Coffee in Verona on the Way to Lake Garda

 Monte Tondo Winery to Peschiera del Garda

In Piazza Bra outside the arena in Verona

There were a couple of things I wanted to share before getting on the road, so to speak. Firstly, check out these empty plastic water bottles …

Something that I hadn’t seen before we landed in Munich for this trip but now see everywhere here in the EU, at least every we’ve been on this trip. Every plastic drink bottle we’ve encountered has a lid that does not screw off when you open it. Instead, as shown in the photo, it stays attached to the bottle. Simple idea but a great way to stop these random bits of plastic ending up in the environment.

The other thing was this car that was parked outside the Monte Tondo Winery this morning at 6:20 when we went out to get our bikes ready for departure …

So what, some of you might think. I know Di wondered why I was bothered taking a photo of the back end of a fairly standard looking automobile. It’s not the license plate - which shows the car is registered in Italy and part of the European Union identification system - but the marque of the vehicle. Most blokes I know would know that this is a very expensive car, which shows that someone with LOTS of money must have also been staying overnight. It drew my attention anyway - it didn’t have a bike rack or a tow ball to accommodate one so it wouldn’t be much use to me. 🤪

We had an uneventful first twenty or so kilometres before reaching Verona. Traffic was fairly steady but because we were on minor roads passing in and out of some towns along the way it wasn’t hectic. In fact some of the time we were actually moving faster than vehicular traffic. Sedate. Cruisy. Not going very far very fast, but we weren’t going very far today anyway. Even with some vehicles of this size I found it fairly peaceful …

We did pass along some nice sections of road lined with trees and, although it was the warmest start we had yet, we did get shade at times that stopped us from getting overheated. You can see how early it is in the photo below by the length of the shadows …

Here’s what the route looks like for today’s journey. Another pretty flat ride, but taking us through Verona for a coffee and to enjoy being back in the Piazza Bra on the northern side of the old Roman colosseum. 

The route was generally straightforward and very easy to follow, with just one tricky little dodge onto a short, dilapidated bike path to link two small roads. Par for the course here in Italy it seems, but we think our next leg will be very straightforward. I will report on whether that’s true or not next time around!

We saw a sign about five kilometres from the centre saying we were now in Verona. That prompted a little discussion between Di and me about the last time we were in Verona. We arrived by bus and asked some youngsters where we should get off. I can’t remember the details exactly, but we both remember that the instructions they gave us took us on a roundabout route of about an hour to eventually get to the centre and our hotel a few steps from the arena! We can laugh now but we weren’t laughing much at the time!

Our ride today into the town was much more straightforward. We knew we were very near the centre when we crossed the Adige River, which is very large at this point, not far from flowing into the Adriatic Sea. We will be riding up the Adige River starting the day after tomorrow and will follow further and further upstream for several days and about 225 kilometres, past Rovereto, Bolzano and to the top of Reschen Pass.

Here is a video showing an attractive street that led us to just near the old city walls and then riding past them to find our way to the arena and adjacent piazza …

Just outside the arena we had to deviate from our route a little bit because a couple of the roads on the eastern side were being worked on but we found our way into the piazza without too much difficulty …

A part of the northern façade of the arena

A beautiful statue on the edge of a small garden at the northwestern end of the piazza

Lovely buildings along the edge of the piazza, with café stretching along their length

As we were leaving the central part of the city we of course got another couple of glimpses of the majestic walls that enclose the old city …

The route after Verona was busy at first but no-one seemed to be in a desperate hurry apart from one young woman who was came charging up to our road from a smaller road and only screeched to a stop at the last moment when it looked like she might crash into us if she didn’t. This behaviour seems to be a bit of a thing here in Italy as we’ve seen one or two examples of it every day since we’ve been in the country. Mostly young whippersnappers it seems but there is the occasional lead-footed codger amongst them! 

There was at least one more quiet little town along our route with its obligatory church tower and as attractive as the general standard that has been set by now …

Actually, that photo might have been from before we got to Verona. I’ve lost track a bit. Need to be better organised I guess. 🙄

I’ve left the elevation profile for near the end of the post for a reason. See the steep section about three-quarters of the way along? It is definitely after Verona. We gradually gained height after leaving Verona until we came to that steep-looking thing. And it was a bit steep for a couple of hundred metres, ramping up to between 9 and 11 percent. It came as a bit of a wake-up call to the legs, which hadn’t had to come with any steep pinches for the past two and a half days.

It was a delight to arrive on the shores of Lake Garda, especially as when we arrived it was still morning, there was a gentle breeze off the lake and it hadn’t warmed up too much.

We had a long slow lunch just around the corner from our accommodation, using up the time we needed to wait until we could occupy our room. We started with a shared plate of seafood as an entree, This is what it looks like after we’d devoured about half of it …

Di was disappointed with her main but mine was delicious but much larger than I’d expected. After having that great seafood platter to start - which we believe was a double serve due to communication issues - thee was no way I was going to be able to get through it all. I felt bad about it because the chef obviously took pride in his work and I didn’t like sending some if it back. 

We got into our rooms, washed the two sets of cycling kit from the past couple of days and then both had a nice little nap. Such is the life of a couple of flash-packing septuagenarians. 

Tomorrow will be the last day we will share with our friend Michael, Louise, Jane and Duckworth on this adventure. It would have been the last day for us together anyway on this trip because our plans had us heading in different directions.  But we haven’t been able to share the past couple of days with the four of them leading up to our parting here on the southeast corner of Lake Garda, because of Michael’s illness getting worse along with Jane’s tyre troubles and trying to sort out a solution before any more long days in the saddle.

 Wee were really looking forward to sharing some more fun tougher before heading in different directions. With Michael’s condition continuing to deteriorate he decided to get blood tests done in Treviso the day before yesterday but they did not shed any light on the situation, so the doctor ordered a test for Tick Borne Encephalitis. Today, the word came through that the test was POSITIVE, which is a pretty negative result but at least Michael now knows why he has been feeling weaker and weaker as the days have passed since he discovered the dead tick he’d been carrying around for a day. There is no known therapeutic procedure for this disease: prolonged and complete rest is apparently the only solution. 

But to have our time together end this way is so disappointing, and very devastating for Michael. He’d worked so hard to construct our shared itinerary and didn’t deserve this outcome.

The Three Cliftons and Duckworth had scheduled three nights together here in Peschiera del Garda before heading into the Dolomites for a stay in Bormio and riding up the famed Stelvio Pass, then heading back to where they started this trip in Samoens, France. Instead, after those three days are up, Michael and Louise look like making their way back to Samoens early, and waiting there until their scheduled flight leaves for home in Australia. Jane and Duckworth will continue with their plans to spend some time in Bormio and then wend their way back to where they started before flying home. We’ll all have a meal together tomorrow before Dianne and I head north  the next day to continue our journey.

This image shows how we’ve proceeded from Salzburg in the northeast of our loop to Peschiera del Garda in the southwest …

We’ve come over halfway now. Hopefully you’ll hear from me in another two days time; you’ll have been able to read this blog and open the new link I sent for yesterday’s blog and you’ll be able to read the next installment that I intend to write from Rovereto. I’ve got my fingers crossed …