at last internet!

Sunday 13th June
Well here we are at Garda, some of you may remember our last visit ended in disaster and cost us £500 pound for a new awning. This time we are hoping for a much better visit. Having spent a really relaxing eight days at Riccione we were pleased to find this entitled us to a free day. Joan thought we should go to Garda by the toll road as it was so much easier and quicker although we anticipated it might cost a bit. Imagine our surprise when it matched exactly what we had saved on our free night so that was great.




It took us a mere 3½ hours to travel to our chosen campsite which sadly was not quite what we wanted so we moved on to the one we knew at Bardolino to find it was packed and only had two very substandard pitches left. Things were not looking too good but Just as we were thinking of going back to the first place, we saw, virtually next door, another ACSI site where we found a lovely pitch and where, fingers crossed we will spend the next four days. As I am writing this it is incredibly hot and although rain is forecast for tomorrow morning early, the outlook for the week is good.


It had to happen, a typical Joan & Bryan moment, remember the ferret on a lead on the beach last year? As soon as we got settled into this site we noticed there were a lot of very well groomed dogs around. We discovered that there had been some sort of dog show last weekend and what were left were those who had come for the week. However nothing could have prepared us for the scene in this picture, two adults wheeling a double buggy with two small white DOGS in it.

Monday 14th June
Wow, another scorcher so we rode along to Bardolino, had Italian ice cream and also discovered that we could get free wi-fi, great..


Having had a very pleasant day so far we topped it off by actually swimming in the lake! No honest, it was of course Joan’s idea but it was so hot I joined her. Sadly this means we do not have any photographic evidence and vowed to do it again tomorrow with the camera present. That of course was our big mistake as we awoke Tuesday morning to torrential rain! But we are British, so straightened our shoulders and watched “the Full Monty”. Later in the afternoon the weather improved and as we needed some exercise, plus O2 appeared to be ripping me off, we decided to go into Bardolino and try the free wi-fi.



While there we met a brilliant couple of Irishmen who flatly refused to believe there was a place in Ireland called “Foilmacduff!” They were great sports and one of them had a mobile like Jamie’s all singing all dancing and promptly started a google search, and finally said, well blow me he’s right! We knew we were right as of course Rob, Paula and family live there! Just then the wife of one of them turned up having spent a small fortune on handbags and shoes. After enquiring about our holiday she wanted to know how Joan looked soo glamorous and well groomed after being away from home almost two months! Joan replied that she did actually travel with her own personal hairstylist and colour artist, (wow is that me?) to which the woman replied, you are so lucky, and I agreed. They’d been in Garda for a wedding and we were having such a laugh that they wanted to buy us drinks but as we were cycling and had already had a couple we declined.

Wednesday 16th June
This is not funny it’s just like last time we came here, a couple of hot days and then bloomin rain! Anyway it eased off but looked likely to start again anytime, so we decided to walk to Garda so Joan could use her umbrella. (A bit difficult when cycling) As it turned out there were a only couple of short showers and it got hotter and hotter so we felt a little cheated as Garda is only about two miles. Then I had a brainwave, I know frightening isn’t it? Instead of walking back to the campsite I suggested we took the ferry along to Bardolino, strolled about and then walked back from there, so a total of about five miles, not bad. This is what we did, stopping in Arthur’s bar on the way for an Aperol Spritz and a beer
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Later after calling in at the office, Joan is very disappointed as the weather forecast posted says it is not going to improve, so we are pushing off tomorrow for Austria.

Thursday 17th June
Well would you believe it? Hardly a soul has spoken to us and this morning we had trouble getting away as three couples came up for a chat! What is a bit worrying, the couple next door who are German just came to tell us that it is bloomin snowing in Switzerland and torrential rain in Germany!!!! Still we have faith in our good friends Ingrid and Joe that they will organise some sunshine for us we are sure.
I left the campsite and promptly turned the wrong way, the sat nav was not pleased, neither was Joan! Then, oh great the sat-nav strikes again! Fortunately Joan was watching closely or we would have ended up wandering about the mountains for about 28 miles in torrential rain before getting onto the motorway which was less than 2 miles from the campsite.
Lots of love,
Us xxxx