Day 16 - Lecco to Verona

Over the weekend, the weather had been miserable. This had made me very happy. I considered that there could not possibly be three days of bad weather in Italy, so surely on Monday the sun would be shining for my trip to Verona.


Contrary to this sound meteorological logic, it rained for almost all of Monday and this put a little dampener on what could have been a beautiful day. In particular, I was aggrieved that the view of the Alps to the north had to remain a figment of my imagination, stuck as I was in a grey box whose sides were never more than half a mile from my eyes.

The road was fair. It undulated occasionally but the surface was good and so progress was fast. I started to feel the benefit of the previous weeks’ work and I noticed that I was able to travel a full mile further per hour. Conversely, the Italian signage contrived to hold me up at every stage. Often, one sign would contradict another placed just a few hundred metres before and I was constantly frustrated by the misleading information. The distance indicators were just silly. At one point I might be 36 kilometres from Bergamo, only to find that, 10 miles further down the road, I was 37 kilometres from the same spot. This was less difficult to deal with as the signs simply have to be ignored.

I stopped for lunch in the old centre of Brescia, the first of many cities which would continue to amaze me as I made my way across northern Italy. I took great pleasure in picking my way along the square-bricked streets between old churches and roman ruins before setting out again to Verona.

The greatest disappointment of the day came as I arrived on the shores of lake Garda. Many people in Milan had told me that I should take my time on the road along its shores, as it was more beautiful even than Como. Sadly, I barely realised I was beside it until the towns picked up the suffix ‘del Garda’ and when I looked to the north all I could see was white noise and a couple of buoys.

On the final approach to Verona I neared the 100 mile mark and quickened my pace as I did. I smiled as the landmark came and went and then cooled my work rate as I closed in on the old city. Meeting Marco at the station, I walked with him through the marbled streets to his family home on the north side of the river and enjoyed supper with him and his family, eating my own weight in thick vegetable soup and chicken and pork. Marco's mother and father were both doctors and they took care to ply me with water and medicaments to ensure I was ready to face the next day.

Distance covered 106 miles