Day 3 - from Fondo to Mezzolombardo

What a day! At some point during the night, I heard noises that turned out to be rain. Wow, it was pouring down. Anyway, you want to keep going. Luckily, I asked the hotel manager about the bus. He sent me to the bus stop just 20 meters away; strange, my plan had something else in mind. Luckily, an older Italian woman quickly helped me there and I found out that the bus would leave at 09:00, I had assumed 09:20. No wonder, the bus schedule was only 2 days old. I then took a bus and train for only 3.70€ for about 1.5 hours, no wonder they don't have much money here.

The bus ride was great. It was all downhill on roads that were from a time when at most 2 Vespas could meet. The bus driver was either super cool or just careless and daring. For those who remember the bus drivers we used to ride with to school more than 30 years ago and think they were cool, they haven't seen Luigi (I don't know if that was his name). So, imagine this: pouring rain, misty weather, mountains and canyons around us, many curves, some narrow. But Luigi was completely relaxed, holding his phone to his ear with his left hand and casually talking on the phone for several minutes during the ride. What could possibly go wrong? The bus speed felt higher than what was allowed or what I would drive. After the phone call, he steered with his left hand, probably so it wouldn't get rusty, and held on to the bar with his right arm, which is right behind his seat. He probably did that so the right hand wouldn't disturb the left hand during steering practice. Man, what a character.

Thanks to the nice lady from the bus stop, I arrived at the right stop, right at the train station. After waiting for about 20 minutes, my train arrived. The train ride was nice, nice and crowded, and pretty rainy. There they were again, the seniors on their (no, I won't say 'last') trip to Italy, occupying all the seats. No problem, I preferred standing with my backpack on my back. It was only about 40 minutes and there was nothing to see outside because the weather was so bad. What a nuisance!

That was when I decided not to hike in the rain anymore. I don't need to subject myself to that.

From the train station, it was only a few minutes to the hotel, which I reached at 11:15. And, what can I say, it was still pouring.

From the outside, the hotel looks a bit outdated, but inside it is very modern and newly furnished. I like it. There is even a bathtub.

By now (around 3:00 pm), the rain has stopped and it is clearing up. The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow. I would be happy about that.

A few more stories from the past few days:

I already mentioned my poncho, which is supposed to protect me from the rain along with my backpack's own rain cover. Has anyone ever thought about how to put a poncho over your head when you have a backpack on that is taller than your own head? Or even tried it. In short, it made me laugh and took several attempts. Well, the thing was on and the hood was up. Now I wanted to pull the poncho down as far as possible in the back. I ask you, have you ever tried? Luckily, I have long arms. I grabbed it, pulled, and whoops, the hood slipped over my face. I laughed again. By the way, I hadn't tried it at home because the poncho was so nicely packed. Oh yeah, have I mentioned that my arms were pretty unprotected under the poncho.

Those who know me can probably guess that I have too much luggage and have a hard time limiting myself. I have my climbing gear with me because I want to climb the Colodri in Arco. The harness is heavy and the helmet is bulky and hangs at the back of the backpack. On Sunday, it had to share the space with a bag of chips that I had bought but didn't eat. You can imagine that the rain cover didn't fit quite right. Yesterday, I found myself in a place where I decided to put on the helmet. And because it is very comfortable to wear, I left it on. Okay, at some point I took it off again, hung it on the front of the backpack, and kept walking. At a parking lot, an old man asked me if I was traveling by motorcycle.

Some of the selfies show the lightning rod with the GoPro. Yesterday, it ran a part of the route and took 176 pictures. It's going to be hilarious. It takes a picture every 60 seconds, all by itself, and the fun part is that you can see the back of my head, whether I'm walking or leaning heavily on the walking sticks. So great. Tomorrow I have to remember to change the battery, yesterday I didn't have the nerves for it. I will upload a few pictures.

Today is laundry day, Sveni planned it that way, so the panties and my two t-shirts are already washed and drying leisurely. Fortunately, I'm in hotels and can spread out, and some of the clothes even dry. How do you do that in a tent when it's constantly raining and cold? I have a blow dryer and blow dry my laundry.

One more story from yesterday and then you have to be patient until tomorrow. When I had crossed the 1800 m mark yesterday and was on my way back down, I walked on paths that were very rocky and washed out. Here and there, it was slippery and here and there, there were footpaths to avoid the risk of slipping on the washed-out path. And, as you might have guessed, my legs suddenly disappeared and I sat on the ground. But I laughed. I told you, there are drugs in the energy bars. But anyway, it's good for me. What shouldn't be misunderstood. Of course, I'm against drugs. Oh yeah, a little further up, my legs slipped away as well, but I somehow managed to catch myself in the air. Have you ever experienced your hand tingling because you swung your arm so vigorously? Wow, I experience things. Everyone always talks about how I'm collecting great impressions. Yep, tingling hands just before a fall.

So, it's almost 7:00 pm now and the sky is so blue, you can't imagine it after this morning. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

The breakfast report will most likely be skipped tomorrow. I want to leave early.

Alright folks, that's enough for now.

See you tomorrow with the report 'Day 4 - from Mezzolombardo to Molveno' here on SoloHikingToLakeGarda.