Rivoltella

There are so many campsites around the lake to choose so we have to just pick the one with nice pictures, this one looks pretty cool with a nice pool for the children. We get one of the last pitches (uh-oh, that means our days of not having to think about whte were going ahead of time are ninbered!) and all the pitches are a little squashed but it’s perfect, right but the lake. We realise that it is a bank holiday for Italians and Germans so are lucky to have come without a reservation!

We were going to do two nights here but stay three in the end as it was so good.

We take a walk along the shore, and find in the shallows of the lake a little cray fish struggling against the little waves of the windy lake, it’s pretty cool for us all to see, we had literally just eaten some crayfish from the supermarket earlier in the week, which feels a bit weird but we pick it up and help it on it’s way back out deep!

We decide this is a good place to hire a peddelo (especially as they have flamingo ones which Amelia is determined that we get - the children are really excited thinking they are ‘parks’ on the water as they have slides) but see you can hire speed boats too, proper ones! Fast ones! Nic vs Amelia on the pedalo vs speed boat argument - who wins?! Both, we get the bright pink flamingo first and then hire a speed boat and check out the lake a bit further afield. Coen barely come up for air from stuffing his face with biscuits and Amelia is living a life of luxury sunbathing on the bow of the boat. That was good fun!

In Italy most swimming pools have an odd rule about everyone wearing swim hats, and this is one of those pools that really enforce it - so much so that the lifeguard even sells swim hats to those that don’t have them. Although when we ask he doesn’t really know why the rule is in force - is it hygiene, safety, fashion??! It’s a very odd rule. We pop a normal cap on which does the trick. The pool is great with a splash park with water cannons and very shallow water for Coen to run wild in too. Even a water see-saw! We spend the days between the parks, lake and pool and enjoy the sun. There is a jetty that we can swim off the end of, where he water is beautiful and clear, with lots of patches warmer by the sun - the children are never convinced with getting straight into deep water though and Amelia is adamant she wants to swim in the shallows (merky Algae water), so she’s on her own for that one!

On the last night, Amelia finds another girl that speaks English and immediately they hit if off and she begs us to stay longer at the site - but alas, adventure beckons, there’s more to see ahead. So many friends, so little time!

On a morning walk down to the lake, I (Sarah) see some fish much bigger than the ones we’ve seen before in the lake, so go out onto a rock jetty to have a look, excited to tell the others....and suddenly a fish at least the size of a whale swims up to me...I don’t know whether to run back and get my camera or just stand and stare and try to figure out what it is. I decide to stand and stare, then quickly head back to get the family, but by the time we get back, this fish is long gone. In hindsight it may have been more the size of a big fish than than a whale but it was definitely a few feet long and wide! And needless to say no one believed that it existed! Luckily, I ask another couple if they’ve seen it, they’ve been coming for years and show me a picture they took a few years back of it, so I can show the others!

The lake has been beautiful, and has a real holiday feel, which means we’ve had time to unwind and relax, of course there’s a huge park for the children to play in at every opportunity, and we’ve enjoyed our time here. Definitely one to recommend. We decide as it’s been good and we’ve already done so many beautiful lakes that rather than driving out of our way to more lakes, we’ll head for the med and see what awaits...Read more