In no particular chronological order
(or sense of purpose) here’s a few more to give a slight flavour - but mainly
to help our own memories - of the trip.
For a start there was the campsite,
San Fransesco in Rivoltella at the foot of Lake Garda on the first Sunday. This took some finding despite the use of good
old Tom-Tom – our friendly sat-nav had sent us up a ridiculous little road
which culminated in a twisty passage through a bridge where there was a danger
of me hitting my head walking through yet alone a 3m high van.
Again some incredibly helpful locals came to
our rescue seemingly delighted to exercise their English putting us woefully to
shame with our own linguistic skills – all worthwhile as the camp when found
provided us with a pitch right on the edge of Lake Garda, helped it must be
said by Vince grossly exaggerating the size of our equipment which so impressed
the young girl in reception she gave us a “supreme” pitch...... who says size
doesn’t matter!
Amongst other campsites that
impressed were.....
Camping Punta d’Oro in Iseo – again
a site with a lovely lakeside setting but also a devil to find but worth the
effort as the family running it were really friendly and welcoming .....
Also a chance to show one of our daily
household chores of emptying the waste tank – hasten to add just water as the
loo was returned unsullied...
And Camping La Riva in Sorico at
the northern end of Como with a pleasant river walk into the town.....
The lakeside villages with more
from Bellagio...
To the roads around Lake Como,
Lake Iseo
And Lake Garda
And then there were the climbs including
the Passo di Foppa we just drove over on our way to Stelvio –
.JPG)
The magnificence of Stelvio which
turned from lovely at the start with views back down the twisting road
to loneliness (ignoring the other
car Geoff was pretty much alone at this point)
and then pure evil within a few
miles to the point where Vince was wondering if it was all worth it when he
only had 2k to go
And the freezing cold damp summit
where there’s evidence it’s not
just here we have rubbish issues!
Of course with two Irish catholic
boys we had to visit church at some time
then outside they paid homage to heroes
And then to the adjoining museum where they
had just the bike for me
There were memories of different
poses being struck after rides of varying difficulty
And brothers cycling together
but there was always cake
–
If you want to get involved this
little gem will only cost 9,000 Euros
– what are you waiting for?
