Highlights and tour details
Starting from Gaminella - Valcerrina, a dirt road takes us to Mombello, where we can admire the panorama. At Casalino there is a stretch of the MTB race track with the presence of erosion ditches and furrows and some outcropping tuffaceous boulders.
Points of interest
Our starting point is in the small town of Gaminella on the Valcerrina Ss 590, park your car in the parking lot in front of the bar and the disco. Exit the parking lot and enter Ss 590, head towards the Agip petrol station and turn left at the side of the petrol station. The tarmac road finishes past the houses and a grassy dirt road begins. Continue until you reach another tarmac road which from the main road takes you to Mombello Monferrato.
Turn right downhill and a short distance ahead cross the road and take the opposite dirt track which goes uphill to Mombello. Enter the village and further on at the bend take the second road to the left, which is primarily flat, passing next to the ancient walls, where you can admire the panorama.
Exit the village and head for Ilengo and Zenevreto. Close to the sign for Ilengo immediately after on the right take the grassy dirt road (or continue and just ahead at the intersection turn right). This dirt road is primarily downhill with a few uphills leading to a tarmac road.
Go right, initially uphill, and then downhill until you reach Solonghello. At the bend at the end of the downhill section go straight uphill onto a dirt road, turn and descend downhill until you arrive on the tarmac road that leads to Solonghello. We cross it and reach a small number of houses. At the end of the tarmac, just after the last house on the right is a grassy dirt road with a slight descent leading to the Ss 590 which we have to cross by turning left. Continue to the crossroads of Castagnone and follow the signs for the Sanctuary of Crea.
Continue for a kilometre and turn right (we are at Madonnina) remaining on the tarmac road. After 450 m. in the widening of the bend continue straight on an unpaved road. You reach a tarmac road and close to the cemetery of Serralunga di Crea, stay on the right. A little further on, take the second road to the right downhill.
Continue, until you meet the other tarmac road that takes from the main road to Serralunga di Crea turn right and then immediately left onto a dirt road, for about 1.5 km. arriving on a tarmac road that takes from the main road to Casalino. Here, we will face some climbs but also some of the more challenging downhill slopes of our route.
Go through the village and at the end of the descent turn right uphill. After a couple of houses the tarmac road ends turning into an unpaved road. Continue until you come to a junction, leave the unpaved road and continue straight on the dirt road (strada Bric Mongiuetto).
After about 350 m. turn right uphill. It is a difficult climb. Continue to a crossroads and turn right again. The road is flat for a few meters and then becomes the most enjoyable descent of our tour, a descent to tackle with decisiveness but....also caution (hazardous descent signs). This is a stretch of the MTB racetrack with the presence of erosion ditches and furrows and several outcropping tuffaceous boulders. The descent ends near a field and a few houses. Make a u turn and you will soon reach a square (we are in Pezzere) where the tarmac road starts again and obliges you to go right, continuing and going uphill through Montaldo. Follow the sign for via Villa, going uphill until the end of the tarmac road after a sharp right bend. The route goes downhill again but on unpaved road. Be careful to keep to the right as you could come across cars or agricultural vehicles.
You reach a village where a fast tarmac downhill road begins, exercise caution. At the end of the descent, you arrive in Gaminella, cross the Ss 590 and arrive back at the parking lot.
Departure, arrival and municipalities crossed
Alessandria see on map