Without wishing to sound like I'm writing a review for Camping Covelo, it really has to be one of the best sites we have been on for friendliness, facilities and location. It is situated right on the side of Lake D'Iseo, some pitches are literally on the waters edge and the town of Iseo is just a short cycle ride away. And the restaurant was wonderful - we had a seat on the terrace overlooking the lake and the best pizza with a delicious thin, crispy base. The staff of the campsite and restaurant all spoke excellent English and couldn't do enough to help you.
We arrived on Saturday and on Sunday we went down to Iseo town centre where many of the locals were meeting and promenading on the waterfront - the women all dressed up and looking glamorous and the men smelling of their best aftershave. It was certainly a lively place to be with a bric-a-brac/antique market, street entertainers and busy terraces of restaurants and cafes. I had always heard that the Italians had style and I felt out of place wandering around in my cycling gear surrounded by such glamour!
On Monday we went out cycling finding routes which took us off the beaten track along country lanes or cycle trails bringing us into tiny hamlets dating back
hundreds,if not thousands of years back. In this area there has been evidence of civilisation back to the Stone Age and on Tuesday we cycled on the Ancient Valerian route - a trade route which was used long ago by the shepherds and traders of the time, it passed through olive groves and hedgerows of fragrant honeysuckle, the climb up the steep hillside being worth it for the views of the lake and its islands when we reached the top.
On our way back we found an old wooden seat by a shrine to rest and eat our sandwiches before heading back to the campsite to catch up on what we call Lafuma time ( Lafuma is the brand name of our sun loungers!) and we needed to use the campsite washing machine. We were also able to Skype my sister in France and chat to her and Mum who is staying with her at the moment.
They have not had such good weather and were quite surprised to see us in our summer clothes, we certainly have been lucky with the weather since we arrived in Italy, but the weather App forecast was not looking good so we decided to move on south on Wednesday, reluctantly leaving such a great campsite.
We headed into the hills which proved to be a mistake! We found another good site up in the mountains but the superb views proved to be the insides of rain clouds and the campsite owner said the weather would continue to be unsettled for at least another week so we stayed one night promising ourselves we would come back on our return journey to be able to really appreciate the beauty of the site and its wonderful views
Sorry lost the photo!
Our next stop on Thursday was a site in the suburbs of Rome another 265km further south driving through showers of torrential rain to get there.
Great pictures - looks like you have had some nice weather, not just rain! Amazing you were in the snow just a couple of weeks ago! Eat lots of pizza and pasta for me! xxxx
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