Lagi e Montagne (Lakes and Mountains)  
Lago da Garda, Trento and Bassano dal Grappa    
 
   
June 12, continued...
... just beyond Villanova, I rode over the crest of a hill and below me lay Lago da Garda, the grandest of the Italian mountain lakes.		    
   

   
       
         
         

 

 

 

 

    I asked the lady at the Ufficio Turistica in Brescia whether I should go up the east side or the west of Garda.   She said definitely the west.      
         
       
         

 

 

         
       
         
         

 

 

         
      This building, dating from the late 1800's, is typical of the villas high above the lakeshore.
This one, though, has been converted to a childcare centre, an Asilo Infantile.		    
         
       

 

 

 

         
         
         
         
         
         
       
         

 

 

         
         
         
         

 

 

 

         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
      I kept feeling like I was going to fall over backwards, looking up the steep hillsides that seemed to go on up forever.
         
         

 

 

    This had me puzzled. There were a lot of them along the road. I was told that it's a limonaia, or 'lemonary'.    
         
         
       

 

 

 

         
         
         
         
         
         
       
         

 

 

    Tignale ( that's "teen   yawli").     This is from a postcard because I didn't go to Tignale.    
       
         
         

 

 

 

   

The route I took was along the lakeshore, half a kilometre below.

This is the hotel where I stayed at Porto di Tignale. I don't know why it's called that; it's just a beach, no port or harbour, and I couldn't see any road snaking up the cliff to Tignale.

    
       
         
         

 

 

 

         
     
         
         

 

         
         
       
         

 

 

         
       
         
         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         
    Saturday, June 13        Tignale da Garda  to Trento         62 km    
         
         

 

         
    Sunrise over the lake.    
   
Glorious !
    
        One of my favourite pictures.

 

 

         
       
         
         

 

 

 

 

 

       
         
         
        Garda is one of the major sailing centres in Europe. Check this out.
         
       
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         

 

         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         
       
         
         
         
         
         
         

 

         
         
         
         

 

 

 

 

         
         
         
         
         
         
   

Near the north end of the lake,
the Centrale idroelettrica de Riva

The interesting thing about sites like this is that the volume is tiny compared to a hydro dam [the water comes down in those pipes on the left], but the pressure is enormous: the head of these penstocks is hundreds of metres up the slope.

 

 

  
         

 

 

 

 

 

    At the north end of the lake, Riva da Garda, a really beautiful tourist town. From Riva one can take a ferry to any point on the lake. No Cars Please.    
         
       
         

 

 

 

 

 

         
       
         
         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         
         
         
         

 

 

 

 

 

         
       
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
  Trento      
  The highway into Trento dives down from the mountains into the valley of the river Adige, another major north-south route. I say 'dives' — about 10% grade,
straight into a 2-km-long tunnel. HANG ON, BWILSONDUNCAN!!  

   ....then, on my right, I was passed by a young girl, pedalling for all she was worth, downhill, 10% grade, no helmet..     [?!]
         

 

 

         
         
       
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
       
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
    Evening in Trento. I stayed in the
Hotel Venezia, just up the street on the left.
    
       
         
         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         
    Sunday, June 14         Trento  to Bassano dal Grappa           83 km    
         
         

 

 

 

     

Sunday morning heading southeast through the mountains. Bikes weren't allowed on the main highway, so I took the old Roman Strada Imperiale.
This is the height of land; the stone marks the boundary between the comunes of Trento and Vezzano.

I was a bit taken aback when I discovered that my route had to cross yet another pass.
It had taken me til 1:30 in the afternoon to get this far — about 15km.
The rest of the days trip — another 65km, was all downhill and I covered it in only four hours.

 

  
       
         
         

 

 

 

 

 

         
       
         
         

 

 

         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
   

San Gaetano, one of a chain of small industrial towns down the lower reaches of the valley...       canyon. There's no farming about. I think the towns were built in the 1800's to take advantage of the fastrunning river to power mills and factories.

 

    
       
         
         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Riding out of the mountains, into Bassano in the late afternoon.