It’s been a while since I started this post (12th of June). I was about to junk it, but on reading what I had written I thought it worthy of staying, even just to illustrate how difficult I’m finding it to write on this trip:
Stay in San Sebastian and vist Bilbao, or the other way around. In the end it was Bilbao and no San Sebastian.
After a day in Bilbao we just knew that we did not want to spend this other day in a big city, so it was off to see the hermitage of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. Hard to say, but easy to look at.
Our friendly neighbours at the camp site had told us that you cannot actually go there without pre-booking, but our vision had mainly been to see it and not necessarily set foot thereupon. When we arrived, however, we could not even get to a place where we could view it. The fellow on the gate was great, telling us that we could go online and there may be cancelled places that get released. It was 11:05 and when we looked there were six places available for 11:45. It was well worth the visit.
I’ve left the title too, even if it is less appropriate for the post now.
Arriving at campsites and roadside stops is nothing like checking into an hotel room, a readymade ‘hermitage’ in which you can escsape into your thoughts and musings. As I write we are in beautifly shaded campsite directly on the shores of Lago d’Idro in the Lombardy region of Italy. It was the weekend and we’d decided that Lake Garda would probably be much more crowded than Idro.
Our campsite Belvedere was quite full, but the pitches are spacious and we were only a few steps from the lake. There is a row of the ‘Great Whites’(our new name for the travelling homes), but we can still arrange the chairs so that we have a clear view of the lake at breakfast.
I’m not much of a swimmer and don’t really find the water relaxing to be in. Sitting beside or even atop are my relaxing places. Although at 7am with no one else in the water even I can be tempted in. Unlike the sea with its surf and swell, the lake allows you to gently get used to the temperature difference, submerging your body at your own pace. I stood neck deep, absorbed by the reflections of the mountains seeing the splashes of what appeared to be some pretty big fish all around me.
I always have a rod and reel in the van, so I looked up the fishing. For a few euros you can get a tourist ticket for up to two months and common species found in the lake are perch, pike, chub, eels, and bleak. I ripped the van apart in search of my end tackle. I had them in my hand at some time during the packing for this trip, but I now imagine I can see them on the corner of the table at home.
The camp shop doesn’t sell any lures, so it will be a relaxing day beside the lake in which I ‘don’t bother the fish and they don’t bother me’.
I should try to fill in the details of the past three weeks or more, but I’ll end here and try to gather enough memories to do a sketch this afternoon, or perhaps aleter when we get to Lake Iseo.
