DELAYED BLOG

A little late in starting this blog - 2 weeks gone already so a bit of catching up to do.  Had thought it not worth repeating past glories of the Italian Lakes - but new Lake, new stories, new views, new experiences.  Of necessity a brief recap with short comments - but a flavour of the area and the travels.

 A stop in France in the Alsace wine region in lovely medieval town, Riquehar.  Just a brief stay but looking forward to 2 nights at the B&B and further exploring of the grape vines, stunning old rickety streets, great shopping and perhaps some festivities as it will be middle of grape picking.  A few reminiscences from Graham no doubt from his time as a student grape picker - would recommend you give 1972 vintages a wide berth after tales of bare feet and other unmentionables that appeared to be part and parcel of grape crushing!

View from our campsite at Cannobio, just south of Locarno, on Lake Maggiore on the first day - a bit hazy with accumulated summer smog - to be later swept away after a few days - with a day of violent thunderstorms.  See the difference in the next pictures, before, during and after the rain

The town is just a few minutes walk from the campsite - an idyllic long promenade lined by cafes overlooking people and the lake - we have fallen in love with the place and instead of 2 weeks here and 2 in Lake Como we have decided to stay where we are.  Below are pictures of the prom at night with a market and music, during the Sunday market when it was full of  people, rain and stalls and a typical seat supping our drinks overlooking the mountains and lake

And then there are the hundreds of walks to do within a few miles - the ones straight from the campsite with these views of the town. Our campsite is in the trees at the tip of the penisnsula - great position with plenty of shade from trees and flowering bushes.