Day 11 – Saturday 26 July

Iseo to Ponte San Pietro

Hotel

Hotel La Quercia (http://www.hotellaquercia.com/)

Notes

There was heavy thunder during the night and at about six o’clock there was a pause in the rain. I got up and went for a shower but by the time I returned it was raining again. I packed the panniers carefully in the tent to keep kit as dry as possible and then loaded the bicycle. Finally I took down the tent, getting pretty wet in the process. There was a small wet patch on the groundsheet that alarmed me, but it was not the groundsheet that had leaked, water had percolated over the edge and worked its way between the groundsheet and the tent inner. The ground was soaked and the gravel didn’t help, but at least this time there was no packed earth to get the groundsheet filthy. I rode off in a filthy mood not having eaten anything.

I struggled along main roads in the rain through built up areas and stopped for a panini and coffee at a garage. In Bergamo I came across a small restaurant that did a four course meal for €13 so I put my bicycle under its balcony and went inside to dry off. The waitress was very suspicious of me, clearly not considering me to be a suitable customer for her family restaurant, but a Dutch family at the next table chatted to me and sympathised about the weather.

At two o’clock I put all my waterproof kit back on and and set off in pouring rain. As I came down to the bridge over the Fiume Brembo at Ponte San Pietro I saw a sign for a hotel and the bicycle turned in almost of its own accord. The proprietor used to run a couple of hotels in London and gave me a discount, only charging me €40 for bed and breakfast. When I unpacked I realised I had left my continental plug adapter in the hotel at Lake Garda. I couldn’t charge my satnav from the solar panel as there had been no sun. The proprietor offered to rig up a connection of his own devising but I declined his offer and said I would try to buy another adapter tomorrow.

There was a posh Chinese restaurant next door and I went there for an expensive buffet meal in the evening. It was still raining but tomorrow sunshine was expected again. I thought I deserved a treat.