Levico bike ride

Sunday 29th May

History repeated itself today ....
Yes the rain did come this morning, but it stopped around 10.30 so we set off on our bikes to discover the local 'ciclabile', first going east beside a smallish river through the wide valley. 
 
 
The low wispy clouds were quite attractive at this stage and we found a picnic site to drink our flask and eat our fruit, but when we turned back towards Levico we could see some rather ominous ones looming! 
 
But we also wanted to go the other way on the track to see Lago Di Caldonazzo, a much larger lake than Levico.  This path took us through huge apple orchards (the apples aren't huge yet though),
 
but somehow we managed to follow a different set of cycle track signs to Caldonazzo and we ended up going through the small town before reaching the lake.  That was fine except for the fact that the rain started coming down in big spots and .... this is the history bit .... just over 2 weeks ago this happened near Annecy and we dashed into a restaurant for shelter .... today we quickly leant the bikes against a tree and dashed into a gelato cafe!  We did resist the ice creams though - hot drinks were more in order.  Fortunately the cafe wasn't busy as we ended up stayed there for an hour and a half hoping the driving rain would stop. 

View from the cafe window - NB bikes by tree and puddles!

But it didn't so in the end we just had to go for it, wizzing through the puddles back to the van to dry off. 
The photo of our map explains the geography.  Our campsite is at N and the cafe at 10.

Walk around Lago di Levico

Saturday 28th May

Today could be the last day of sunshine as the forecast is for rain tomorrow.  So we decided to do the walk all the way around Lake Levico, and it proved to be a good choice.  We are sure we read somewhere that it was 7k but according to our GPS it was 11!  The heat did get to us for the first section as it was a very rough path in the trees doing lots of ups and downs, but it then settled down as a wider track with benches or picnic tables every now and then, so there were plenty of opportunities to cool off.  The water really is the colour in these photos - beautiful in the sunshine. 

Levico Terme

Lunch stop

Lunch stop zoomed from other side of the lake

This weekend is the end of the German holiday fortnight, so the campsite is thinning down a bit.  It's a very lovely place to be, but we shall probably move on again on Monday.

Levico Terme

Thursday 26th May

It was lovely to see Lake Garda again for a couple of days, but we are here to find pastures new, so we moved on this morning, travelling north to Trento and then a short way east to Levico Terme on Lake Levico.  This is a really small lake and we are told it can be walked round in 2 hours, so we'll give that a go while we are here.  But not this afternoon - we are getting a bit used to this relaxing idea while the sun is so hot.  It is another busy site, but we found a pitch to one side, next to an open field and we have a lot more space to ourselves than we had at Garda.  We wandered down to the beach (private to the campsite) and were surprised to find so many people there, many of them having fun in the lake - we had a paddle and decided it was a bit too chilly to join them!  But I did try out the swimming pool while John tried out a lounger!

 

Friday 27th May

Another very warm day, so we decided not to do anything too strenuous - just cycled the short way into Levico Terme and have a walk around the town. 
 

Unusually, the clock on the tower was showing the right time!

The town is up on a hill and very quaint, with a lot of the ancient buildings looking a bit tired, but the Parco del Terme is stunningly beautiful.  The park is as large as the town, on the hillside with views of mountains all around.  It's mainly trees - some extremely tall and some rather odd and also some strange features like the building that looked like a house - but it was hollow - and a small garden with amazing vegetables growing behind a hand made fence. 

Note little chap by trunk

This one was having a bad hair day

The house that isn't a house - note the super fence

Back in the town we had a drink at a cafe and I went inside to use the loo.  Quite unusual to find a 'hole in the floor' type!  Sorry - no photo!

Salo, Lake Garda

Wednesday 25th May

Beautiful Lake Garda!  Another day - another ferry - another lovely town!  Today it was the 10.45 to Salo on the western side of the lake.  At the ticket office we followed a couple speaking English and asking for exactly the same as we were after - 2 returns, over 65!  So we got talking and soon became friends with Alan and Janet from Portsmouth!  We parted company when we arrived in Salo and met up again for the return to Garda.  Our Rough Guide blurb had told us that Salo is less touristy, without the crowds and without the tat.  Quote: A small, elegant town, with ordinary shops and its own everyday concerns, transplanted to an extraordinary location on the lake.
 
 
After an amazing hot chocolate and a coffee, we kept on walking around the bay deciding which restaurant to choose for lunch.  We settled on the Duepuntozero - very upmarket-looking with lovely tablecloths and interesting menu with no pizzas on it(!)  We've learnt that (so long we don't do it to often) if we just have a main course and water (we can have our wine in the evening back at the van rather than pay 10€ a glass) this can be affordable.  And it was so worth it because as well as our delicious meal, we were served warm rolls, a tiny bowl of soup and after we'd refused a dessert, a dish with 4 bite-sized nutty biscuits and little glasses of panacotta topped with strawberry puree.  Yes, they did add 3€ for the extras, but wow ....
          
                                        
So we needed to walk that lot off, and set off to find 4 geocaches away from the town, then return to wander the little winding streets and visit the Duomo - another massive church for such a small place. 

After tea this evening we watched the sun setting over the lake.

Mantova to Lago di Garda

 Monday 23rd May

Rather a wet night and still raining when we woke up.  But we managed to get water empty/fill jobs done in a short lull, then left Iseo to drive to Mantova (Mantua in English).  While looking online last night to see if there were any interesting geocaches to find in Mantova, we came across one that is in some woodland with recycled sculptures and it also described a "camper area Sparafucile" close by.  So we googled the camper area and decided that that would be great for us to stay for a night.  It turned out to be just like a campsite with all the usual facilities, but with automated entry and departure - ie. take a ticket on the way in - you zap that to gain entry to the loo block and zap it at the pay machine when you are ready to leave.  24 hours for just 15€.  We've taken lots of photos and will send a report to Motorhome Magazine. 
 
The sculpture with the geocache was quite fun too ....
 
..... and we didn't realise Italy were so 'Health & Safety' ...

Although we'd driven the short distance through a few short showers, they were nothing compared to the thunder storm that hit us as we approached Mantova!  Fortunately we were near enough to the outskirts to spot a Lidl sign and we were able to stop in their car park to see it out.  Mantova is a very attractive town with several piazzas (a film crew in one of them with some classic cars, but we missed the action), cobbled streets, a fortress, medieval arcades and the massive Sant'Andrea church.  Photos weren't allowed in the church (and there was a chap 'tidying chairs' watching, so didn't try!  The entrance is a huge arch and the inside is a similar shape with a barrel roof and no pillars holding anything up!  Quite impressive. 
 

Palazzo Ducale

 

Sant'Andrea

 We thought of walking a while beside the Lago di Mezzo - the oversized part of the River Minchio - but one of those dark clouds was looming and we decided to get going over the long bridge back to the van.  Just as well, as not much later another mighty downpoor and more thunder and lightning. 

Tuesday 24th May

There seems to be no in between with the weather around here - it's either cloudy and showery/stormy or extremely hot sunshine.  Today we've returned to the latter.  The camper area proved to be a very quiet and pleasant place to stay.  Moved on again this morning, though, to Lake Garda.  We so enjoyed being at La Rocca, between Garda and Bardolino last year, that we decided to revisit for a couple of days.  It was quite a palava getting in this time as a group of Czech vans hemmed us in in the parking area while checking in and then one of them which was twice as long as ours and pulling a trailer with a car on it took ages to negotiate a corner on the site!  We eventually made it to our pitch - again surrounded by many German holidaymakers.  Wasn't anything like so busy last year, but that was a month earlier than this. 

The lake is still just as lovely and apart from a short stroll towards Garda, we just relaxed all afternoon.  There is a super pool here but it's at the top of the hill and we couldn't be bothered!

John preparing for dinner!

Lago d'Iseo

Saturday 21st May

Today we travelled again, mostly on motorway, but coming off it at Bergamo as the old town high on a hilltop was worth a visit.  Our friendly chap in reception at Arona - Ivan - had told us that there was a large carpark near the base of the funicular that goes up there.  Hmmm ... the only carparks we came across while negotiating a rather busy 'low' town were multi-storey or underground types.  So reluctantly we gave up and continued our journey on minor roads to Lago d'Iseo and Camping Punta d'Oro.  A small site and surprisingly busy, but the German owner who directed us in told us that this was because now is a holiday time in Germany.  We then realised that apart from one Swiss van, it is totally occupied by German ones!  She did let us in, though!  As it's been such a hot day, we relaxed all afternoon, but then walked into Iseo town after dinner.
 
The whole world (at least those that weren't in Annecy!) were here strolling along the waterfront or eating dinner at pavement restaurants.  We settled for 3-flavour gelatos but had to eat them fairly quickly so they didn't melt everywhere.  Note to Adam (who has collected ice cream spoons in Italy before):  we have 3 more for you when we get back.  Why 3? Because we had a taster of one of the flavours before deciding.

Sunday 22nd May

Today we climbed a mountain!  Although it's probably been the hottest day so far, we had an urge to reach the highest point on the largest lake island in Europe - Monte Isola.  The ferry over to the island was packed and certainly exceeding the 400 capacity.  Once there, the crowds mingled with each other along the promenade, while we took the steep steps up past ancient houses and onto the track uphill to the 15C Santuario della Madonna della Ceriola. 

Monte Isola

The church on the top

The map said the walk took 50 minutes - well it took us just over 2 hours and was quite hard work on stoney/rocky  paths (up to 600m),
 
but with such stunningly beautiful views all the way and lots of trees for shade, lots of stops to get our breath back and the reward of a loo (surprisingly respectable) at the top, it was so worth it.  Although the crowds stayed down below, there were plenty of other walkers to greet along the way.  Most of the way there was a drop down to our left-hand side, but sometimes there would be a tiny olive grove or vineyard and even a patch of potatoes growing.  There was one small village too, with a few sheep munching close by. 

Nearly there ....

 

We've reached the top

We'd seen notices referring to 'floating piers' and soon found out what they are - white flat structures around a private island for one to moor ones boat and do some serious sunbathing or maybe, fishing.  They looked quite strange from way above.

The one and only geocache in this area is .... on the top of this mountain!  After a long rest and a some calm time in the church we set off a short way down a different path to find it beside a helicopter pad.  We still had a travel bug that we'd picked up in Norway in April and decided to leave it here.  Wonder where it will travel to next.  We've kept it so long because so many geocaches these days are too small to put a travel bug in. 

Helicopter pad with stones in front hiding a cache!

The ferry back to Iseo was just as busy, but we were able to leave them behind us and snooze away an hour or two under our awning before getting dinner ready. 

Lago Maggiore Express

Friday 20th May

Wow - what an amazing day!  No need to mention the annoying helicopter that flew over us umpteen times in the night!  We've had a fabulous day on the Lago Maggiore Express.  This meant an earlier start than usual and a 2 mile cycle to Arona waterfront to the ticket office.  There, the very animated lady who spoke no English took a little while to agree to selling us a ticket because we still had our cycle helmets on and eventually we understood that to her that meant that we wanted to take our bikes on the boat!  After we'd convinced her that we were locking our bikes up and leaving them, she came out of her office and showed us where to put them - er, where we'd left them yesterday to go to Angera.  So the first stage of our big trip today was a just over-4 hour cruise the full length of Lake Maggiore - into Switzerland to Locarno.  The weather has been absolutely perfect, so we spent the whole time on the top deck, managing to keep tabs on our 2 plastic chairs throughout.  This worked better than rows of seating because we could turn to face any direction whenever.  It was just one beautiful village after another, backed by wooded mountains, themselves backed by snow-topped rocky mountains.  (We promise we shall delete some of the many photos before we get home!) A highlight was passing close to our grandson Adam's Kingdom - 2 years ago when we camped with Peter and family at Feriolo we spent a day out from Stresa to the Borromeo Islands and Adam fell in love with Isola Bella and wanted to become King and live in the palace.


 
 
 
 
 

At Locarno we had 1 hr 20 mins to kill, so we found a delightful bar on the waterfront with a comfy sofa under a shade to while away the time.
 
  Then we walked up to the train station to catch the Vigezzina-Centovalli - one of the most amazing railway journeys in the world.  It's an electric train that winds its way through the two valleys, high up on the mountain sides, often with a sheer drop down, over bridges and across ravines.  It gradually climbs to 830m and then wiggles down to Domodossola (back in Italy) at 267m.  This was just over an hour and a half of more beautiful scenery.  No time to spare at Domodossola as we changed trains onto the Trenitalia line for a faster journey back to Arona, then the cycle back to our campsite.  A long day but brilliant. 
Views from the train: