Time to Chill
Monday 25th September 2017
We’re heading for Camping Covelo on the shores of Lake Iseo today where we plan to stop for about three nights. It’s a fairly straight forward route so there should be no hick-ups eh? Well I suppose we should expect the unexpected and then we wouldn’t be disappointed, right? – wrong!
Anyway, before heading off we decided to explore one of the many trails through the wooded hillside backing onto the town. It would not be difficult for the unfamiliar to get lost walking in this woodland so we were a little careful about which route we took. We had read that there was a ‘donkey trail’ leading up from one of the churches to the monastery Sacra di San Michele and although we had no intention of walking that far (we reckoned that would take a couple of hours one way) when we hit upon a track laid in old stone we guessed that this was the donkey track and that it would be a safe bet to follow. We had a pleasant walk in the wooded hillside together with reading the occasional information sign giving snippets of local history. However, our journey to Iseo awaited and we set off back to the sosta to begin our onward journey. The sosta was a great stopping off point and we would definitely use it again.
We are less concerned about using the motorways in Italy, partly because they are cheaper than the French equivalent, but also because Italian speed limits on non-motorway roads are significantly lower in general (not that this seems to bother the locals) and it does have a big impact on driving time. Anyway, satnav programmed and the route set to follow the A4 virtually all the way to Iseo. Everything was calm therefore when our satnav guided us to the nearest A4 slip road and our expected route in the direction of Torino. Now the slip roads in Italy are somewhat different to those I’m used to in the UK and it is not unusual to join a slip road which then forks for the opposite directions of the motorway.
No problem, I just need Direzione Torino – except that once on said combined slip road there is a sign that indicates a height restriction of 2.4m Direzione Torino. What the! So my clever satnav, yes with height limits all programmed in and knowing that our motorhome is 3m has got me on this slip road, and yes the height limit sign was after the entrance to the slip road. So, there may have been an odd expletive, I can’t remember, but I’m sure there was because our only option at this point was to join the toll road going in the wrong direction and having to pay for the privilege.
So, a little excursion the wrong way down the A4 starts our day off just fine, off at the first available junction, then back on towards Torino, and half an hour later we are back where we started from and just a few Euros lighter. We did not understand the restriction because there was never any mention of a height restriction again – bizzare.
The rest of the journey went fine, until we were nearing Iseo. So, we’ve come off the motorway and onto the local roads. We were a bit light on fuel to say the least but we figured if we got off the motorway we could find some local fuel quite a lot cheaper. Before the turning to Iseo is a reasonable stretch of tunnel and as we emerged from the tunnel the satnav was asking us to turn off in about 0.3 miles. So it wouldn’t be the junction immediately at the tunnel exit would it? Of course it would and what I hadn’t factored in to things was that in the tunnel the satnav wouldn’t have a satellite fix and whilst it seemed to be counting down the distance to the junction it had obviously lost accuracy. We live and learn.
Junction missed (this was turning out to be a good journey by any means), fuel warning light showing, and the next junction a few tunnels and 17 miles up the road we were beginning to wish that we’d put in a splash of motorway fuel. As things turned out all was OK, we had travelled to the other end of Lake Iseo and rather than travelling back through tunnels with no chance of fuel we had taken to the lakeside road in search of fuel. It was a lovely drive and even more beautiful after we managed to top up the tank!
We arrived at Camping Covelo on the outskirts of Iseo later than expected but received a warm welcome and a complimentary glass of wine before being shown to an available pitch. The pitch was not the lake-side pitch we had expected and perhaps led to believe during our email conversation with the site and Ruth was particularly disappointed because the following day was our silver wedding anniversary and we were looking forward to celebrating with a better view.
Camping Covelo have quite limited space and certainly make the most of it. Manoeuvring can be quite difficult but site staff are very good at helping you get pitched properly and safely. We had a discussion with the site about our expectations and the following morning we were moved to a lovely lakeside pitch after the previous occupants had left.
The lakeside pitches at Covelo have a fantastic vista although those furthest away do not have such a great outlook. The staff at the site are all very friendly and helpful, all wear ‘team’ T shirts and we certainly got the impression that they were a team and committed to making your stay a pleasant one. Facilities were good and the sanitary blocks (there are two) were regularly cleaned. The site has a shop, and a good restaurant and bar.
We were not so sure about the electric hook-ups. During our stay the fridge would often come off electric and go over to gas even though the electric was on. I suspect that at peak times the voltage of the supply may have dropped causing the change-over. We’ve never had a problem like this on previous sites and haven’t had a problem since leaving Covelo.
Anyway, we’re a week in to our trip and plan to stay here a few days and chill, celebrate our day tomorrow (silver wedding anniversary), and explore the local area.
