Tag 99-104: All is well in beautiful Italy!

Day 99-104.

The sun is blazing in the sky. Not a cloud in sight. Perfect conditions for an ultra run. Chris sneaks out of the campsite at 7 a.m. and drives to the starting line in the neighboring village.

Eva and Lore take the day easy and go shopping again. In the afternoon, Eva actually plans to stand with Lore on the track and cheer Chris on loudly with the ringing of the bell. So they quickly get the bike trailer ready and head up the mountain. Well, the motto "do it yourself" is doomed to failure here. The bike trailer cannot be attached to the bike and after unsuccessful attempts to attach the thing somehow, Eva gives up dejectedly. Chris has a similar experience, fighting his way up the mountains at the same time and debating with his inner voice whether giving up is an option. 2500 meters of altitude is just a tough feat after sick days, a feverish child and little training.

But Chris's sporting spirit wins the debate and he reaches the finish line after 7:50 hours. Eva is waiting there with Lore at the finish line with a cold beer! Always worth it!

Just in time for our departure from Grindelwald, the weather there gets worse again and we decide to pay a visit to our favorite country, Italy. With a stopover in Rodi, shortly after the Gotthard tunnel (we're stuck in a traffic jam for the first time in 3 months!), we head to Lake Como. There it took 8 calls and emails before we found a free campsite, but there is still a spot with beach access in Dongo. So we wind our way along the narrow coastal road with 1000 other tourists in 30 degree heat without air conditioning 🥵.

Luckily, there is a place to cool off at the lake and in the evening we devour the first longed-for Italian pizza and tiramisu.

The next day we go on a short hike on the other side of the river. We take the ferry to Dervio and from there we walk 6km through the woods to Bellano. On the ferry we quickly notice that we are the only ones in hiking gear. It's more of a promenade-shopping crowd here. We are happy when we are the only ones to disembark in Dervio and set off. But it's also easy to understand why we are the only idiots walking along the slopes in the midday heat. Sweat is dripping from our foreheads and arms and Lore is completely soaked after just a few minutes on Chris's back. Luckily, this doesn't seem to bother her and she sleeps through the whole hike.

We don't meet a single soul along the entire route, and it's only in Bellano that a few brave (or similarly stupid) hikers appear, sweating under the sun.

The plan was to walk further and take the ferry back in the next town, Varenna. However, the Italian ferry schedules are unreliable, as we don't know exactly when we'll be able to go back. So it's better to play it safe and check the departure in Bellano.

There is a grumpy Italian at the counter who tells us curtly that the only ferry back to Dongo doesn't leave until 6 p.m. It's 2 p.m. Great, so we're kind of stuck with ferries and departures. But then he says that we can drive to Menaggio and take a bus to Dongo from there. Sounds better, just wait an hour and a half and eat another pizza. It's bearable.

Shortly before departure we have an ice cream and chug back to the other side. Menaggio is very busy and we want to get to the bus stop quickly. Sweaty, smelly and dirty we finally arrive at the bus stop and have to wait for the bus again. But when it leaves 15 minutes later, we are glad to be sitting in the air-conditioned bus. What an odyssey!

Our trip is slowly coming to an end and we want to spend the last 1.5 weeks in the mountains.

The search for a suitable campsite is a bit more annoying here, as so many are booked up. But somehow we still find a place somewhere and we don't drive very far with Lore in a day anyway. We want to spend a few days in South Tyrol and pack up our things again.

Before heading towards Merano, we stop off again in the village of Onessa. The campsite has top reviews and seems super quiet. Perfect! When we hear the price, however, we have to swallow hard. €48? For one night? Eva tries to haggle and has a bit of success. A measly €43. Oh well. Our constant argument works here: it's vacation after all!

We spend the afternoon exploring the woods and shortly before we return, Chris finds another gold mine of chanterelles.

After we drove into Italy from Switzerland, we did a lot of shopping and now everything can be served for dinner.

Our sumptuous dinner of fried potatoes with bacon from the village shop, currywurst and tomato and chanterelle salad tastes delicious. Lore also sits relaxed on the floor and sucks on her piece of bread. Everything is really tutto bene!