Lago di Garda

Lago di Garda really put it all on show for us during the course of our two-day ride from south-to-north along its eastern side. Let’s put the spectacular landscape to one side – from the pictures, you’ll, you know – get the picture. It is really, really stunning. A highlight of our journey.

Now, some uncouth locals speak of the Lago as shaped like a “cock and balls”. Sticking (if we must) with this vernacular, then consider our route from Peschiera del Garda in the south (right testicle) to Torbole in the north (the ‘nob’), as a steady 10 hours of pedalling. Naturally. we took a break – in beautiful Torri del Benaco – for our first camp-out of the trip. It would appear Peschiera del Garda is a bit of a fun-park for north-of-the-border tourists – indeed AW was more often than not spoken ‘at’ in Deutsch. This made AW appear an even greater imbecile than that when spoken to in Italian, as he was considered incapable of conversing in his native language as well. Fortunately there were sights aplenty to distract us from such minor distractions. For instance, the Lago is home to possibly the saddest theme-park and some of the most violently randy swans in Europe, while Torbole (you’ll be pleased to hear) is very picturesque, tucked right in the lake’s apex (‘nob’), surrounded by the most magnificent cliffs. You can see some ‘tunnel-vision’, at the bottom of the page.

The real gem was Torri del Benaco. There’s a few snaps of our campsite (not so dreamy), and a few more of the town itself (pretty darned dreamy) down below.