Topping Up

Quistello   -  San Giovanni     81.87kms     129’ ascent

This morning Julie Walters serve our breakfast! The food was somewhat meagre, but watching its delivery was highly entertaining. It promised to be another very hot day, as by nine o’clock we were already glowing with perspiration. We knew where the route commenced today and we found the start with no problem. Armed with maps, compasses and a GPS we still managed to misplace ourselves after two hours or so. While standing in a village square looking perplexed we caught the eye of a young man who had recognised our Welsh flag. He introduced himself as a fan of the city of Cardiff where he had watched the rugby in the Millenium Stadium. Much more useful to us was his local knowledge. So, off we went again.

Now our planners are in for more criticism.  That the track had down-graded from tarmac to gravel was something we had come to accept, but a track with no shelter from rain or sun for miles was uncomfortable and inhospitable. The light coloured gravel didn’t help as it reflected the heat, which today was quite hot! On the positive side, there was no nostril wind and the track was flat. On all sides we were surrounded by vines and maize and not much else. (the odd barking dog)

We are getting better at maintaining our fluid levels now but today was still something of a challenge on that front as I had to make a number of small diversions to obtain liquids. And we still only had one wee each! Not together, I might add.

Some fifteen kilometres short of Bologne we called a halt. We need to be cool headed and fresh to negotiate the vagaries of another big town/city. BUT today we passed the 5000 kms mark, so only another 2000 to go!

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