Silly Billies Return to Roam

After my stay at Cris's place in Oberstdorf, (the little bit of Germany with sticks out into the alps surrounded entirely by Austria) we loaded up Frauke's wee car to it's absolute max and departed south - headed for Lago di Garda for a 10 day bike/climbing adventure. We drove past the church in the lake on the way to Gardersee We were staying in a campground in Tobleno at the Northern end of the lake. The lake is over 60 km long, the southern end is very flat and hot, while the northern end tucks into the foothills of the Dolomites, it is surrounded by steep peaks around 2000 m high which plunge into the lake. The campground was totally filled with German holiday makers enjoying Italy's warm weather. Many people flock to Lago di Garda for its sailing - the lake gets regular and predictable winds. The first thing that greeted us in the campground reception was a miniature of the NZ Americas cup boat Black Magic proudly displayed on the wall. One of the first things t...

One hot stuffy Ryan Air flight and I arrive in Memmingen. From there I took a very long train trip to Freiburg to stay with Julian and Jana for a couple of days, before making my way down South to stay with Crispin in Oberstdorf. I managed to reassemble my dismembered bike in the sweltering heat at the railway station and cycle round to their place. Jana had cooked some yummy nutty pasta for tea - then Julian and I headed out for a quick ride in the Schwarzwald before it got dark and it was time for bed. The next day Jana and I had a nice time hanging out and begun by eating breakfast at a nearby cafe. We constructed a vege strudel for dinner, much to Julian's delight. On Wedsnesday Jana and I had the plan to head to Switzerland (about 1.5 hours drive) to spend the day rock climbing. We bhad bought the guidebook the day before and spotted a suitably shady crag which would hopefully stay out of the sun for most of the day. We had the crag and its multiple routes to ourselves all day...