Day 5: Maderno-Peschiera del Garda (100 km, 687 m elev. gain)

Today was my second day at Lago di Garda, and what a day it was!

The breakfast in my little hotel opened at 8 o’clock, and I was there at five past eight because I was awake already and wanted to leave early.

At half past nine, I was ready to leave. It was sunny, but it had been windy all night, and it was still very windy. The wind was coming from northeast, and my first forty kilometres were along the west side of the lake towards northeast. So I had headwinds. But then again, I was going around the lake, so my last sixty kilometres would head towards southwest, so I was counting on tailwinds on the east side.

There were two things that were slightly annoying today. One thing was that there was a lot of traffic. But I guess that’s what you have to expect in a tourist hotspot. The other thing was that half of the distance on the west coast, the road goes through tunnels or galleries. The galleries are fine, because they slip in sunlight from one side. But the tunnels were annoying. Some of them did not have lights either. So I put on my reflective vest as an extra safety measure.

Apart from that, the ride was very nice. The scenery was spectacular. The highlight was a pedestrian and cycle path that was built hanging over the lake.

After two and a half hours ami reached the northern tip of the lake at Riva del Garda. Here I had a short lunch break consisting of ciabatta, banana and a lemonade.

Then I continued down the east side of the lake. There were fewer tunnels, but similarly great views.

After 55 kilometres, I stopped at a supermarket to refuel water. Then, after 75 I was planning the next break, but decided to continue for five more kilometres to reach the town of Garda. On this stretch, my blood sugar got really low, so I really needed that break and looked out for a gelateria directly. I was feeling a bit dizzy already, so the dottore prescribed one scoop of amarena and one scoop of stracciatella for my recovery. It worked.

At four o’clock I reached my destination, Peschiera del Garda. I have a small, nice, modern room here. I spent one hour in the sun at the lake and just had a delicious dinner consisting of fish & chips accompanied by an insalata mista and a rosé wine.

Tomorrow, my journey continues to Padua leaving the great Italian lakes behind.