Italy: Day 6 – Riva del Garda to Lake Cavedine

For our final ride today, our route review was under a wisteria tree inside the hotel.

Claudio reviewed this map that showed the area we would ride in which was north of Riva del Garda and up the valley around Lake Cavedine. This map also gives some feeling of how large Lake Garda is. Half of our ride would be on bike paths and the other half on country roads. We rode just over 30 miles today.

Claudio then talked to us about the wind on Lake Garda. The lake is very popular for wind surfing, etc., and in the morning the wind blows from the south towards Riva del Garda but then shifts in the afternoon to blow back towards the south. Weird. The mountains, I guess. Someone pointed out that based on those wind directions and the direction we would be riding today, the wind should be in our face all day. Interestingly, fortunately, we never had wind issues on this trip and I suspect it was because we were rarely riding in flat open spaces.

Our ride started from the hotel parking lot and along the busy bike path behind our hotel. Eventually we were riding along paths of oleanders in bloom. Tons of them. There were also lots of people walking along here and riding bikes so was very busy in the morning. I took this photo later that day on the way back when the path was less busy.

Next, high up on a rocky crag, we saw the Castle of Arco which dates from the 12th century. It’s open for tours but was not on our schedule.

We did stop at the Ponte di Ceniga, an old Roman bridge.

Riding through a quiet town.

After about nine miles we met up with Claudio who had snacks. These are almost always healthy choices. Lots of fruit. This is how the table looked after we pillaged it.

The next mile or so was a steep hill and I elected to take the van. Claudio then dropped me off at Marocche di Dro. This landscape dates back 20,000 years when glaciers receded and landslides shaped the area. It’s now a very rocky and dry zone. Lunar almost, in appearance. There is a rock in this area that contains tracks of a dinosaur that are apparently more than a million years old. It’s along a hiking trail and would be an interesting thing to check out.

Further along the road, we reached Lake Cavedine. Ross said this reminded him of Lake Geneva with all the surrounding mountains even though it’s much smaller.

We’ve started to see lots of olive trees which benefit from the area’s Mediterranean climate. Nice road ahead too.

We crossed the Sarca River.

It was hot enough that we enjoyed riding along the road and through these irrigation sprinklers.

More apple trees in rows, growing straight up.

We rode back across the river and then along these vineyards.

Another fun section of the bike path. Just a beautiful area for riding.

Around noon, we rode into a small, quiet town. Going out of town, we had a curvy uphill and met three orchard tractors pulling wagons coming down.

Then a little further out of town we reached our lunch stop. This was at the Pedrotti family farm.

We had a table to ourselves for lunch. The Pedrotti family also makes a stand-alone dessert wine and we got to sample that. The family has made this wine for generations and they call it “holy” wine because it’s made during Holy Week.

This was, however, the best meal of the trip for me. First we had the charcuterie tray.

But this is what I had: salad, cheese, marinated veggies, bread with olive paste, and bread with honey. And all fresh. Yum!

Dessert was fresh plums. All this is grown in this area.

When we were ready to leave, we checked out all the bicycles here. Big bicycling and hiking area. And at several spots along the route, mostly closer to Riva del Garda, there were trailside beer bars for bicyclists.

Then it was back on the road and it was supposed to be mainly downhill, but right away we had an uphill stretch and then another and I had to walk. It was steep enough that when I stopped, I couldn’t get started again and had to keep walking. Later, we did have a short, really steep downhill section but it had bumpy grooves across it which spoiled the fun. Really had to hit the brakes. We soon reached the flat bike path.

Later, we entered a town where I somehow got off track. At least the GPS told me that. I back-tracked a bit and watched other bike riders to see where they were going figuring that had to be the main path into Riva del Garda and about the same time Stefano came looking for me. We had a chance to stop in this area for a break, but kept going.

Back along Lake Garda.

We stopped by the lake for a photo. This was possibly the best ride of the trip because it was a combination of a bit of uphill and a bit of downhill, and a lot of rolling and flat trails on a combination of bike path and country roads through farming areas. But all the rides have been great. Except maybe not so much the first day with the six-mile uphill.

Dinner that night was at La Colombera, an agriturismo, and a 1600s manor house.

Before we ate, we had a presentation on how Carne Salada is made. It’s considered a delicacy that can be traced back to the 16th century. This traditional recipe includes massaging the beef rump with salt and various spices, most particularly rosemary, and then storing it and continuing to rub the spices in for 20 plus days. And this was dinner. It was served sliced very thin. Ross loved it and I thought it a bit chewy.