Road trip.....by bike

---

I had a half day to fill, and was feeling active so thought that I would hop on my bike and visit a few towns reasonably close to the campsite. Firstly, I went with Jack and Laila, two of the other couriers here, to climb “La Rocca”. La Rocca is a reasonably big hill about a 20 minute cycle from here that has the ruins of an ancient castle on top. It also has the best view of the lake that I have seen so far, on one side you can see inland for countless miles and then on the other side you have a spectacular view of the lake and the mountains.

After a while up the top, Jack and Laila went back to work and I continued my trip down the coast. I decided that the best way to attack it was to go as far as Desenzano, about 10-15km away, and then work my way back through some of the smaller towns on the way back! So on my bike I hopped and after an hour or so of cycling I reached the town of Desenzano. It’s a bit bigger than most of the other towns on the lake and was also a bit busier with a lot of tourists and locals. Despite being a reasonable size, there wasn’t a lot to see there. There were some nice streets with old houses and shops etc. on, and a Roman Villa complete with mosaics, but there wasn’t as much as I expected so I worked my way back a little bit earlier than I planned.

I stopped at one or two little villages that have names I can’t remember before I ended up in a town called Moniga. The focal point of the town was a castle that had been built hundreds of years ago. So naturally the locals built 3 rows of houses in the middle! It’s a bit bizarre if you ask me, especially when you see all the TV aerials on the castle roof! I then cycled onto Manerba which is one of the closest towns to the campsite and had a wander round all of the old roads that you can barely fit a scooter down, let alone a car!

---