Lake Como

2-4 September

Let the sun shine in

The next site was Camping La Riva at Sorico situated where the river flows into Lake Como and surrounded by mountains. There is a path along the lake and it took about ten minutes to cycle to the village of Sorico where there was a shop selling most things you needed. We made a second trip in the evening, this time on foot, to sample one of the pizzerias and had an enjoyable meal sitting outside on the square. There is a huge Iperial hypermarket a short drive away, which is part of a shopping mall, useful for a big shop or a place to hide from the rain perhaps, otherwise rather daunting.

However, there was no sign of rain and the pool at the campite, quite large and well maintained, was a great way to cool off.

While at Sorico we had a “small world” moment. The chap from a neighbouring unit came over to talk to John about the bike carrier we have. In the course of the conversation he mentioned where he and his wife, lived and the fact that for a number of years they had sailed in the Netherlands, where they kept their boat. After both John and the neighbour had had a few minutes to digest the details, they realised that the four of us had met previously in Ipswich Haven Marina, when we had our boat, and that John and Kim had sailed together for a day. It was good to fill in the missing years with Kim and Wendy the next evening, when another coincidence transpired - that Kim used to live close to Stratford-upon-Avon and still has family there.

Sunday was our Ruby Wedding Anniversary and we cycled to Gera Lario, about half an hour away, where we had a delicious lunch at Ristorante Cinque Case, overlooking the lake.

The northern part of Lake Como is popular for wind sports and on the way back we stopped for a while to watch the kite surfers. We had noticed how the wind suddenly picked up each day after lunch, to die away just as quickly in the evening.

We would have liked to have made another stop on Lake Como but the southern end is more commercial and we couldn't pinpoint a site which took our fancy, so on Monday we hit the road and headed for Lake Maggiore.