Oldies On Tour

Lovely quiet night and we were up and out by 9.15am, we have a ferry to catch, walked down to the town, along the lakeside, and arrived at the dock side, bought our tickets, they checked we had muzzles before they would let the dogs go on board, and we were off.

The scenery is fantastic, not quite as stunning as the north, as there are not the big mountains, but still very pretty, definitely a place to visit.  Our first stop was Desenzano , a town right on the south end of the lake,  not the prettiest of places, plus they had a huge market on the waterfront, so it was quite difficult to negotiate with the dogs, and it was very hot, we reckon it was 40 degrees, not a good day to sight see.  We did find some shirts for Geoff which were nice, and fitted him perfectly, so he bought two, now I can throw some of the old ones away!  We wondered around but this town does not do anything for us.  Our ferry was due in at 12.15pm, so we wondered back to the docks, sat on a seat and waited, we then watched our ferry leave from a different Pier, what idiots we were, we were both cross, we went for a walk, and ended up having a drink, and waiting for the next one, which was one hour later.

Eventually we arrived at Sirmione, which was such a pretty place, it is a peninsular, with an old castle on, lots of ruins, some lovely restaurants and shops, we walked all around, gave the dogs a swim in a fountain, as we could not get down to the beach with them, that cooled them down a bit, Sooty kept holding his paws up, as the pavement must be very hot, so we kept walking in the shaded bits, to help him.

We stopped for some lunch, we shared a pizza, glass of wine, and plenty of water, and they bought two bowls of iced water for the dogs as well, which was very kind. Refreshed and nourished, we walked back to the ferry, and decided to go to Lazise, a walled city, another pretty place, we wondered around; bought an ice-cream to cool us off, then back to the ferry, and back to Garda.

The ferry ride was lovely and relaxing, and you could take in all the sites, you could have got off every stop, but we only chose the ones we had been recommended, it is a lovely way to see the Lake and its various towns, but it was the hottest day of the year apparently, so we were exhausted.

As soon as we reached the area where we could swim, we quickly changed and into the water, we were all glad to cool off, especially the dogs.  Sooty kept a couple amused on the beach; they ended up throwing stones for him, whilst we were swimming.

Now cool and relaxed, we got dressed and went into one of the restaurants on the lakeside for a lovely meal, and a couple of drinks, a lovely end to another nice day.

Tyla

Sunday morning and I have decided to change the sheets, not sure when we will have these facilities again, they have lots of washing machines, and Geoff has rigged me up a good washing line, it will be strange going home, and not having to worry about such things.

We had an early lunch, then went to see Mark and Tyla windsurf,

Tyla is off

Tyla is so good at it now, straight in, on the board and away, Mark took a bit longer, but he was away as well, we went in for a swim with Ashleigh, so many windsurfers around, you have to watch that they don’t run you over.  The whole place was choc a block, with surfers, and sailors, a lovely array of colours.

Mark preparing to launch himself

Mark heading for a collision

Back on our bikes, and back home, where Geoff started loading them up, we are off to the South of the Lake tomorrow, to see what it is like down there, haven’t booked anything just going..  I helped put some of the stuff away, finished the ironing and we generally cleared up.

Later we walked down to meet Mark, Paula, Gary and Alison, and the children, there were ten of us altogether, to try another meal out, and very nice it was too.  We will miss them, as we have had such a laugh this week, but hopefully we will catch up on Thursday in Venice.

I was awake early took the doggies out, had breakfast, then away, we only have forty miles to go, so no real rush, we headed for Garda, so that we can go on a ferry to see some of the other places. We found an Italian Aries, which is good, 12 Euros a night, lots of room, ideal for what we want, very clean and tidy.

We walked down to the Lake, and Bella was first in as usual, we all went in for a swim, it was lovely, so much warmer then the North, had a lovely time.  We checked the ferry times, so we know what we are doing tomorrow, then had an ice-cream, they are so lovely, has to be done.

At this point I would like to thank Jill, for giving us the portable doggie bowls, they have been so useful on our trips, and they are certainly being well used.

A stunning young lady!

We are having a ball, which is why no log, we met Mark Paula, Tyla and Ashleigh, and we spent the evening catching up over another lovely meal, how I drove home

Just wait until I am older!

that night, I will not know, in fact I don’t remember a lot except losing the door keys, and having to climb in through the back window, fortunately we left it open, but the bad news was everything was wet, as it had poured with rain. I was out for the count, so not worried that the bed was wet; apparently it wasn’t my side anyway!

Ashleigh and Bella

Next morning, I sorted the wet covers out, with a very heavy head, self inflicted, but we had a fun evening. Whilst I was pottering, Geoff found the keys in my bag, must stop this drinking lark! The day was a bit of a slow one, but I managed to prepare a bbq for Geoff to cook, the family were coming over in the evening, (so no driving for me) we had a lovely evening, and the bbq was perfect, well done the chef.

We moved house on Tuesday, instead of loading the bikes on the trailer, Geoff rode to

Naughty but nice!

Mark’s and left the bike there, and Mark bought him back, we then put everything away, had a swim, and left about 2.30pm, we couldn’t get into the other site until 3pm, even when we did arrive we were left outside the gate blocking the road, as they wouldn’t let us in, I drove down on my bike, which was funny following Rosie.  We sorted ourselves out, then went over to Mark and Paula’s for dinner, spaghetti Bolognese, very good, this time we walked. We played Uno, where I was winning up until the last round, and then they all stitched me up, Geoff then won. We then went to an amazing ice cream parlour, where I had the biggest ice-cream ever, with fresh fruit, ice cream, and the dreaded squirty cream, besides the cream it was lovely, we all had different ones, and very good they were

Arco castle

Another lazy day, spent by the pool, in the evening  Mark and Co., cycled around and we enjoyed another bbq cooked by Geoff, a lovely evening. Paula was seen to be wobbling on her bike as she left the site, but Mark texted to say they were all home safely.  We have arranged to walk up to the castle in Arco, will they turn up.

9.30am, everyone was ready for the climb, twenty minutes from the bottom, and uphill all the way, needless to say

View from the very top, stunning!

Geoff did not do it, he stayed with Mark having a bonding time, with coffee’s, and a trip to the supermarket.  There were spectacular views at the top, the climb, was some steps and some slopes, but it was not as hard as I thought it would be, glad I made the effort.

The Grand Tower

The way it was organised you went up one way, and came back another, a good system accept it was through woods, and you had to be careful not to slip, but we eventually made it down, my legs were wobbling when we were at the bottom, I thought I would suffer, but no after effects.  We met up in the cafe, had a drink, and then we went our separate ways.

We had planned to go on a boat trip today, with the dogs, so having bought muzzles for them, (they are not allowed on the ferries without them) Mark picked us up early 8.30am, he then went home to get the girls, and they cycled down to the ferry. We all got on, and we enjoyed the trip around the lake, the views are amazing, it is

Lake Garda

such a stunning area, we decided to get off at Assenza to have a look, nothing much there, so we sat and had aperitifs, waiting for the ferry to pick us up again, back to Malcesine, a much bigger town, we were going to go on

Malcine

cable car, but there was a couple of hour wait, so we gave that a miss, the town is very pretty, with lots of little shops and cobbled stone paths.  We had a lovely lunch, and then we just managed to get the ferry back to Limone.

Limone is a bustling little place, cobbled stones again, with lots of shops, Geoff bought me a skirt, which is really

Limone

unusual, and very expensive, Tyla managed to get a dress as well, but Ashleigh couldn’t find anything she wanted, another day perhaps, I think Paula is having a girly day there with her friend Alison later in the week.

Mark lumbered with dogs and bags, but still smiling.

We left Limone about 5pm and caught the ferry to Riva Del Garda, what a lovely day, we had ice creams at the ferry port, and Italy is certainly a very scenic place.

Saturday was catch up day, with the washing and ironing, we went swimming in the pool,  and took the bikes to Limone, more stunning views, and we then had a relaxing evening, playing dominoes, and I actually won!!

Lovely sunny day, so we thought we would make the most of it by going to look at Arco, a medieval village, where we are staying.  We are on the outskirts of the village, so we took the bikes, parked them, and walked into the village. No traffic allowed

Such a big church for a small village

except push bikes, and there were loads of them around.

Arco

We entered the big square, with cafés on three sides, and the other one was taken up with the church, which was huge.  We wondered around the little alleyways, which is where the shops were, mostly had climbing gear in, it is one of the main activities away from the Lake.

Arco

The tiny streets were fascinating, we found one that had a sign saying ‘ twenty minutes of step climbing to get to the castle’ at the top, we decided to give that a miss, they looked straight up, not sure that I would have made it, let alone Geoff.

It is difficult to describe, and the photos do not do it justice, but it is a very pretty village.

Back to the campsite, we had lunch, and then went for a swim in the lovely sized pool here, very deep, and not too crowded.

We took the dogs for a walk, and they enjoyed being back in the river, where do the days go too, they are just whizzing by.

Having had a lovely time at Lake Como, we are now moving onto Lake Garda, where we are meeting Mark Paula, Tyla and Ashleigh, it seems so long ago when we saw them last.

Fighting the traffic

Everything is packed and off we go, well we thought we were, the roads around the Lake are very congested at the best of times, but today there had been an accident on the motorway, and all the heavy lorries were being diverted, for us to pass one, we had to almost touch the houses/walls on one side, all mirrors, had to be put in, then you just held your breath, on top of that, Geoff said one of the bikes were slipping, we couldn’t stop, we just had to keep going, very tense for about twenty minutes, we then went into the first lay-by, to find one of the straps had worked loose, whilst we were doing that, everyone went by, and we relaxed for

views on route

a few minutes, before we started again.  By this time the Police were on the case, and things seemed to run quite smoothly. Geoff once again did well with the driving.

We were having trouble finding a site, which we could afford the average was 50 Euros a night, which we thought was a bit steep, anyway we found a very quiet village, which had tennis courts and a big car park so we stopped overnight, whilst I was frantically searching for somewhere to stay. We have a site from Tuesday, which we booked ages ago, anyway we found one in Arco which is 5km away from Riva Del Garda (North of Lake Garda) where we are meeting the family, but we had to be there by mid-day.

I woke up first, took the dogs out, Geoff jumped out of bed and made the tea, we then left, it was only when we were on our way Geoff realised it was not even 8am. In view of the traffic around Lake Como, we went on the motorway, which was just as well, as the roads are the same.  We arrived at the site about 10.30am, the guy looked at the motor-home, and said you will need a Maxi plot, which is fine, we have a lovely space, and we were all sorted by midday.

We have had rain!!

We had lunch, and then headed for Riva Del Garda, to look at the other site we have booked, but on route it poured with rain, we stopped and sheltered in the Tourist Board office, got some maps, and what’s on leaflets.  We then walked down to the beach; it was still raining, but not quite so bad.  It was lovely to

Sailing Regatta

see all the young children in their laser sailing boats, apparently there was a regatta today.  We walked along the beach area, the shore line is better than Como’s, and they have designated swimming areas, looks very good. Geoff had a go at the ring’s he says he’s going to train for Rio, watching the Olympics has inspired him.

Geoff bought some posh coffee, I had some lemon tea, we sat and watched the world go

non-fattening coffee!

by under the umbrella’s outside in the rain, and well we are British!!

Back at home, we had a bottle of Chianti, with spaghetti Bolognese, very nice it was too.

The last two days have just been sorting ourselves out, doing the odd jobs, and relaxing.

We went to Menaggio in the evening, but not a lot there, a very tiny pretty square with restaurants and ice cream parlour, but that was about it. If we had more time here we would have explored the Villa Coletti, but another time.

The dogs have enjoyed there stay here, although I think we have worn them out, as at the end, Sooty could not be bothered to chase a stick or play in the water, Bella just carried on as usual.

Last night we had another Chateaubriand to round off the week here, and very nice it was too. We are now moving onto Lake Garda, stopping on route somewhere!

We have thoroughly enjoyed this area, it is so pretty, and well worth a visit.