Italy 2012

Lorraine said I had to see the Italian Lakes, so here we are. We had left Ljubljana on Thursday 2nd August after having a quick look around the city and headed for Lake Garda travelling through some picturesque countryside enroute. It was a hot day for driving, at least 33C in the cab with all the windows down. After around 4 hours driving we set the Sat Nav for a campsite/Stell Platz in Malcesine.

Well the SatNav decided to take us via the scenic route. In many places we were down to 1 lane and it was very steep and twisty. Ultimately it put us back on the main road thankfully. This photo doesn't really show you what it was like.

A view of the shore that evening as we went for a walk.

After walking for what seemed liked hours, at least 2, we came across this little restaurant where you could sit out on the dock and eat. I thought it would be really romantic if Lorraine treated me to a meal there, she took one look at the prices on the menu and said NO. NOW that's a loving wife for you!!!

I had to settle for more walking along the seafront and the views of the castle.

There are some lovely little beaches along the front.

Lake Garda was a pretty place with many small towns on it's shores.

Lorraine getting some badly needed Retail Therapy. Unfortunately for me, Malcesine has lots of shoe shops, and we visited a fair few of them and it was in the high 30's, thankfully Italy is the land of the icecream and was I grateful.

The Stell Platz was called Camping Lombardi and was split into 2 sections. The first being a Stell Platz with it's own showers, toilets and motorhome service point and the second being the full blown campsite. Both had access to an excellent bar and a little shop. At 17 Euro per camper and 1 Euro for electricity I reckon it was a very reasonable site for the Italian Lakes.

The following morning we moved onto Lake Ledro to the west of Lake Garda but all the sites were full so we carried on to Lake Idro. We missed the first site at the top of the lake where the windsurfing and kiteboarding was happening and then found Camping Pilu in Anfo. This was a busy site but they had a few free places so I grabbed one of them. It was a lovely shady pitch with access to the lake only 50 metres away. There was a popular bar, a well stocked shop and 2 Pizzerias within 5 minutes walk from the pitch. In fact it was so good we thought we would stay another day and just chill out

Our rather cramped but shaded pitch. Nothing really more than 50 metres away.

At the bottom of the roadway we were parked on, a rocky but easy access to the lake for refreshing swims.

A haven for families with small boats.

The views from the lake shore were fanatstic, the water was clear and cool and the mountains just rose up from nowhere.

We left Lake Idro on the Sunday and decided to head for Lake Viverone to the west of Lake Maggiore unfortunately missing out the rest of the large lakes but I had arranged to be in La Plagne to see my daughter and grand daughter on Monday for a few days. I don't know what was happening on Lake Garda, or Ledro, but for 20 miles the cars were nose to tail heading north. We encountered numerous kamakazi motorcyclists in the tunnels where supposedly you can't overtake but they did, at great speed and on our side of the road. Somewhat scarey!!

We arrived at the north end of Lake Viverone and travelled down the east side passing 1 Sosta and 2 campsites, all looking rather full. I had found this "new" Stell Platz in the german book called "Acqua di Lago", what a gem of a place. There were plenty of places free and the owner was exceptionally helpful even though we disturbed him in the middle of a large family lunch. It even has a separate BBQ spot with tongs and grating already there built into a derilict old building. The owner also has his own beach access and slipway for boats. It cost Euro 15 including electricity and a free bottle of wine for the night. The Scottish in me reckons that's not a bad deal. It has toilets, showers and a motorhome service point. You can find out about it on www.acquadilagoviverone.it

A view of the stell platz and you can see how roomy it was. It overlooked Lake Viverone.

The huge BBQ area, all you needed was the charcoal.

A thunder storm has started so we won't be using the BBQ tonight.

The following morning the owner was there early to help us service the motorhome and bid us a goodbye.

We decided to skip the rest of the Lakes as we had arranged to meet my daughter and grandaughter in La Plagne on Monday.