Day 10: Peschiera del Garda

We woke up where we left off, surrounded by mountains and next to the Trebbia river. 

For the first time since the start: our destination was uncertain. 

The previous evening we had searched in vain for campings in the plains between Cremona and Mantua. There was only one place that looked like a camping but theor website said it was close since 2018 and they did not answer our calls. 

Sergio took this opportunity to (re) make the case for cycling to Verona / Peschiera del Garda directly. A bad idea in most circumstances (the distance was between 150-180km), we decided to not rule it out and try to make good distance in the morning "just in case". 

And so we did. We took advantage of the initial downhill, the subsequent flatness, and, finally we aligned in a closed straight line and took turns being the head. As if we were pro. 

By 10 am we had done 70 km.

We stopped at Cremona were we each ate two coffees and two croissants (sorry, Cornettos) filled with delicious things such as pistachio. Maybe because we had done half the distance already. Maybe it was the excess sugar and coffee. But we decided we could get to Peschiera in the rest of the day and started calling campings next to the Garda lake.

We got a confirmation from a camping not-at-all at Peschiera, but close enough to justify continuing the trip. And so we continue pedaling for hours through farms and more farms. 

The last 20 km were hard. The roads started going up, announcing the beginning of the Alpes. Still, we carried on trying to keep the distance at 30km/h. The heat+humidity started getting excessive as we lost more and more water to sweat.

Among this extreme heat and low water reserves, the sign for the Acquafredda (cold water) town appear as if it were a mirage. There we were delighted to find a public fountain with cold, sparkling water.

During the very last stretch of road, we were forced to abandon highways and take rural roads between very small towns guided by Google, who seems to be very optimistic in our ability to climb very steep hills.

We arrived to Peschiera at 15h15, tired, late, without almost any food left and without having had lunch. As soon as we were given a spot in the camping (we were disappointed they did not appear to care our last name was the same as their town), we made our tents and went to get food to eat near the lake.

Almost at 17h we finally had a well-deserved, very generous prosciutto + grana padano + olive oil sandwiches next to the lake. We also took a dive and met some ducks and dogs.

The camping (and the town) appears to have been taken over by Germans, Dutchs and the Swiss. It seems yesterday when we were surrounded by French and Spanish people and music next to the mediterranean and now we didn't find a single car.

Our goal of reaching Peschiera del Garda was then achieved one day ahead of schedule, amazingly. Even though we spent one more day than planned in France.