Mon 11/11 – Thur 14/11/19

Monday morning early we set out from Le Spezia for a long drive – 400 kilometres up to the South Tyrol region, our last stop in Italy. For the next four weeks we plan to tour Germany, up to the Netherlands and then down through France.

Rob had been checking the weather and had found it would be snowing in the Province of South Tyrol this week so we thought we would try to catch some real winters weather.

From La Spezia we head NE towards Parma and Mantova. Just outside Verona we leave the Autostrada so that we can drive up Lake Garda which runs for about 100 kilometres.

Mountains tower each side of the lake which has wind whipped waves on this cold rainy day. At Gargnano on the opposite shore we see a village on a cliff top and a bit further on there is another under the cliff at Campione.

At the end of the lake at Nago- Torbole a gorgeous village then morphs into a rural vista of tightly packed fields of grapevines and fruit trees.

Back on the Autostrada we pass Castellano – which has a Castle high on the hill above the town.

Snow is predicted from 6pm. We exit the Autostrada at Bressanone and arrive at the village of Vintl Weitenal, grab a few supplies and head up the mountain to our destination, villa Wohrerhof. As we leave the village around 5pm, it starts snowing. Wow!

I feel like a child with the wonder of it. Our host Agnes meets us, speaking German and we quickly bring in our gear, then we are both out trying to catch the snow on our tongues, laughing and giggling.

On Tuesday we wake up to a smattering of snow that turns to sleet by about 10am. We go for a drive further up the valley to the village of Pfunder where it is -2 degrees and snowing. We visit the local church, go for a very slippery walk and then play in the snow for a bit before relaxing in the local bar with a warm drink.

Back in Vintl it’s still wet and the snow has all but disappeared. We take a walk around Vandois, the village below our villa, it’s very cold and there is no one about except the Poste lady and very little traffic. Rob and I ponder that from now til April next year, people in snow areas mainly live inside.

Later in the day it starts snowing again and this time it snows all through the night going down to -7 degrees.

On Wednesday we wake up to a Winter wonderland.

Snow everywhere! Its very quiet and very beautiful. We go for a walk around the villa and up the mountain road beside us a short way.

Across the morning it keeps snowing and by 10:30am the wheels on the car are half buried. It’s supposed to stop snowing soon and we are hoping for a walk later…

At about 11:30am Agnes is outside shoveling snow. I kindly offer Rob’s help as my right hand is still not up to hard manual work although it is healing well. After snapping some pics and dodging snow thrown my way I start work on a snowman.

Rob and Agnes clear snow around the cars for about an hour and Agnes explains a tractor will clear the drive later.

It continues to snow for about another hour and stops around 1:00pm. We have had nearly 40cm of snow and Agnes tell us that this unusual for November but that it will be a clear tomorrow. Good to hear as we have to drive out then.

On the news today we hear that Venice has flooded and is under – 1.7metres of water and that other areas further down in Southern Italy have flooded also – so sad to hear. So challenging weather abounds.

Rob and I are also both very sad to hear about the devastating bush fires at home in Australia. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected.

Robs walk – love this shot

I’m in love with this place and enjoying the photography immensely. A full moon on the 12th presents an opportunity to good to miss so I get up and take some shots at 2am from our balcony. It’s -6 degrees and I had read about a meteor shower due about now but no sign of it, just the lovely moonlight.

The next morning the sun is shining and it looks like a bonus day for our drive through Austria into Germany.

Next stop Fischen Germany.