Mendola and Miracles!

Well I've just done my 3rd big mountain drive…oh, and Karl did his 4th big mountain ride. I think my achievement is equal to his considering the hairpin bends, the sheer drop off the side of skinny roads and wild Italian drivers to negotiate! It was the Mendola pass in northern Italy. And for those of you who are interested it was 16km ride rising 1070m. Incredibly impressive mountains in this area!

And now for anyone who may doubt God's provision and intervention, here is a story that will give you hope. On my morning adventure up the Mendola Pass, the GPS worked perfectly well. British Kate (the GPS) and I were at one. But she had a hissy fit and just wouldn't turn back on for our drive to Lake Garda. Thankfully I had my trusty (paper) maps and we headed off in the right direction, all the while wondering and praying how on earth this might turn out. Do we just try to do Italy with maps? (Impossible to find our accommodation in the middle of Florence and Rome with a map). Do we activate data on our mobile? (very expensive) Do we buy another GPS? (where would we find a place in the middle of northern Italy selling English speaking GPS's?) or possibly buy an overseas mobile and SIM card?

I thought I could at least find the town of Garda, on Lake Garda but after missing the first turnoff (which said Affi, in my defense) then misunderstanding the toll collectors instructions we found ourselves in the back blocks of Verona, trying desperately to find our lake. And then what do we drive past? A huge supercentre-style shopping centre with a shop that at least had Auto in their name. And once we found the entrance, we initially thought it was only a mechanics shop until someone opened the door and I saw a sign inside saying Accessories (or the Italian word for that). It was also now early afternoon on a Saturday and shops are closed here on a Sunday. 

(Never has there been such a boring, but welcome photo in this blog!) And so to keep a long story long…in a range of perhaps 6 GPS's they had our exact Garmin model. Not only that, he showed us how to change it to English language but then when they didn't have another in stock, sold us the demonstration model which he'd just set up for us. Now what are the chances of that????? I could never have imagined that God would intervene in such a miraculous way! I am in awe of His goodness to us! And so very thankful I don't have to spend the rest of our holiday with my head down trying to navigate using a map.

We made it to Lake Garda and it was completely mist-covered. Literally a sea of white! Nothing was going to spoil my day now so I embraced the unique lighting conditions and here are the results...