Varese/Gavirate

14/9 cont

With Ed programmed to Lugano in Switzerland for lunch where we’d planned to spend our remaining Francs on good German bread (also the most direct route), we smoothed Jeff’s ruffled feathers and naively set off expecting a scenic & relatively short drive.  

BUT, the picturesque single lane cliff side road was hairy requiring relentless vigilance, honking pre corner backing up, stopping, side-mirror kissing with strangers, more horn barping, squeezing past cyclists, trying not to react to the unexpected roar of dare-devil passing bikers, ducking balconies with dangling washing, kitchen windows just open a fraction too wide and scary surprises in the form of massive logging truck..s coming the other way!  The border crossing was the most vigorous we’ve had all year and simply involved pulling over and showing our registration papers. Jeff commented on the number of massive construction cranes on the Swiss side of the border. A comparative indication of the health of the economy?

Jeff’s eyes were watering & red by the time we reached big town Lugano with wide Swiss streets.  Jen popped in to spend the last francs on lunch as planned but the poor driver circled stressfully as the glossy looking town was a tangle of confusing jammed one-way streets with no parking bays.  So all in, we smoothed feathers once again. It’s an interesting town where the mountain sides are carved into & covered with uniform block high rise hotel accommodation. When in Switzerland,we remember going against the kilometers of traffic backed up to cross the Goddard Pass on their way to this holiday corner. Whilst pretty, it has lost all Italian character.

Lake Lugano

THEN, TomTom spun us around in intersecting circles for 30 minutes, seemingly having all the 1 way streets programmed the WRONG way, Wil spilt the bocinccini on the floor whilst getting Jeff some sustenance until the humans overrode the TomTom machine, followed the signs, and we escaped along tranquil roads on the way to Varese.

Thankfully, hungry at 1530, we stopped by a small nameless lake in the sparkly lake string for a lie on the grass, lunch and a kiddie dip.  BECAUSE, Varese and it’s lakeside villages were equally confusing with no campsites ANYWHERE.  Exhausted and just about to leave town having seen the AIS European Training Centre, sitting beautifully on the shores of a wonderful equipped esplanade, we took a final lead & followed a motorhome sign to find a rest place JUST behind the shed, right on the foreshore.  Beer-o-clock!

The kids donned skates and off they went.  A lazy, zonked out last few hours followed before sunset. 

15/9

Given we’re not in a campsite but rather a rest stop, we crawled from our cocoons separately for our morning run around Lake Varese. Jen first at 0645 cautiously did her first full but slow run since her achilles injury months ago. No pain - fingers crossed. Then Jeff ran off whilst our morning feast was prepared.

a natural beauty

The kids bounced through maths & then raced outside for a skate.  We watched with coffee #2. 

The rest of the day was spent dribbling around the 40km periphery of the lake passing through such varied wonderful Italian scenes from OTT wedding ceremonies, church bells donging loudly, kids learning to ride bikes & row boats, The European Championships  Rowing Regatta (!) and old monuments from Roman times including a series of 3 gorgeous round stone buildings that were used to store iced fish from the lake in the off season. 

a fish freezer

My most favourite scene however where the large families gathered around beautiful outdoor tables set beneath apple trees complete with crisp white linen & laden with fresh produce & wine for a festive Saturday lunch.  Wish we could join in.  We passed crops of corn, tomatoes and salad leaves, some big and some just lovingly tendered backyard affairs.  At times the wonderfully marked cycle path disappeared into the tranquil narrow streets of small stone villages where all we could hear were twittering birds, flapping freshly washed linen and clanking of kitchen pots.  Again, we celebrate the purchase of our bikes allowing such enjoyable, relatively more intimate & unobtrusive peeks into local life.  The blue clear spring skies were full of small planes pulling up gliders, the water full of rowers of all age & ability and the grassed patches full of black/brown near-naked bodies.

Back at Ed, we piled up our lunch tray with bread, salami, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and sauces and made for a lakeside bench in the shade. No washing up.

At E2.00,we had coffee #3 (very ordinary for an Italian coffee) at the small cafe adjacent to our park bench whilst the kids once again set off on skates.

A bit later, we opted for 3 scoops of gelati for dinner at E2 each (ridiculously good, generously piled up, so varied and once again, so cheap).  Just as well our days are so active or we’d be balloons.

We quietly & blissfully read the remaining daylight hours away….with a bit of snoozing, BK play, preparing maths questions & blogging.

16/9 on to Lake Maggiore - the last lake??

Up for our 10BX (11BX today!) by the still lake that was coloured with the morning soft blues, whites, silvers & just the tiniest tinge of pink, a long line of fisherman chatting quietly as they stand in the water knee deep, 1 on slingshot duty to keep the prying birds away from the booty.

After our cereals, fruits, yoghurts & coffee, the kids sprung effortlessly into maths with the aim of a ginormous skate on completion.  Great school efforts X 2, then the skating is on and the skills are starting to accumulate as they bank the quiet no-scream falls (you need > 5 to get good at it apparently), while the parents pack Eddie, empty, fill, try to pay 22.50 to get out but we need coins and no vendor around is prepared to give us a razoo for our Euro notes. Jen frustrated by trying to communicate, returns with a few coins from a fellow camper and some tears, before we are rescued by other fellow campers who empty their ash trays of euro coins and we are out. Up to Carrefour for a big grocery shop, and then south west to round the bottom of Lake Maggiore and head up the western side to Stresa, strongly recommended by D and G who visited there 15 years ago.