Dolomites, Lake Garda & Lake Como

Back to Segusino

After Venice, we made our way back to the camper stop at Segusino, where we stayed for a couple of nights to allow the dust to settle on the excitement of the last few days and so Rach could spend some quality time with her engagement ring.

We bumped into John & Kellie, another lovely 'vanlife' couple off of that Instagram. I always use inverted commas when saying 'vanlife' because I'm yet to come to terms with it as a word. Rach sat with Kellie in the drizzle with coffees and showed her her engagement ring. Later on, Rach came back into the van and showed me her engagement ring.

We had another stroll into the village and bumped into Creamy Paw again.

Dolomites in the dark

We made our way to the Dolomites in poor weather, knowing it was going to be freezing in the region. Rach was very nervous about it all. I was excited. The drive into the dark, ever-growing mountains through the rain and fog in dying light was incredible. 

After arriving in the heart of the Dolomites we parked up at a park4night recommendation in the dark. We were in the woods at the base of a mountain. I jumped out of the van to take a little look around, using my phone's torch. This is a ritual for me after arriving somewhere new. Rach hates it as it 'lets cold in', so I have to open and close the sliding door behind me as quickly as possible. The van was still warm after a long drive, but Rach was bracing herself for the onset of the cold in the night. I arrived back at the van after a minute as I couldn't see anything. It was pitch dark. I was looking forward to the view in the morning though. We got into bed and Rach showed me her engagement ring.

Dolomites in the morning

As predicted, it was a beautiful spot. We were surrounded by lush, green woods and a grandiose, silvery mountain rose up into the blue morning sky behind us. We went for a little explore of the immediate surroundings, walking along the glistening river which ran past the rear of the van. There was a huge, steaming pile of gigantic logs a few metres from where we'd parked, which I had my 'professional' photo taken in front of, to go on the staff page of the website of a client we were doing some work for. Didn't use it in the end because I'd managed to look like The Joker in a gilet.

We spent the next hour or so wandering further along the mountain range in the sunshine, surrounded by amazing natural scenery. We passed some sheep farmers on the way. One looked like a troll. He greeted us as we passed him and his van. As we walked passed the back of the van we saw a heaving bunch of animals in a wooden cage built into the rear of the van. We couldn't tell if they were goats or sheep... one even looked like a dog. Bit weird.

Due to the cold overnight, the van struggled to start up when we went to leave, which worried us a bit. This was the main reason we decided not to travel deeper into the Dolomites, despite really wanting to. Instead, we headed west, towards the slightly warmer weather. We'd visited the Dolomites too late in the year really. 'No thanks to that stupid engagement in Venice', I thought, as Rach showed me her engagement ring and we pulled off to join the road system once more.

We eventually arrived at a free camper stop, with free electricity, up in the hills overlooking Trento, a large town on the west border of the Dolomites region. Throughout our time in Europe we've had many great views from elevated spots situated above towns - I'm thinking of Bilbao, Clermont-Ferrand, Dubrovnik, San Marino, Riomaggiore - and this amazing view of northern Italy was definitely to be placed in that category, especially under the blue skies of a warm day. We took advantage of the heat and had showers outside the van, but only after the only other camper there had left, as our bums are secret.

I must've spent about four hours in total that afternoon trying to find the best free place to park up on Lake Garda, our next destination. It proved difficult.

Lake Garda 

We opted to head for a famous town on the northern tip of Lake Garda, called Riva del Garda. On the way there, we stopped for lunch at a little free stop on the roadside in the hills above the lake. What a view! We took a few pictures, had a sandwich, Rach showed me her engagement ring, then we continued on the winding decline into Riva del Garda.

I'd found a small, cheap car park, which had a spare slot, right in the middle of the town. Only trouble was, the place was really only meant for cars. The van overhung quite a lot. We decided to hang around the van for 45 minutes or so, then had a drink at a bar across the road, so we could keep an eye on things. If, in that time, someone showed up with an issue, at least we were still around. Nobody did though, so off we trotted to see the town.

Riva del Garda

It's a beautiful place. The gorgeous panoramic of the famous lake and bordering mountains was just as impressive at ground level as it had been up in the hills at lunchtime. We noticed a little white blob sat high up in the mountainside to our right. Rach was sure it was a church, but I wasn't - how could there be a church that high up on a steep mountain side? We looked it up. It was! A tiny chapel called Santa Barbara. Incredible.

We enjoyed walking the cosy little streets which made up the inner town and had an excellent Chinese at a local Chinese. Rrrrrrrrrrr.

On the walk back through the town, we were entertained by a party of ducks partying in the decorative water features which lined the river front. There were dozens of them, all rowdy and up for it. We noticed that the church up in the mountain was now lit up orange, which looked magical. We also noticed a boat hire service at the lake and decided we'd give it a go the next day.

Boating on Lake Garda 

We had such a great time out on the lake in our pedalo. Three full hours. We went way out into the middle of the lake before Rach advised we should probably not go any further. We were surrounded by sail boats and small motor boats coming and going. A big passenger boat slid by us. Rach waved and they waved back. At one point, I got to my feet and delivered one of my favourite Holte End chants, like the football hooligan I aspire to be. We arrived back at the shore and pootled around a little bay where we managed to annoy a massive swan. I seem to always be annoying swans. Rach showed me her engagement ring while we peddled. I say we, I did the majority of the peddling, like the gentleman I aspire to be.

Lake Como

Fuck me is Lake Garda huge. We were driving around it for what seemed like a long eternity on our way to Varenna, a small town on the east shore of the other famous lake of the region, Lake Como. There was only one stretch of road to park the van for visiting Varenna and all the places were taken when we arrived, so we decided to make our way back to a spot we'd passed about ten minutes before, near Olcio.

I'm so glad we did. It was one of the best views out of the back doors we'd had all trip. Right on the water's edge of the stunning Lake Como. Words can't do it justice so just have a look at the picture at the bottom of this blog entry. We spent the afternoon and evening enjoying the view, then made our way back to the original spot in Varenna at about 10pm and got a space.

Varenna

Varenna is lovely. A little smaller than Riva del Garda but just as pretty. We walked the 'Lover's Promenade', visited the incredibly old chapel with the even older ancient frescoes, and had a great croissant and coffee at the lake front. We also had lunch at the restaurant next door. After ordering, a couple on a table right on the water's edge left. When we asked if we could move to that table we were unbelievably told ''no''. This quietly infuriated me. I seriously considered throwing my toys out the pram and cancelling our order, but decided against it because I was starving. How anal is that though?

Rach pushed me and my pram back to the van, then we hiked up to the old cemetery above the town, spending some time looking at all the graves and expensive tombs. We then carried on to a nearby waterfall before climbing even higher into the hills for a brilliant panorama of Lake Como. It was some view. Having said that, the very best view of Lake Como is achieved by looking at it on a map. When you look at it on a map, you'll see that it looks exactly like a skinny Marge Simpson with no arms running in a westerly direction in flippers. Marvelous entertainment.

Our little afternoon jaunt knackered us out, so we went back to the van for a few hours kip, then ventured out again in the evening for a drink. The place was completely dead. We managed to get a cocktail at the place we'd had the croissants at earlier in the day, before they closed and we headed back for the night. It was a bit of an anti-climactic final evening in Italy, but when we got into bed Rach showed me her engagement ring, which more than made up for it.

Leaving Italy

We were woken in the morning by a fairly loud bang on the back of the van. Rach shot up out of bed and ran outside. I opened the back doors (cleverer). Some twat had attempted to park his car in the 8 centimetre gap between our back bumper and the end of the permitted parking area at the side of the road. What in the fuck was this guy doing? As Rach was trying to tell him he couldn't park there, I realised I recognised the guy. It was only a waiter from the anal restaurant the day before! Amazingly, he had a look on his face as if we were the ones putting him out. He arsed around for few minutes more, on and off his phone, before speeding off. He seemed quite stressed. We wondered if it was because he was late for work. It was only after he'd gone that we realised there were loads of free spaces in front of us! Fuck knows what he was playing at. Luckily, there was no damage to our van's arse.

As we were now awake, we got our shit together and got on the road out of Italy. We'd spent nearly four months in the country, so it was quite weird crossing the border into Switzerland. It was even weirder when we got to our first Swiss park up and discovered we were actually back in Italy...

Italy in Switzerland

We were on a quiet car park beneath a humongous old closed down Casino, facing Lake Lugano, on a small Italian enclave situated within Switzerland. We'd just happened to drive into it. Crazy. Italy just didn't wanna let us go, clearly. We went to empty our toilet at a nearby camper area, entering Switzerland and leaving Italy for the second time in an hour. 

On this short trip we discovered just how ludicrously expensive everything is in Switzerland. I looked up the Swiss minimum wage - it equates to 40k a year. Somehow though (and thank Christ), their Lidls and Aldis are not that much more expensive than anywhere else in Europe. If they had been, we'd probably be stuck in Switzerland right now, living in a field somewhere in cardboard boxes, borrowing cups of sugar from the cows. And milk.

We made our way back into the tiny, Swiss engulfed piece of Italy, to the Casino dwelling which would serve as home for the next couple of days while we waited to meet Adam and Tania, of 'Jits into the Sunset' fame, on their way through to the proper Italy. 

Rach took her engagement ring off to do some cleaning or something, so I slipped it into my pocket when she wasn't looking, then pretended I didn't now where it was when she went to put it back on. Just for a bit of a laugh, like. I lasted all of about five minutes before buckling when she started taking the van apart. I handed over the precious and she vowed to never, ever take it off ever again. Then she showed me it.

Recommended park up near Lake Como (pictured):

https://park4night.com/lieu/40112/