28th Sept 2015
I think I might
stay here for the rest of my life !!!
What a night
! While we were parked in a nice big
field in a quiet farm in the country, we found out later that there was a train
line not 50 yards from our car, and some of those trains make a LOT of noise
! And they ran all night. I think I heard most of them – Not a good
night !
So we were up
reasonably early, had time to chat with daughter Sarah in Bangkok and catch up
on her news, and then we headed out, through the tiny little bridge that we
thought we wouldn’t get through, and out onto the main road south towards
Bolzano. And away from the railway line
!!
Although we were
in Italy, all the signs were still mostly in German, and people were speaking
German, not Italian. We found out later
that this part of Italy was actually only “obtained” by Italy after WW II –
Prior to that it was Austria – Thus why it is very much an Austrian part of
Italy ! We hadn’t gone an hour down the
road and we saw our first castle, high on a hill above us. How they built some
of these buildings, and got all the materials up on to the tops of the
mountains, especially in pre-helicopter times, beats me. Pretty clever of them.
And the Autoroute
down through Bolzano to Trento is just amazing – Almost the entire thing is
built on concrete piers, above the valley in which the B road (which we were
on) runs. Mile after mile – Just like a monorail up above you all the
time. And there are sections where the
autoroute goes in a tunnel, but then we go underneath it or round the edge of
the mountain, and other times we both went in tunnels, one above the
other. And then there was the railway
line weaving in and out between us.
Several times we were so close beside the autoroute it was like we were
just another lane of it ! Incredible
engineering to get this road through this valley and the gorges in which we
travelled almost all day.
We went down to
Trento, and then stayed on the B roads until we got down near Mori, where we
turned west over to Riva del Garda, at the top of the enormous Lago di Garda,
which is about 60 kms long, and at its widest, some 30 kms wide. It is a big lake !! And the valley through which we were passing
ran through the Dolomites – An enormous range that was once a coral bed in a
warm ocean, and you can see all the layers and whiteness of the limestone
around you. On occasions it was a wide
But through all
this industry, the scenery is absolutely magnificent. One is always admiring what is beside you,
but simultaneously peering into the distance to see what is ahead, be it a
house or castle perched on top of a hill, or a little village with narrow
streets, or something else. Near Sarche
we came round the corner and there was a sky blue lake with a castle perched on
the edge – Lago de Santa Massenza.
Unfortunately there was a lot of traffic around us there and we couldn’t
stop anywhere where we could enjoy really good views, but what we saw was
enough to keep us happy.
A little further
down the road we turned west towards Riva del Garda, the resort and tourist
town at the head of Lago di Garda, which was our destination. Although we were headed down to Verona and
then on to Modena, I decided we sould travel down the east side of Lago di
Garda, in the hope that it would be more scenic – And I wasn’t wrong. Riva del
Garda was quite difficult – crowded, no where to park, and where there was
parking along the lake, it had height restricting poles at the entrance to the
parking with a height of only 1.90 metres – and I am 2.03 ! Evidently too many motorhomes have been free
camping in all these parking spots in the past, so they have put a stop to any
tall vehicle parking there at all ! So
although it was stunningly beautiful driving round the top of the lake from
Lago del Garda, we couldn’t stop for a wander or explore !
So we continued
down the side of the lake, and in the fairly high winds there was some kind of
wind surfing competition going on, as they were everywhere at the top of the
lake. Maybe that was part of the reason
it was so crowded there ? So we drove on, until we suddenly found a parking
spot with no height restrictions, and stopped there for a bit to eat for lunch. Very pleasant beside the water in the sunshine,
although the wind was strong and cool enough to make you want to keep a jacket
on.
After lunch, we
only went for another hour before we found what looked like a good camp site
perched up on a hill, with the camp sites on terraces so they were level. And when we drove up the steep drive, it was
even better than it had looked from below – The views over the lake were just stunning. There was also a camping spot right but the
gate, totally isolated from all the other sites, with nothing in front of us
but a railing and the lake. This is
probably one of the nicest camping spots on the entire trip. 
In fact, I think I could stay here for the
rest of my life. Well, until it rains,
anyway !! But since the weather forecast
is for sunshine for the next few days, we might tarry a day or two ! Once we
had set up camp, we relaxed overlooking the lake in the sunshine, and then
Janet went down to feed some ducks that were down below us in the lake. Later she cooked a suitably Italian pasta
supper, which was excellent, accompanied by a good bottle of Merlot, and we sat
and demolished both with a perfect view in front of us. This really is a beautiful part of the
world.
I wonder what
tomorrow will bring ?
Rest of the pics are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0370BressanoneToLagoDiGarda?authkey=Gv1sRgCJn2sLXckPXx9gE
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