18.10 - Day 277 - Mira to Bottarone, ITA

Friday 18th October - Mira (Venice) - Bottarone, Italy (Day 277)

Today we begin our run West, having mapped out as far as Avignon, Carcassonne and Bilbao. 

Turns out getting schoolwork done, breakfast, showers and packing is a struggle for 10am when you only get up at 8am. The cleaner is waiting outside in the small car park by the time we finally pull away. 

To break up the drive to Avignon we’ve got two one night stops, plus stop offs on the way. 

We won’t make it to Lake Como, but instead visit Lake Garda. Well we think it’s Lake Garda but it's hard to see through the windscreen because it's raining so hard. 

On the peninsula town of Sirmione there we eat lunch in the car looking out over the lake. The rain eases enough that we venture out with rain jackets and not ponchos to see the Castello Scaligero di Siomoine, a castle with a proper moat. 

However, as the rain returns we power walk through a couple of crowded narrow alleyways, post optimistic gelaterias (though Seb still asks, as if by habit, for a gelato) back to the car. 

As we drive on to Bottarone the rain disappears and after a bit of grocery shopping at Lidl we arrive and settle into our large top floor apartment in a small gated complex. 

Last night in Italy means one thing - pizza. Kate and I try a pinza, supposedly healthier dough which is undone by the slathering of brie on top. But tasty nonetheless.