Distance: 125km
Elevation: 550m
In the morning, Carolin and I had an early breakfast together. Then we started packing up the camper and I made Rosinante and myself ready for travel. Then we kissed goodbye.
Whilst packing up. I managed to drive with our 3.5t camper over my cycling shoes and Carolins hiking shoes. Surprisingly all survived.
Also, I forgot one of my rear lights in the charging station. As they say “Also the best plan does not survive enemy contact”. This is why I had three different rear lights. Well, I am down to two now actually.
The first part of the route was a little hilly to get out of the Lake Garda valley. Then I followed the river Adige to Verona. I remembered the path from 2017 when Verona had been my first cycling destination on this fundraising tour. The river is forced into a canal here – not pretty but great cycling.
The city of Verona was reached quickly. It was buzzing with tourists, so I only took a picture of proof with the Arena di Verona and then continued to follow the Adige river.
The terrain was super flat and I had a gentle tail wind all day. Later, my bike path followed a converted railroad track. Since I was traveling on Sunday, all shops were closed. Also, there were not any campsites along the way. This is not a touristy area.
After around 100km, I came by a little concert of life music organized by a local bicyclist organization. They sold water which was another reason to stop and listen in a bit. The guys stood around my bike and were discussing my gear. One was consulting me on my route – in Italian and with hands. That was good fun. At the end, he approved of my routing and I ventured on since it was starting to rain a little.
The area here was rather industrial, not exactly much for the eye.
Right before I approached my campsite. There was a supermarket that was open. Alhamdullilah!
So, I took the opportunity and stocked up for dinner and breakfast. The campsite was fully digital next to a highway. I called the owner and she would register me in on good faith and open the gate from afar.
I set up tent, took a shower and made dinner. This was my first Italian campsite on this tour, I recalled. In the first years of this project, I was traveling with a lighter setup and stayed in simple hotels. I must say that I like my more basic and independent way of traveling better.
The campsite was far from spectacular and quite noisy, but all in all, this had been a very good first day.