With Tina having flown back to the UK for
her Mum’s 90th birthday I was left to my own devices for 7 days. I
chose Lago Trasimeno to the east of Perugia airport as my destination as it had
several campsites in the ACSI guide that looked ok. A bit of research on the
internet had also revealed that there were good routes for a bit of road
cycling. Perfecto. Or so I thought………….
The roads in Umbria had proved to be
absolutely dreadful with potholes galore that had been very badly filled. The
road to Camping Listra in Castigilione Del Lago from the main dual carriageway
was the worst yet. The van rattled and bounced its way to the site. I chose a
shady pitch right under the trees as the temperature had soared to the high thirties. Even better it was only €9 a night all inclusive as I was on my own.
On closer inspection it was okish, the toilets were old and not particularly
clean but the owners were welcoming and helpful. Even better was that the lake
was literally 30m away for swimming. I was straight in after setting up camp.
Lovely and cooling if a bit muddy underfoot.
shady pitch
campsite beach - from a brochure??
Next day I decided to go for a little cycle
to try and find the track. There was a MTB sign just outside the campsite so I
followed it to what transpired to be a small airfield on the site of a former
WW1 military base. Lots of old crumbling buildings and some being rebuilt.
There was also the stable block for the 12 hour cross country horse endurance
race that had taken place the day before
- part of the course came through the campsite past reception ! No barriers, cones or tape just 2 marshals
sat on chairs. It could only happen in Italy like this. The health and safety brigade in the UK would
have had kittens if they had seen what was happening.
12 hour horse event
I then met a German TV crew who were filming about the cycle route around the lake and its bad design - it had flooded in parts. It was euro funded and apparently not being maintained /managed at all. in Italy, surely not? I agreed to lend Irnia Tina's bike.
Next morning 8.30am, already 25 C I met
them at the campsite gates. Irnia the actress (lovely bubbly person but a bit mad!) turns up in a lovely bright red summer dress
and Paddington Bear style sun hat! When
I politely suggested shorts would be better she replied “my legs are not my
best feature, my eyes are much better”.
So with her dress partially tied up off we cycled to the flooded
sections to meet the crew (Cornelia, Corianna – sound, Florian – camera) Roland appeared to be driver and gofer.
Irnia
I managed to ride through all of the sections much to the crew's amazement - it was relatively easy. Years of riding in the UK mud had prepared me for anything!
film crew interviewing a local
It was a fun day and they were a very
friendly bunch of people. The scandal is that the region was given euro funding
for the path and a nature reserve and have not kept to the agreement that the
path would not go through sensitive wetlands and that it would be maintained
and publicized as a tourist attraction. The bridges are in bad order, signs
faded or missing and no maps printed. This has all come under scrutiny as they
recently applied for more funding to complete the missing southern part of the
path. Accusations of bribes, ignoring the wetlands issues and generally being
incompetent were all mentioned.
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