Awoke early my neighbour (a scooter fanatic) had charged I phone so back in business. Called Liz and had a good catch up. Just rode one of the classic Lake Garda region mountain bike trails Mt Tramalzo: Summary: "tight fire road swichbacks with 500'( more like 1-2,000 metres) drops at the corners moving on to technical singletrack. finally finishing on a screaming road decesent into town." advanced skills required 4 out of 5 stars. Got a recommendation from a...

Where is the best mountain biking in Europe? Lake Garda comes out high on most keen mountain bikers bucket lists. "You only have to visit towns like Riva or Torbole to see the amount of bikes and bikers you will find here. You can find a number of bike rental places around the lake where you can get a range of bikes you can hire for either short or long periods." That's why I am here.. Off again along single road towards Riva, past amazing churches and old bui...

Camped beside Lake Garda, only two campsites here so just checked out next door, couple of Euros cheaper but my site is better...nice restaurant and bar, smaller etc etc. Figured by looking at the Hotels beside the lake and calibre $ $ $ of cars parked outside they would be well out of my budget... Well got here after a several adventures. It was an energy sapping day with 35+ degrees and very humid - never drunk so much water and soft drink in a day. My start ...

I will start with the end - sometimes the best experiences are not planned they just happen... It's 9 pm and just got down to dinner in a mountain village called Valloriate it's near Cuneo which was my Italian destination for the day. All hotels near Cuneo were full and there were no campsites as it was too urban. Retraced my steps through city back to the mountains (sat nav proved itself at last...) and called in at several hotels they were all full. As it was ...

Italy bound, ants in my tent and sauna heat drove me to the cafe...and pool, yes site has pool no wonder it's booked out. Reading a great book loaned by Pat - it's called Raw Spirit by Ian Banks, basically he is touring Scotland visiting and tasting malt whiskies...