From one end of Lake Como to the other end

Wednesday 18th September 2024

We moved from Olginate at the far southern end of lake Como, to Novate Mezzola at the far northern end this morning.

It was an unusual drive up the eastern shore of the lake, mostly through tunnels cut into the mountains with just glimpses of the lake as we burst into brilliant sunlight then plunged in semi darkness again as another tunnel consumed us.

It got me thinking how long this journey would have taken before the tunnels were constructed ?

What took us 50 minutes would probably have taken 6-8 hours or more and many more kilometers.

The wonders of civil engineering.

We're at a great camper stop with uninterrupted views of the lake in front of us with towering mountains surrounding us as a backdrop.

We've done almost nothing today except soak up the fantastic scenery.

Just a short walk to the supermarket and a couple of doggie walks has been about the sum total of our excursions.

We've decided to bring forward our return to next Wednesday, so we'll make  steps northward over the next few days.

Some stunning views of Novate Mezzola, the reason people come to the Italian Lakes.

Olginate (Lake Como)

 

Tuesday 17th September 2024

A morning rain shower prevented a planned walk into Sirimone or cycle ride to Pescheira del Garda, as is becoming a familiar theme, I think this rain is following us wherever we go.

So we set off in the direction of lake Como.

We've come to a camper stop on a small town on the edge of the lake called Olginate.

We walked along the lake this afternoon and back through the town which doesn't really have anything memorable about it except for really clunky out of tune church bells.

It's a nice place to spend the night overlooking the lake. There's a small park with picnic tables and even a fenced dog agility area.

Louis didn't seem interested and neither did any of the other dogs taken there.

Mostly they were just left to run around whilst their owners fiddled on their phones.

But not a lot else here so we'll be moving on tomorrow, yet to be decided.

The weather is still mixed, cool and mostly cloudy, with just the odd glimpse of the sun.

Dog agility area

The clunky and out of tune church bells.

A great day for cycling from Borgetto to Pescheira del Garda

 

Monday 16th September 2024

We woke up to a beautiful day this morning, blue skies and warm sunshine, everything we'd hoped for in Croatia and was sadly lacking.

I decided to get the bike out and go for a peddle along the path from Borghetto that follows the river Mincio up to Pescheira del Garda.

A very enjoyable ride it was too.

What a great cycle path

Local wildlife, actually the turtle is probably alien ?

I reached just outside Pescheira only to find a bridge construction site had temporarily consumed the cycle path.

There was a signed diversion but this entailed joining traffic on quite a busy road, so, being a little risk adverse on a bike I chickened out and headed back to Borghetto. 

Mr sensible lol.

After lunch we left the camper stop and headed towards Pescheira, this time on the tarmac road.

We thought a couple of nights on the lake would be nice, but the camping gods had other ideas.

All the campsites are booked up in Perschiera.

So we headed over to Sirimone further along the south coast of Garda, to another camper stop.

This too is over looking the lake, but not so close to the town which disappointed Sue.

We had a walk along the lake shore path towards Sirmione but by this time it had clouded over and quite a wind had blown up so we didn't make it all the way.

Instead we found a pair of nesting white herons on the lakeside.

We'll try again tomorrow depending on the weather, it's sprinkled a few drops this evening and a little more is expected overnight but fine again tomorrow hopefully.

Seeking some late summer warmth

Sunday 15th September 2024

Our parkup in Grado provided a very restful night's sleep after the tourist boats finished sailing around the island. We were joined by just two other motorhomes for the night.

We decided our quest to find something approaching warmth would take us further west to the pretty little medieval town of Borghetto about 10 miles south of Pescheira del Garda.

It sits on the border between the Veneto and Lombardy regions which the river Mincio divides.

The river also gives the town its unique character and was probably vital in the towns formation in medieval times.

There are lots of water wheels in the town, some operational and some not.

We came here a few years ago and enjoyed the spectacular scenery.

The weather apps also tell us it'll be warmer and sunnier than anything we've found in Croatia so far.

The weather really does seem to be throwing up some very unusual temperatures and storms, I've just been reading about central and eastern Europe where there have been many deaths due to flooding in Austria I think.

So I shouldn't really complain about our little bit of inconvenience.

We did indeed find the sun and warmth in Borghetto and had a walk around the busy little village.

It is a very popular place for tourists and the restaurants were doing a brisk trade.

But we had chicken supreme with wild rice, carrots and broccoli cooked 'en van' very nice it was too.

I don't think I could tire of coming here