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Published: September 21st 2014
Just to wrap things up we decided to spend an hour or so in the pretty town of Salo. Just down the road from Gardone and a 5euro ferry trip. Chance for a bit of people watching, a drink and maybe something to eat. Salo like other towns on the lake cling to the lakeside and do not venture much into the mountains behind. The land is used carefully and the villas gardens reach down to the shoreline. All pink, buttermilk and cream. Pretty things. And so much what you expect an Italian lakeside town to look like. Trees behind climbing the hills completed the pretty picture and cafes and restaurants spilled on the pavements. Shops a few, the usual up market and down town tat. Not a place you can linger long. One main street which doesnt take much time to traverse from one end to the other. It was quite busy compared to Gardone and to Maderno .
We did our usual of walking the harbour and sat for a while. Time for tea. And what a tea. It felt as if we had been instantly transported to the 1930's. Pretty peach table cloths, flowers on the table,
pretty cups and saucers. And a waitress in black skirt and designer cream jacket. The menu prettily written. We could have tea. Breakfast, Earl Grey, lemon tea with milk. The list went on and on and the cakes. I can hardly describe them. They were all set out, flans with all manner of fruit on top, strawberry tarts, small tarts with all type of filling. We chose a mixed fruit flan and three tiny cakes. I gave our waitress discretion to choose for me. She brought our tea in silver pots and my selection. A tiny apple flan, one with red currents on top and a slice of cream and chocolate . We sat and drooled and ate them slowly savouring every moment. We even brought half a dozen home. They were a euro each but well worth every cent. It had to be the nicest tea shop I had been in for some while and we wouldnt forget it. I paid whilst they put up my order. On a gold tray, wrapped up in gold paper and then in a plastic bag. Brought over to madam, grazia - it was as if I was royalty and had spent a
fortune in the tea rooms.
By this time we had to leave as our boat was coming in. The skies began to darken. It spat a little with rain but nothing that worried us. With hindsight we should have been worried but hindsight is a wonderful thing and at the time all we wanted to do was get to Suzy before the storm set in. The short journey back to Maderno sailed by quickly. The clouds were gathering and the rain still light was still falling. As we disembarked again with hindsight we should have stopped off at Bar Azzurro for a coffee or wine until the weather had passed over us. We had no idea what was coming and so set off up the promenade which hugged the lake. A cycle path and a footpath run right alongside the water. Umbrella Pines line the route and there are seats all along. We walked about quarter of a mile and the sky looked black. We could hear the distant rumble of thunder and in the distance the lightening was forking out in the middle of the lake. The rain was still not heavy and we thought we were wet
so there was little point in calling at the last bar along the way. When you are wet you may as well carry on. Bad mistake to make.
We had only got another few hundred yards and the storm hit. The lightening was overhead and hitting branches on trees breaking them off and scattering them and leaves all over the road. The noise of the thunder was deafening and the rain fell like stair rods. The wind whipped up like a tornado carrying branches and bits of trees with it along with rubbish bins that were being thrown round as if they weighed nothing. Normally the rain comes one way . This seemed all round us suffocating us. Breathing became difficult as it felt as if we were in a wall of water. Fence posts and panels set out for the IronMan Triathlon were being tossed like driftwood into the road. Glenn hugged a tree. He couldnt see anything in front of him due to the driving room. He held on to me. the wind forcing my hearing aids out of my ears. There was nowhere to hide. We just held on getting wetter and wetter and it was
a frightening experience as we realised just what a tenuous hold we have on life. One wave and we would be swept away. We couldnt see anywhere better than hanging on to the tree. Eventually , we dont know how long the wind subsided, the rain eased slightly and we were able to see a few hundred yards in front of us. We walked home against the wind and rain through at least 8 inches of standing water. Shoes sopping wet, clothes sticking to us we struggled to get into the campsite which was flooded. Trees were down and one branch had just missed Suzys roof by inches. Tents had been blown down and the camp staff spent the night clearing up the mess. The Great Disaster as they called it had left the lakeside in a mess and it required a lot of work by the council, the police and the fire service to clear it up. We heard sirens all night, we saw diggers clearing debris. The newspaper called it a bombe d'acqua - a tsunami which hit the lake.
Dried off we were left with soggy wet shoes probably destined for the bin, a £700 camera ruined as the rain got in somehow through the lens and the motor now wont work . But after a cup of tea perhaps we needed whisky we felt better. We were safe and that was the main thing. Tomorrow is another day. The sun will shine and we will do what we always do. Get on with life, get on the boat and head up to the top of the lake to Limone and Malcesine just to round our tour of the lake off.
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
What a tale!
Wow, that was a close call! Glad you two are alright, except for camera and hearing aids! I rather like natural disasters because they are so exciting and afterwards, they make great stories as this was. Hope the rest of your Italian journey is filled with tea time as sweet as this one, before the storm.