Calanca The ruins of Mesocco Castle stand on top of an imposing rocky hill that rises steeply from the valley floor. This imposing fortress stands in the center of the valley, forcing the Moesa River into a wide bend in a narrow, impassable gorge, leaving only a narrow passage to the west. Mesocco Castle is protected on three sides by steep cliffs. Only to the northeast, on the upstream side of the valley, does the slope slope more gently. Climbing up the old access road to the castle from the north side, you first reach the Church of St. Maria del Castello and are already on the castle grounds, which were once surrounded by a defensive wall. The impressive ruins consist mainly of the remains of defensive works built in the last decades of the 15th century, i.e., during the final phase of the castle's life. Among them are numerous ruins from earlier eras, so that the castle's current appearance reveals its eventful history, which has its roots in the early Middle Ages. Graubünden Ferien, Alexanderstrasse 24, 7001 Chur https://www.graubuenden.ch/de/ausflugsziele/castello-di-mesocco

Mesocco Castle San Bernardino Castle Mesolcina Calanca The ruins of Mesocco Castle stand on top of an imposing rocky hill that rises steeply from the valley floor. This imposing fortress stands in the center of the valley, forcing the Moesa River into a wide bend in a narrow, impassable gorge, leaving only a narrow passage to the west. Mesocco Castle is protected on three sides by steep cliffs. Only to the northeast, on the upstream side of the valley, does the slope slope more gently. Climbing up the old access road to the castle from the north side, you first reach the Church of St. Maria del Castello and are already on the castle grounds, which were once surrounded by a defensive wall. The impressive ruins consist mainly of the remains of defensive works built in the last decades of the 15th century, i.e., during the final phase of the castle's life. Among them are numerous ruins from earlier eras, so that the castle's current appearance reveals its eventful history, which has its roots in the early Middle Ages. Graubünden Ferien, Alexanderstrasse 24, 7001 Chur https://www.graubuenden.ch/de/ausflugsziele/castello-di-mesocco