Desenzano Del Garda - Venice

Today's Route

By the time Jon opened the van door at 9am this morning Will & Jo had already got up and been in the pool for a cooling swim. Apparently it was VERY hot in their tent last night!

Today is mostly about W&J going home :( So this morning there was packing up to be done, then we stopped off in Desenzano for a coffee and some breakfast, and then it was pretty much off to the airport and they were away. Back to just the 2 of us.

Before we left the airport though I wanted to finish updating the blog, however, as I said earlier, my efforts were being thwarted at every turn today.

Generally I write the words for the blog in OpenOffice Writer (marvellous but free “Word” like package)and then just have to spend my time when I get internet connection uploading the photos that I have previously downloaded onto the laptop. This saves me a lot of time – which is good because usually time is short, either because the internet connection is limited or, more often, because it's very boring for Jon to be sitting about waiting while I blog and he will only put up with it for so long before getting seriously grumpy. I don't blame him, it is dull.

Anyway, today I had 2 problems when updating the blog. First was that the photo uploading thing in Blogger was playing silly buggers and only working intermittently, making things very slow going, secondly (and worse), I didn't realise that if I deleted the photos from where they were on my hard drive originally before I published the post, they deleted them from the blog as well. So, I had spent ages putting the photos in, and then thought that I would be good and do a bit of housekeeping and – BANG – all the photos unloaded themselves. Bollocks. (actually, this later turned out to be just something to do with the problem with Blogger - doesn't stop it being a right pain though).

Anyway, eventually I managed to sort it all out (you live and learn right) before Jon imploded with boredom and before the laptop battery went flat – so it all worked out fine in the end.

Once that was finally done we decided to just push off down the Autostrada and see how far we got. If nothing else we wanted to get back past Verona and into some new parts of the country as we had effectively backtracked to get back to the airport.

Heading east along the A4 and I was just fiddling with the radio (Jon was driving) and when I look up we are heading for a lorry that appears to be driving sideways. Actually, it was driving sideways and straight into another lorry infront of it!! We stopped a good distance away (stopping distances you see, very important) and then drove around the mess (once someone finally let us in) and on our way again.

It's one of those things where – although I know it's not right – I wish I had had my camera to hand!

My heart was clattering after that though – with no engine in front of us and definitely no airbags, I don't really thing a front on smash into a lorry would do us much good!! Jon was right on it though, and we were fine. Phew.

Other things of note on the journey – the annoyingness of the CD player skipping over every lump in the road, the car that seemed to have unhooked itself from it's caravan on the other carriageway, and the temperature – scorching – 39 degrees in the sun at 1pm!

As there isn't much else going on, let me tell you about my Croc shoes . You might have seen about these in the likes of Heat magazine (if that's your bag) but basically they are lightweight summery comfy shoes and they are very, very cool. By all accounts all the stars have them, and so do me & Jon :) Just like movie stars. Mine are orange (as you see) and Jon's are lime green – and I have never had a pair of shoes that elicit so much attention. We had a man complement us on them in Chamonix, I have had people staring openly at my feet, children pointing my shoes out to their parents in supermarkets – quite incredible. But they are brilliant. Really comfortable all day long, walking, in the sea, in the shower, just knocking about and they are orange and are not made out of crocodiles at all!! Does it get any better than that?

Also, I forgot to tell you a slightly humorous story. When we were in Chamonix I bought a load of postcards to send (I still have some postcard duties despite this) and some stamps and everything. The other day, in the middle of the night, I realised that, because I hadn't got around to writing the 'cards, and because I was now in Italy, the French stamps I had bought were absolutely useless!! Stupid girl. So now what do I do? Get Italian stamps and send the week old postcards from another country, or not? Answers on a postcard please ;)

So, all of that drivel was to pass the time while we were on the autostrada – type and drive – well, I wasn't driving (that would be obviously dangerous) but you know what I mean.

The motorway is practical and quick but very dull.

We hadn't really decided where we were going to end up tonight – in the end we settled on Venice!! Initially Jon hadn't been that keen on stopping off in Venice – for some reason he wasn't really interested – but as we were driving right past it, and it was coming up to 6pm he changed his mind and we headed towards town. Venice is a funny place – quite apart from the canals and stuff – the provision for parking and cars is – as you might imagine – quite limited, but there is a dual carriageway from the 'mainland' to Venice, so they obviously expect some visitors to arrive in cars. Eventually we figured it out and found the campervan parking place – all part of Tronchetto car park, apparently the largest car park in Europe no less! Anyway, we were basically spending the night in a big car park with a bunch of other campervans – it was OK, not cheap, but it did mean that we could stay overnight and also spend the morning and early afternoon tomorrow looking round Venice – plus there was electicity and water available, so it was all good.

Didn't do anything though – too knackered (visitors and very tiring :) ) so another adhoc dinner (chilli made with hot dog sausages and mixed beans from the store cupboard) and early to bed.

Venice tomorrow.

Airport

Just at the airport now having dropped Will & Jo off for their flight home. Will update later but have just completed the last 3 days worth and it has been a total nightmare (the blog updating that is, not the last 3 days!).

Anyway, we had a great time - thanks to Will & Jo for coming out to visit, hope you enjoy the blog - lots of photos of Will, never met anyone who likes having their photo taken as much as he does :)

Off this afternoon across Italy and heading towards Slovenia - new plan is to go through Slovenia up to Austria! Looking forward to that, should be a bit different.

So far we have travelled 1300 miles and been away just over 2 weeks - time seems to be racing by, but we still have 5 weeks and a couple of thousand more miles to go!

The adventure continues........

x

Verona – Desenzo del Garda

Today's Route

Today's plan involved potentially doing some walking in the hills around Lake Garda, but also we didn't want to go too far north around the lake because on Monday we have to go back to Brescia to drop Will & Jo back at the airport.

We actually left the campsite just after 10am – which, was pretty good considering how late we got to bed and how much red wine we drank! Oh, the photo shows Will "riding" our now broken outside lounging chair - this was the only way to 'sit' in the chair after one of the essential metal arms snapped off last night. Jon was the culprit, he reckoned it "just broke". Yeah right :)

Drove to Garda (of Lake Garda fame) and straight through it. Stopped at a supermarket for lunch supplies and then at the side of the lake for lunch. We did have a little swim – just to cool down – ate lunch and then had a walk along the lake front. Another really attractive place – although quite tourist orientated with lots of restaurants and bars along the front.

We sat for a while and laughed at a couple in an inflatable dinghy who were clearly not getting anywhere fast.and then headed back to the van for the next excitement – Aqua Paradise.

For a mere €19 each (yes, I know – spending money like water) we were admitted to this water park. It was heaving – as you would probably predict for a hot Sunday at the end of July and that meant that there were big queues for all the rides. Everything was water based fun (incase you hadn't guessed) but was – we decided – not that great. We went on all the rides, and some were fun, some weren't, Jo & Jon bailed out of doing the extra high slide (and I don't blame them, it was really painful) and we finished the afternoon with a couple of races. It was fun though – despite being a bit rubbish. Campsite tonight – back round the West side of the lake, so that we are in the right place for our return to Brescia airport tomorrow.

Nothing much going on – Will, Jo & Jon are playing pairs and drinking wine – I am writing the blog and not drinking any wine – I had plenty last night and my poor old liver is creaking with it!

It's a problem though isn't it? When you go on holiday you tend to have a beer most nights – right? Because you are eating out, or walking about, or whatever. Well, that's all well and good until you are going to be away for 7 weeks – and then suddenly drinking every night of your holiday is looking a bit bad for you. We are going to have a dry week once W&J have gone – well, at least until we get out of Italy :)

Manerba del Garda – Verona

Today's Route

Despite feeling the effects of the Hell Bier/cocktail combo from last night, Jon and I were up and out for a run by 8:30am. Not too far – only 25 minutes – but mostly up hill, so I reckon that counts at least double :) Was nice though – actually went up to the town centre, which we hadn't seen, and admired the pretty hill top houses and little shops and the amazing view of the lake and the mountains in the distance. What a beautiful place to live.

From the run we went straight down to the beach to meet Will & Jo who were enjoying their first pre-breakfast holiday swim, and got straight in there. It's amazing how you can pass so much time just messing about in a lake. Diving off a rock, underwater swimming and handstand competitions, some swimming – just, you know, messing about. Really nice.

We left the site about 11pm after a bit of breakfast and headed to Verona. We didn't really have a clear plan at this point, it was more that we would get there, maybe camp, maybe not – have a walk about, see what you need to see in Verona............ it wasn't the best plan for sure.

We did take the Autostrada again though – much less painful than the evil back roads and relatively cheap. Also it meant that the time we saved we could use later in messing around and around Verona trying to find somewhere to camp, and then (failing that) somewhere to park, and ........... it's a familiar story.

We did manage to find somewhere to park and went for a walk into town. Lunch was first on the agenda although the first café we sat at (in the piazza facing the Arena) was, inexplicably, closed for lunch!!! How can that be??

Anyway, we did manage to eat, and also formulate something of a plan. When in Verona you are supposed to go to the opera – it's famous for that – which is held in the Verona Amphitheatre (the third largest Roman Amphitheatre don't you know). So, we decided that if we could get tickets to the opera we would stay, if we didn't, we would take the van somewhere else. A visit to the tourist information office and we knew where there was an alternative campsite and how we could get from there into town on a bus – bonza. All we needed now was the tickets.

Back to the theatre and queuing up for the last minute/returns/cancellation type tickets. We had no idea what we were up for – how much the tickets were going to be – what the opera would be like, anything.

We bought 4 un-numbered tickets in zone E. The un-numbered tickets are basically the cheap seats at the back – sitting on the stone steps, just like in Roman times!! Great fun, and for only €26 each, if we really hated it we wouldn't feel so bad about spending that sort of money. Seated tickets were about €100 as a comparison.

The plan was coming together – all that was left was an ice-cream, a trip to Juliet (of Romeo and Juliet fame)'s house so that Will could get a photo of himself holding her right tit (no kidding, everyone was doing it!) then back to the van and on for the quest for a campsite.

Appropriately we are staying at the Romeo & Guillet campsite on the Corso Milano about 7km from the city centre. A funny campsite, really big but no-one around and loads and loads of dead leaves on the ground – like autumn come early. They do have a pool though, but that required us to purchase 4 rather fetching swimming hats before we could enjoy it – as you can see, they are rather marvellous!

A quick swim, dressed, packed lunch and wine assembled, camping mat and waterproofs packed (it was thundering and raining when we left) and we caught the bus to town.

Arriving at the Arena at about 8:30, we were queuing to get in when Jon spotted someone he used to work with at Digital Steps standing a couple of metres behind us!! Small world eh?

We got into the Arena and it was amazing. We found a good spot on the stone seats (it was already pretty crowded) and set up camp. It got much more crowded, but it was a really impressive sight – especially with people lighting candles as it got dark.

Once the opera started we were pretty hemmed in and couldn't even manage to dispense our red wine from our wine box without disturbing everyone (it sounded just like one of us was having a wee right there and then) – so all picnic preparing (baguette, cheese, salami, crisps) had to wait until between acts.

The opera itself was Tosca – I won't tell you the plot incase it spoils it for you – but it doesn't have a happy ending, let's just say that.

And what was it like? Well, it was amazing that the singers were there in the amphitheatre and singing without any amplification and we could hear it all, the music was good, and the atmosphere was really worth going for alone (imagine, 2000 years ago gladiators were fighting lions down there, etc.) but, I have to say that I don't think I would go again. A big part of the problem is not understanding the language – so you really don't know what's going on, but also, personally, I just can't stand the noise that female opera singers make – it goes right through me.

We all agreed that it was a great experience though. Well worth doing if you get the chance.

A cocktail in the Piazza afterwards with everyone else and a taxi home and that was our night over and done with. Brilliant.

Iseo – Manerba del Garda (via the airport)

Today's Route


Today we were picking Will & Jo up from the optimistically named Verona Brescia airport. Optimistic because, in true Ryanair fashion, the airport is nowhere near Verona at all. God job I thought to check with Will last night which airport it was though – otherwise we would have got to Verona and then had to back track about 40km, which wouldn't have been that funny.

Anyway.

We were up and about quite late, got a couple of croissant for breakfast, and pushed off towards the airport about 12pm. On the way there we stopped off at a MASSIVE supermarket and bought some supplies – including some entertainingly names “Hell Bier” - and had a small look in the next door Decathlon sports super store . Ooooo. Like a kid in a toy shop – but restricted self to a pair of surf shorts, a new seat post for my “Top Bike” (stupidly, a quarter of the original price of the bike!), some swim flipper things and some insoles for my running shoes. Restrained I thought :)

Got to the airport at about 2pm and the flight was revisedly due at 15:18 – 35 minutes late – but that was OK as it gave me time to update the blog. For the first time this holiday I paid for my broadband access (€6 / hour) but needs must!

On the way to the airport I checked my email using my mobile phone and had a bit of a suprise. An email from my lovely friend Julie (of Arctic Sweden fame) is pregnant - thought to be an Arctic conception :) Congratulations to her and her lovely fiance Robin - hope it all goes well for you and I will definately get knitting !

Back at the airport............ Jon had made a sign to greet W&J with at the airport – stupidly I didn't take a photo for the blog (very slack, sorry) but it was a great sign – made out of the paper bag the morning croissants had come in bordered with black duck tape. What more could you ask for?

So, it's kind of odd greeting people at the airport in a foreign country – it's not like when you meet someone on home turf – but it's nice to see familiar faces in an unfamiliar place. Photo is of Will & Jo on their way to Stanstead airport - they took it, not me (that would have been pretty impossible for me to do now wouldn't it?)

This morning we had been talking about how it was going to be odd to speak to other people – for nearly 2 weeks it had just been the 2 of us and the occasional chat to someone in a language that we usually don't speak – but nice. Should be nice.

Will & Jo arrive, and give us presents – a copy of Heat magazine for me (they know the way to my heart) and a copy of today's Times for Jon, and a sticker for the van - we get in the van and head up to Lake Garda – our destination of choice for the first night.

We stayed in a place called Manerba del Garda in a nice enough campsite called La Rocca. The site was right on the side of the lake and had it's own pebbled beach and some good swimming fun. As soon as we had got pitched up we were in for a swim to cool off.

Lovely.

Dinner was pasta (when in Rome etc) and Hell Bier, and then we went to the site bar for a cocktail.

Now the bad bit. Will was just in the middle of the punchline of a particularly bad joke when Jon looked shocked and was waving his had around. He had just noticed that he was no longer wearing his wedding ring!!!! This was a bit of a downer on the evening as you might imagine, but what can you do? That's not to say that I wasn't a bit upset about it – as was Jon – but these things happen I suppose.

Looking at the photographic evidence later on was pretty inconclusive, but in the photo taken when we got out of the sea this afternoon it was gone – so the best guess is that it is now at the bottom of Lake Garda :(

At least this solves my dilemma about what to buy Jon for his forthcoming birthday I suppose.

PS. I have changed the comments options so that you can post comments without being a member of blogger - I didn't realise you could do that, but you can, so if you fancy it - please leave a comment!

Monza – Iseo

This morning we were super good. I woke Jon up at 8:30am with my phone alarm playing MC Hammer's "You Can't Touch This" and we ran down to get our bikes from the station. Was only 17 minutes of running and then 5 back, but it was nice – and the bikes were where we had left them and still intact, which was a bonus. (Picture of my bike for you - "Top Bike" no less!)

We had been back a little while, and I had taken out and hung up the washing I had put on before we left (so organised) and I decided I wanted to do a bit more running. Jon said he would come with me, and so we set off round the park we were camping in. Hadn't realised until we cycled back through it how nice it was – and it seemed a shame to waste it.

It was pretty hot by then though – about 10am. We ran about 3km and were, we thought, on a route all the way around the perimeter of the park – at least that's what the map said. HAVE WE NOT LEARNED YET? Don't pay any attention to the maps – they are all nonsense. Although the park map showed a path all the way round, after about 6km we discovered that we couldn't complete our circuit because of the racing track and a wall – no go.

What else to do but walk a bit and run a bit, find another map, cut through the middle of the racing track (no-one seemed bothered even though we clearly shouldn't have been there) and out through a hole in the fence the other side. We made it back to the campsite with another 50 minutes of running and a bit of walking under our belts, and the welcome discovery that check out time was 2pm not 12pm which I had originally thought.

Funny how you can make the time stretch – if we had had to check out at 12 we would have done, but because we didn't we were rushing around to get packed away at 1:45pm! And it's not like we have much to do or anything, well - apart from having our breakfast of beans and sausage on toast :)

So, we were back on the road and heading through Monza in the vain hope of finding the one place in that area that sold Camping Gaz bottles. All we did though was manage to get ourselves nearly stuck in a very narrow alley!

No luck on the Gaz.

After the last couple of days of nightmare navigation, we decided to take the Autostrada to Bergamo – our next destination – paying for the 'pleasure' of hopefully not getting lost. Finding the Autostrada wasn't all that easy, but once we did it was all plain sailing.

Bergamo was nice – we had a ride on the funicular up to the castle, and a wander round that and the old town. All very pleasant.

Nowhere to stay though – so we pushed off to Lago d'Iseo a few km northeast of Bergamo.

We found a nice campsite near Iseo – nice but totally rammed full of people. We had been warned before we set off that campsites in Italy were like this – but this was our first real experience of it. There are lots of caravans there that are set up for the season by Italian families – they have huge awnings on, stuffed full of 'real' (rather than camping) furniture, fridge freezers, televisions and even washing machines!! But it was alright. And we arrived in time to have a swim in the lovely circular pool (must have been about 25m diameter) before it closed.

Also – extra bonus – the on site shop had a Gaz bottle the right size, so now we are fully gazzed up!

Some pasta and a bottle of wine and we cycled down into Iseo town to see what was going on. Nice place. Lots of nice little cafes and things down by the water, and loads of people just milling around. Lovely.

We picked a seat in one place that did cocktails (I am getting a bit of a taste for them) and finished the Cribbage “Lecco Cup” challenge – which Jon won. :(

We also got 2 games into the “Lakes Plate” challenge – finished up 1 all on that – so all to play for!

A good day today. Seemed to do loads, and not so stressful – which is good.

Milan (cont)...........

So, as I said ealier, we were in Milan today. We did really well – got up and had breakfast and then off on our bikes to a train station near by (we actually found it and everything) and caught a train to Milan.

The station we started at was Biassimo-Lesmo-Parco and it was about 35 minutes into Milan Garibaldi station. Easy. And, we didn't pay. We didn't mean to fare dodge – just that the machine at the station looked like it hadn't worked for years, and no-one came to ask for tickets – so we just didn't bother (we later found out – when we bought tickets for the train home that it was only €3.40 for both of us – so hardly saved ourselves a fortune!).

Milan was nice – although really we just mooched about a bit – very slowly because it was so hot – and saw some of the sights.

The castle (notice the free wi-fi tree that Jon is sat under)

The Duomo Church thing

The McDonalds Bar (what is the world coming to?)

The crazy glass dome thing

and a load of scooters.

Definitely have to get a scooter when we get home – always say that after a visit to Italy – never done it yet :)

So, it was a nice day – we headed back to the station in plenty of time, stopping for a small beer on the way......

We bought tickets back to our station, distracted slightly by the chap at the ticket machine next to us not only being the most impatient man in the world (he was hassling the chap buying tickets before him and then was showing his displeasure at the speed of the machine when it was his turn) but also, and really, really humorously, getting his credit card stuck in the machine because he tried to put it in the place where you were supposed to put money notes :) Ha ha ha.

Shouldn't laugh really, but it was so funny, especially because he was so very impatient.

Anyway, we bought our tickets – the machine was not very easy to navigate – and legged it for the train that the machine had told us – the 19:12 to Lecco.

On the train - all going well – making lots of jokes about ending up in Rome, etc. First few stations we recognised, not so sure about the next couple – but then, we weren't paying that much attention on the way there – starting to get a bit nervous, been on the train a bit of a long while now, did it take that long on the way there? Jon claims to recognise a pile of gravel that we pass, but then the train rounds a corner and there is an impressive vista between a couple of mountains. Bugger. We definitely would have remembered that. Where are we going????

I get a bit of a flap on, and make Jon go and ask the guard. We are on the wrong train and we have to wait until it gets to Lecco at the end of the line, catch a train back towards Milan and hope for the best. No trains back to where we started at this time of night though. Arse. On the up though, at least the guy didn't ask for the extra €25 that we theoretically owed for our extra travels!! Off at Lecco, feeling a bit stupid, 30 minutes to wait for the next train – decide a) to get off at Monza and get a taxi and b) to risk not buying train tickets (NOW we are fare dodgers). Of course now, for the first time in a week and a half, it's cold, and I am wearing shorts and a vest top. Jon offers me his woolly hat – which I decline.

Just before the train arrives a couple of chaps in police uniform show up and wait ..... we are convinced they are ticket inspectors – but by now it's too late to go to the ticket machine, so we decide that if they are, we will just bluff it.

Tense times.

To cut a long story short – it was fine. We got to Monza without tickets, got off, straight into a taxi (cost us €20 but it could have been worse, we could have ended up stuck in Milan or something) and back to the van with the plan to fetch the bikes in the morning.

We celebrated with some pasta and fresh pesto, and a bottle of the weirdest wine you ever tasted – fizzy red wine. Interesting.

What a day though.

We can't decide why it is that we are so rubbish at finding our way places at the moment. We are blaming the heat!!

Milan

Just a quick one - more another time - sat under a tree in the centre of Milan, found free wi-fi first time of trying (I can feel the vibes) and have updated the last 3 days of our trip.

It is very hot at the moment.

Too hot (~38degrees) - but Milan is quite nice, and we have sightseeing to do - so I'll catch you later.

x

Orta San Giulio - Monza (eventually!)

Today's Route

We moved from the car park/over night camping spot to another car park a bit down the road as soon as we got up. It was quite late – 9:30am, but we had been mostly trying to steal back some of the sleep that had been robbed from us because of the extra hot weather. You know how it is, you just lie there thinking that if you don't move you will some how get cold? Well, it's like that in the van, except that the bed is only ¾ width and we can only have so many windows open due to the risk of insects/murderers that sort of thing. Last night there was also a bit of a rain storm – which is franckly cruel, because we were then waiting for the cool that usually follows – it didn't.

Also, further bad news – the fridge has either completely packed up or it just can't cope with the temperatures (I know how it feels). It's been pretty rubbish since we started out – more so than on our pre-Europe test trips. We can't figure it out. Anyway, last night it wasn't even trying, and by midday today everything in the fridge may as well have been outside. The cheese had melted, the margarine was long gone..........I'm sure you get the picture. It's a real problem. Jon tried to take it out – apparently if you take the fridge out and turn it upside down it often fixes it – unfortunately we don't know how to take it out, but if anyone has any ideas??

Anyway, that aside, the car parking place had a really nice little terrace beach type thing next to it – so we were straight in the lake for a cool off. Pretty much we spent the next 5 hours alternately swimming and reading, and maybe getting a little bit sun burned – but only a bit. Honest.

My worst sun burned bit is where my watch was for the first week. I admit I have taken my watch off now and am trying to get rid of the tan line at least a bit – it was just too obvious. This is incredibly vain I know – and really annoying for Jon because I just can't live without knowing what the time is, so I am constantly asking. I keep thinking that I will have to put my watch back on, and now that the mark has had a bit of sun to it, maybe I will.

At about 3pm we headed off – next stop Milan, or at least the idea was to head for Monza, where apparently there was a camp site, with the plan to catch a train into Milan tomorrow and see what it was like. Of course, things are never quite so simple.

It was all going so well – Jon was driving, I was navigating – we were going alright, we even saw a sign for Monza and then............. it all went wrong, and we don't even know how. The thing is that Italian sign posts are, quite frankly, crap. At one junction the place you are heading for will be signed, at the next – it won't, so you think that it must be just straight on, otherwise they would have told you – right? Nah. Course not.

We ended up in Milan, although we really wanted to avoid it, and we were there for nearly 2 hours, trying to find our way out! Now I type it I want to laugh, it was so ridiculous. We were trying to follow signs in the general direction of out of town, but then we would see a sign pointing us back the other way, or wouldn't see a sign until we drove past the junction, and the traffic lights – well, we have decided that – hang the expense – we are going to take the toll motorways from now on, it's just got to be easier. (This photo is of the 2 lane road we were on - how many lanes of traffic can you see???)

Luckily (miraculously) despite me being in a faint state of panic, our senses of humour didn't leave us today, and – against all the odds – we not only found Monza, but we also found the campsite – right next to the Formula 1 racing circuit (I can see the stands as I sit here outside the van). The fact that it took us nearly 6 hours to cover 50 miles can be quickly skirted over, as can the fact that I am being bitten even further to death (I had a bad one last night) because I am sat in my chair outside the van. These insects seem to respect neither citronella candles or 50% DEET insect repellent. Aaaaargh.

Dinner was a little inpromptu – burger and mashed potato (it was supposed to be potato salad but the potatoes cooked faster than I expected), with a bottle of extra warm rose wine (think mulled wine temperature and you wouldn't be far off), our first, and original gas bottle finally ran out (we were beginning to think it was magic) and the fridge appears to be working in some shape or form now we are plugged into the electricity (all mod-cons here you know, and rightly so at €22 a night!). It's a nice place though, and now we are here things are back to being pretty relaxed.

The van is doing us proud – the engine only really gets hot when we are going up hill, today it was braving the 40 degree heat (I kid you not) without any trouble at all. Not bad for a 21 year old!

Tomorrow our plan is still to go into Milan – if we can find a train station – and then head off so that we make it to Verona on Thursday, to give us time to scout it out before Will & Jo get there, or, more realistically, to find our way there and out to the airport in time!!

Italy is still not going that well for us :(

Then again - it beats work :)

Brussons – Orta San Guilio

Today's route

Today was a funny one.

We woke up at a reasonable time and didn't end up paying for the night (half expected a rude awakening by a traffic warden or something at 6am – didn't happen), so that went some way to easing yesterday's parting with money pains!

We headed straight off after a brew – nothing much to keep us in Brussons.

The hill down was interesting – knowing that we had a bit of an issue with the brakes once they get hot, Jon was mainly taking it very slowly in 2^nd gear and using the engine to keep us slow. It meant that we had quite a few scary Italian overtaking moments, and it was all a bit slow and noisy – but we did get down without dying, which has to be a bonus right?

Our next destination was Lago D'Orta – a smallish lake just past Turin.

I was driving.

It was hot, Italian sign posting and maps are rubbish, it took us about 3 days to travel 40 miles. Senses of humour were missing presumed dead. It wasn't pretty.

Luckily though, we did find the lake in the end and somewhere along the way we had stopped at a Carrefore supermarket and bought a second bicycle for the van. Where else (well, apart from China probably) can you go and get your day's shopping – including a bike – and still only pay €89? Honestly. The bike isn't the greatest – it weighs a bit and the seat post isn't long enough, but it was only €49 so what can you expect??

Anyway, back to the lake.

We were heading for Orta – the main town on the lake, but found a car park and a bit of beach access on the way so we took the opportunity for a quick swim. Quite marvellous.

On reaching Orta we burned towards the town centre – maybe deliberately not understanding the “no access except for residents” signs on the way in. Unfortunately there was a chap in a fluoro jacket ready to stop us – pointing at the sign and making me complete a 27 point turn in the worlds smallest space and with no power steering. Driving the van is lovely but it is a bit of a full body work out!

Unabashed we headed back up the hill to some camping car parking we had spotted, paid our €5 for the night and then took the bikes down into town.

What a nice place. If you get the chance – happen to be passing perhaps – take a look. Interestingly the town centre is traffic free, it's all little streets and pastel painted buildings, with cafes looking out over the lake and the Isla d'Orta (an island village in the middle of the lake). Really very pretty. Having decided that since cocktails were as pricey as the beer at one of these cafes, we opted for cocktails (obviously). I had a strawberry daiquiri and Jon had a Caiprainia. So sophisticated.

After that and the deciding game of cribbage for the heavily contested “King of the mountains” cup (which I won) we had to cycle back up the hill. I can assure you that there is quite a bit of difference between a £30 bike and anything else – especially when you are trying to get it up a hill!! I was worried that the cranks would snap, that the gears were going to break, that the chain would come off.............. actually, it was fine, a bit of clicking and creaking but ultmately fine, and I was really pleased that I managed to cycle all the way up this really steep hill (and I mean like Everest really) withough walking! New thinking is that if I ride this bike around all holiday, by the time I get home and back on my own bike I will be INCREDIBLY fast. That's the theory anyway :)