It is rare I have just a single photo of my day, but torrential rains took away our lake garda mountain views and bar a quick dog walk and pizza outing we were becalmed in the van.
Both Mark and I tried our best to amuse ourselves with a never ending list of books, studies, route planning, cooking and music but only being able to walk 4 paces certainly makes us restless. My bum got sore from sitting.
Eventually we braved the elements despite Ernests protests, and given we were then wet, I went for a token 1 mile jog before eating pizza again.
The sun came back!
Today was much brighter and I had another short jog along the lakeside before driving on to Brescia. Got to love the Italians romantic nature with this sign.
Brescia
Driving into Brescia requires all my attention as italian drivers pull out in every direction. The main carpark was already full which meant 30+ minutes driving around until we struck lucky and found a central spot outside a funeral director’s. The owner evidently loved dogs and spotting Ernest sat on my lap in the drivers seat and came out to give him a fuss (Mabel tried her best to scare him off 🙈).
Alongside a central city walk I’d marked a few historic sites to visit. The castle which has great views, Grave of the Dog – a family mausoleum and Chiara Bertoldi Guida Turistica Autorizzata which doesn’t actually exist!
While wandering around the centre I confessed, we have a habit of visiting these smaller towns and traipsing around historical sites that we often have little interest in, just because that’s all that’s really there. It sounds awful but we just aren’t big history buffs so a lot of it is wasted on us. Except ofcourse the aesthetics, typically good views and enjoyment of walking.
Instead we seem to prefer the extremes…cities with quirky things to find and great food, or complete wilderness in forests, mountains, beaches…anywhere in nature.
So with this in mind instead of driving to Bergama near Milan I took a detour north to a little mountain village called Zone. The hairpin drive up had breathtaking views over Lake Iseo (until the clouds descended) and there are multiple walking trails in the vicinity, including The Forest of Gnomes.
This steep trail along a cobbled pathway through the trees was dotted with various wooden sculptures and the odd farm house. We went as far as we could in the fading light, conscious that the way down was going to be rather treacherous on the slippy stones. Ernest loved it as he met donkeys and could hear the bell collars on the sheep.
Tonight I’ve managed to find a free camp spot in the tightly packed village but its next to the bell tower which kindly rings every half hour…won’t disturb me or the dogs 🤣
SofaWolves 