Lago D'Iseo

That is the name of the lake that we have now camped at and it is much smaller than Garda but in my opinion much prettier. You can see more of the lake edges with greenery round them, there is an island in the middle that a boat travels to several times a day, and there are mountains to see too. It gives it all a much more interesting vista I feel. The town of Iseo is very pretty too - it has lots of narrow alleyways, shaded streets and small piazzes giving it such a lot of character. The town of course is spread along the lakeside which gives it a very romantic feel.

Its not too far from our last campsite - 47 miles or so - but it is closer to Bergamo airport and we have to fly back to the UK from there on Wednesday for a meeting so it serves us well to be situated here - 35 km or so from the airport.

We were welcomed by the campsites owner/manager and shown a choice of sites for Essie. We elected to camp on a shady one underneath a tree to keep the caravan, and us, cooler in this heat. They unhitched the caravan for us and sited it - and were gentle with Esmerelda, I ensured that. The view took our breath away as we entered the campsite and our plot is only 10 mtrs from the edge of the lake where we can watch the swans and ducks as well as the boats going to and fro. It is also very handy to have a cold dip in when we get too hot - which we took full advantage of today.

We set up the caravan in no time at all and proceeded to chill out, sitting in the shade, reading, then having some sun and taking a cold dip afterwards. Then we had to have a cold drink of course to replace the fluids - such hard work! During the afternoon we cycled to the town to explore and we were very impressed with it - very Italian.

This campsite has wifi all over the place so we can sit outside the caravan and search the internet, send emails and write the blog - bliss! After a lovely dinner of local veg, aubergine, zucchini, red pepper, onion in garlic and a couple of good quality beefburgers I sat down to contact whoever was online via Skype. I ended up talking to my daughter Louise for ages - that was fantastic for me,catching up on all her news about the grandchildren and their family. During that time Steve had set up his fishing line and was enjoying himself on the lake edge - being the hunter gatherer that he is - to provide for his cave. He failed miserably though and came back empty handed. And that was after we had stood in the lake earlier and saw the fish swimming all around us - the water is crystal clear. The fish must be very clever to avoid the hook! Good job we weren't relying on Steve to provide the evening meal for us though.

A lovely, relaxing day in an idyllic setting.