4th May - Iseo

4th May
Torino to Iseo (Brescia, Italy)

Arrival 48079

Well it's been a bit of a shit day all round today, really.

Firstly, it rained non-stop for 27 hours. I left Torino this morning around 10 and got soaked just getting the electric cable unplugged and the gas turned off, and that was with a waterproof jacket on. The woman at the campsite reception muttered something about 'poca agua'. Poca agua my arse, more like mucho agua.

I left after settling up, which wasn't too bad after the horror stories I'd heard about Italian campsites being expensive: 39e for the 2 nights inc electricity. I made my way along the rain soaked streets of Turin, with the destination of Milan in mind.

I didn't know that the they had paddy fields in Italy. Honestly; there were just dozens of fields under about 9 inches of water. I don't think that they'll have a drought this summer somehow.....

About 20km before Milan, I noticed a red warning lamp on the dash was on, but there was no marking on it to tell me what it was for. Since it had been so wet, I considered the possibility that the water had maybe got into the electrics somewhere and was acting a bit screwey. I finally got to the parking area for motorhomes on the outskirts of Milan, but I really wasn't all that happy with it. It would probably have been ok to overnight on, but I wouldn't have felt happy leaving Hermione there and going in to the city on the Metro, so I just decided to abandon the idea altogether and head for somewhere a bit more scenic, since the rain wasn't letting up anyway. I programmed Maisy GPS for Iseo, Laga d' Iseo, a lake between Bergamo, the airport that Ryanair fly into, and Brescia. Apart from missing one turn off it went ok, with one stop to fuel up and a scare when another warning light came on after leaving the petrol station.

When I finally arrived at the campsite (which is a steal at 14e a night with my camping card) I checked up the manual and found that the 1st warning lamp relates to the turbo pressure and the 2nd to the air cleaner needing attention. It may just be a dodgy sensor, as the turbo sounds ok and doesn't seem to be lacking in any power and isn't smokey, but I plan on getting it checked out on Monday when the garages are open.

I checked the oil level and she's down about a litre, but I've done 5000km without needing to put any oil in so far.

Thirdly.... I've come down with a stinking cold and am not feeling on top form. Hopefully a few days rest will let it shift.

Hmmmmm.... anyway....

The rain finally gave up about 6pm and I walked into Iseo. Nice place, right on the lakeshore, but not a lot happening. I think people were hiding away from the wet weather all day. I decided I needed cheering up, so had myself a slap up meal at the campsite restaurant of pasta, T-bone steak and a half bottle of red to slosh it all down with. It was all right. I'm a bit pissed off tonight - lack of communication is a big factor. The fact that I don't speak a word of Italian doesn't help, although I've found that pigeon Spanish translates across fairly well.

Well, I'm still alive anyway, and tomorrow, as they say, is another day folks.

Ciao.