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Day 3: April 17th
We awoke to dark clouds, a very heavy frost and snow! Yes, it was cold and dark and the tress were covered in a white covering far lower down the slopes than last night. Some of the vans on site had a smattering of snow on their roofs and a little lay on the ground. Inside the van, it was 8C mainly because we kept a little heat on all night.
By the time, we left at 9.30 the temperature had risen in the town to 11C. So in possession of a full tank of diesel, the legal vignette which cost 8 euro for 10 days and allows us to drive on the Austrian motorways, albeit in our case for about 2 hours we set off into the alps.
And what a drive! Beautiful mountain scenery with wonderful scenes of long valleys and picturesque towns and villages. Snow was visible all over the place at the start before we dropped down onto the Milan-Venice motorway which took us to Innsbruck. Then the climb up the Brenner Pass. Although the top is quite low at about 4500 ft the climb is short, about 35 kilometres and quite steep. But the scenes are fantastic and worth the effort. It is hard to imagine how the trains get over the top but they do!
The drive down the Italian side is less steep but far longer. After the barren top we soon hit the ranks of fruit trees and finally the vines. There are vast amounts in the slopes and the lower one falls the more they are in leaf. Indeed it is very soon clear that the snow of Austria is giving way to sun to warmth and to blue skies. Interestingly, the Italian road bosses have seen fit to ban lorry overtaking so we end up being followed by long trains of trucks. They want to hit 90 Km but I want to stay at 80-85 Km. Coming up the other way I once spotted 35 trucks in a chain.
The drive to the near bottom took nearly 2 hours but was worth the effort. And so to Lake Garda. Leaving the motorway we tried to drive along the lake side but soon found that the Italian rescue services had decided to close the roads much to everyone's consternation. Italians seem to ignore the signs but we were forced to make a return visit to the motorway.
At last we arrived at out camp site on the edge of the lake at a place called Peschiera Del Garda, which is about 30 km form Verona. The camp site is OK if a little crowded and rather tight in terms of space but is near the lake and town so we can walk.
Supper of Pizza and Italian wine of dubious origins and even more dubious taste. But we are here!
- comments
ray a bit like the top of the world highway in alaska yes Jon ?