Lakes, mountains, tempests, food shortages ..

So, can my avowed aim to produce a succinct, pithy summary of our travels on a weekly basis rather than rambling opinionated diatribes posted as and when be regarded as a partial success judging by the last post? Well It did cover the first week of our trip, but pithy and succinct? I don't thInk so! In fact it seems even more rambling and opinionated than ever. I had a lot of homework in junior school returned to me with a little note at the end saying 'can do better' or 'must try harder' which I always felt was an improvement to the scarier summons 'SEE ME!!!'  I always promised to try harder, but whether I ever 'did better'' is and was a moot point.

So, to summarise, we spent four nights at Camping Venus at the southern end of Lago Idro, a small alpine lake a few kilometres west of Garda.

The site was small and quite simple but in a beautiful spot by the lakeside.

The village of Crone to the south had an ancient centre, was touristy without being over developed.

We had our first gelato then another the next day after we had lunch at a lakeside kiosk just because we could.

I used my SUP five times in four days and managed to stand up and kneel down again multiple times without falling in once... progress!

The weather cooled a little from mid thirties days and low twenties nights to something a little more pleasant. Then the storms arrived. Forget any notion that Italy's summer climate being one blue sky day after another, think of Vivaldi's Four seasons - which piece is the most tempestuous? 'l'Estate'

Most of the time the storms rattled around in the nearby mountains, interspersed with  periods of luke warm drizzle. Then in the early hours of Wednesday morning it tipped down. 

We woke to a big pool of water around the fridge housing, it had spread into the drawers underneath and the truma cupboard was flooded. It didn't take us long to work out that it was rain water ingress not a leakage from the van's internal plumbing. We had a domestic service done just before we left, the report mentioned that the sealant on  flue above the fridge had cracked. It seemed as if had  failed altogether now.

We decided getting it fixed had to be a priority. Abandoning plans to see out the unsettled weather in Camping Venus we packed up quickly. Reception kindly phoned the repair place we had found near Rovereto, a couple of hours drive away in the valley of the Adige, a little to the west of Riva del Garda. They reckoned they could fix the problem if we arrived just after they reopened at 2.00pm.

It all worked out fine. The drive to the place was challenging, stormy weather over narrow, winding mountain roads, lots of hairpin bends and rock overhangs, then manic post lunchtime traffic in Riva. 

However, 'Globoservice' delivered exactly what they promised, resealing the flue in about thirty minutes. The receptionists were friendly and amenable. The repair cost €50, a modest amount to make the van watertight I think.

We drove a couple of dozen kilometres south down the autostrada and found a sosta in a field behind a hotel. There was a bit of road noise overnight, the place was basic and a bit waterlogged. 

We managed to exit the place  next morning without getting bogged down. By the time we reached the camper stop in Monzambano the storm clouds had gone and it was back to blue skies.

More importantly we had managed to do a big shop in Peschiera del Garda's Lidl on the way. It's the first time since we left England ten daya ago that we have managed to restock the van. In France we used motorways most of the time and many of the handy Centre Commerciale hypermarket car parks had 2.5m  height barriers or the smaller stores were busy and had no pull through bays where we could park the van. So gradually we began to run short of food.

The nearest medium sized supermarket to Camping Venus was 5km distant, so we had to make do with local shops that were more geared to selling local specialty ham and cheeses to tourists than providing staples. Luckily our stay coincided with the weekly produce market in nearby Crone.

At least we were able to stock up on fruit and veg, and it was fun too. 

You will always come away from an Italian local market feeling more optimistic about humanity.

We still needed a Lidl, and luckily because we arrived in Peschiera in the middle of lunch the town was less traffic choked than usual, the store was quiet and it had parking bays set aside for motorhomes. Perfecto!

Now we are parked up in the area camper in Monzambano, it's well organised, run by the local Association Camperisti, a community organisation of local motorhome owners who operate the site on behalf of others. We've used similar set ups elsewhere in Italy - at Moderna and Venturina Terme in Southern Tuscany - they are excellent. I like the idea of being a 'camperisti',  it sounds more fun than 'motorhomer'.

Anyway we are here for a couple days. There's a cycle trail beside the Mincio, northwards to Peschiera del Garda and south to the medieval village of Borghetto, enough to keep us occupied for a couple of days.