Thursday 26th – Saturday 28th September 2024 (days 13 – 15).
Thursday was a complete wash-out. We had moved further down Lake Maggiore to Verbania, a city which is on a headland, on the west coast of the lake. It threatened rain on the way down and arriving around 11am, we managed to just about get set up on the Sosta (the equivalent of a French aire), when it started to rain. And rain it did, in Biblical proportions, not stopping, even briefly, until around 10pm. We did not venture out of the van, so Verbania unfortunately remained unexplored.
Friday – Lake Como:
Friday morning saw us move on to a small place called Dongo, on the north western shore of Lake Como. We chose to go down Lake Maggiore and then across the intervening land towards the city of Como, then up the lake heading north following the shoreline to Dongo, near the top of the lake.
It was not a good trip. The roads were very confusing and the sat nav seemed to always want to go the most convoluted way. By the time we reached the shores of Lake Como, we were tired and the sat-nav nearly went for a swim.
The Lake is, however beautiful and the drive up alongside was excellent, even if the roads remained challenging. We encountered many very narrow places and loads of roadworks together with men in high-viz jackets waving red and green paddles. At one stage we were waiting whilst one of the paddle wavers had a long conversation with a lorry driver, keeping a huge long queue of traffic waiting. I assume he was not just socialising.
After we had parked-up on site in Dongo, we took the bikes for a ride along the shore cycle/footpath, not straying far in case the weather turned to rain.
It was definitely threatening, as there were frequent flashes of lightening over the mountains. We returned just in time to avoid being soaked, but had enjoyed the change of activity. To the north, we came across a very old chapel which was open to visitors:
The more recently constructed church, alongside, which is in use, was very ornate inside:
Saturday – The Dolomites:
The general plan is to head towards Venice, so this morning we decided to move over to the next large lake in that direction, Lake Garda. This was a longer day’s drive, especially as we planned to take the scenic route, taking us across some high mountain passes and affording us some fine views of the Dolomite mountain range.
We arrived at the site at Malcesine, in the early evening, having had a brief glimpse of Lake Garda. We will travel down the lake tomorrow and explore further.
"See-u-Later" 