Rivers that flow uphill and prickly matters

Seven o'clock was the end of sleeping, the alarm clock mercilessly rings and reminds us that today we still have a 60km long tour with 800 meters of altitude ahead of us. Promptly at half past nine we sit in the saddle and cycle on the route. The first 16 kilometers are relatively relaxed along the coast of Lake Garda to the south. In Lazise, we get a first impression of the overcrowded places in the high season. The whole place is congested with cars, motorcycles, and bathing tourists. There is hardly any progress on the cycle path.

But that's still not the worst: in Peschiera, we can't go faster than the pedestrians. Again and again, we cycle along seemingly endless campsites on the lake. Accordingly, the paths and the beach are crowded.

We can really catch our breath only when we leave the town and are a few side streets away. Once you have escaped the hustle and bustle of the centers, you are almost alone on the roads. We enjoy the ride through small villages.

The town of Cola is funny - it has nothing to do with the drink, but the name alone reminds us of it. From here on, the paths become narrower, even fewer cars cross our path. We are also increasingly being overtaken by e-bike riders.

After 33 km, our stomachs growl and we stop near a playground. Even before we unpack the rolls, Christian absolutely had to try out the small slide at the play equipment.

Strengthened, we continue on the next kilometers. We come to a canal where the water seems to be coming towards us from the valley. Especially Ulf, as a technology fan, can't help but constantly hang a magic bag around his neck and annoy Christian about how this can be. Maybe it's just an optical illusion? We will consult the internet later.

Now it's getting serious: we have an almost 200 meters climb over 2 km ahead of us. We are grateful to ourselves that we only "treated" ourselves to a small round yesterday. We fight our way up meter by meter. When we thought we had made it, the path led us into the forest onto a steep path covered with scree, even further uphill. From here on, we were all alone. All we could hear was our heavy breathing and the sound of the wind turbines on the approaching peaks. From Monte Mesa, we had a fantastic view of the surrounding valleys and the castles "Wohlgemut" and "Mollinary".

After overcoming the last meters of the single trail, we went downhill on well-maintained paths back to the valley towards Bardolino.

We had to brake hard when countless little prickly balls prevented us from continuing at a rapid pace on the path. A chestnut tree with many fruits has already started throwing its prickly fruits from the tree. Ulf had to collect a bag full, no amount of complaining about the pricking and stinging of the prickly husks helped.

But now downhill quickly to the lake! We find the same spot as yesterday for our absolutely necessary cooling off.
Today we don't want to cook ourselves and enjoy the Italian cuisine again at "el soreie". The crowning glory for Christian: double dessert!

Tomorrow we're heading back already. To be prepared for the long car journey, this year it means for the last time:

Brush your teeth, pee, off to bed!