Day 8 - Montova to Desenanzo - Ride total 561 k, 4,112 m

 They said 25 mm rain overnight, clearing in the morning and throughout the day. They got it right - the bit about the 25 mm overnight, as for the clearing throughout the day part of the forecast - well, we are still waiting for it to stop!

For most of the ride though it was only a light drizzle but enough to warrant keeping the raincoat on. Then when we got about 8 km's out from the Apartment a heavy shower came through. As it did again when we were relocating from the Cafe to the apartment.

Again it was a flat ride through nice country and when we did see some small hills the trail ducked around them and for the best part of the ride we were close to and alongside an Irrigation Canal (think the size of the Hydro canals in the McKensie Country). It is a substantial piece of engineering along with the supporting tributaries and at first I guessed it to be Post WWII. However when we well along the trail we came across a control house that appeared to be more 19th century? I will have to do some more research on this one I can see.

We made it to Desenanzo in good time having had to amend the route 20 km's out as the bridge we were planning on crossing was out of commission. This had us remain on the true right of the canal until we made it to the Lake where we crossed back over and headed off to reconnect with our original route. When we stopped to orientate oursleves and establish just where our route should be we found ourselves exactly back on course - pats on our backs all round were given. It was after this the rain became heavier but as it was not cold it wasn't really a problem.

We found Desenanzo and parked up under the shelter of the verandah on City Square.

Our device had us within 38 metres of our accommodation and in line with our protocal *he who books the accommodation is responsible for finding it, checking in, getting the WIFI code and asking about Laundry facilities and bike parking as well as being shown the room and getting the low doen on it. This leaves two guys to remain with the bikes.

As I booked the apartment I headed off to find it. First up I went in the wrong direction so came back and tried again. Up a narrow road I went and as I wasn't having any luck I popped in to the Gelato shop to ask help from them in there - they spoke good English and told me it was up that  Alleyway over there up some stairs. Remember I said it was raining and as the Gelato store was also a Cafe I went and got Peter and Stephen to remocate themselves from waiting outsde to somewhere warmer and less wet where  they could grab a coffee.

I then went off up the alleyway and stairs but to no avail and ended up back at the Cafe where it was dry so I could message the Apartment host for better directions. There is more to the story but needless to say I found the Apartment and key for it and we were able  to settle in for the afternoon and get out of our wet gear.

As it turned out when we approached the apartment about one metre out my Garmin, beeps and the message "course complete" popped up on my computer screen! If only we had followed the course to its end we would have saved a lot of hassle!

There are some learnings for us here that we will take forward with us on the rides beginning tomorrow. 











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