Rome to London 2024

 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 hav...

It was a longer flat ride today through very good farming country, all of which was dedicated to croppiing, vegetable growing or orchards (even the odd Kiwifruit orchard. Having said that within the last 10 km's we past probably less than 10 livestock (cattle and pig) farms the animals we didn't see but the nose never misleads in that area. The stand out thing from today's ride were the large number of vacant and now unlived in farmhouses. There must have been quite a large exodus from the rural sector as mechanisation and larger coprporate farms have taken over from the small family farm. Some were quite dilapidated while others you could see have only been left in the last 5 -  10 years - most had TV aerials while some had satelitte dishes on their rooves. Real Estate agents would describe them as farmhouse or barn conversions just waiting for the  have new inspirational owwners. Clearly though there is no market for these properties as the people have just walked out the...

Today was a bit messy in that we are using the 1:40 p.m. train to relocate us from Firenze to Bologna and because of work on the line we could not take the fast 38 minute train and the only one available takes a bit over the hours and includes a change of trains. Just as well riding in trains is still considered fun by us Kiwis.  This meant that we had the morning at our disposal, and I mapped out short 20 k ride out of town that we could do after we visited the bike shop again. Stephen needed to replace his small bike bag and Peter wanted to use their pump. All was going well until Stephen realised that his effort at putting more air in his Tyre was going nowhere! Yes, he had his second puncture for the trip and fortunately it happened at the bike shop, it did though take a wee bit of time to get sorted.  We then amended our plans for the day and went for a ride down and along the river. I had a surplus bit of technology with me now that I have upgraded my USB charging hub an...

Our morning started with our own homemade breakfast of muesli, banana, yogurt, freshly squeezed orange juice and a cup of tea. It's so good when we come across a supermarket and we can get back to normal food.  We then spent some time planning the next couple of days before heading out to the find the railway station as we have decided that was the best option to overcome an accommodation issue. After we'd bought our tickets to Bologna for tomorrow we then headed off to a bike shop (they are one shop worth visiting when you are travelling - you never know what you might see that we don't have at home). I took the opportunity to buy a new pair of gloves and the other boys bought some things as well.  On the way to the bike shop we passed a laundromat so stopped and threw a load of washing in. As there was a Cafe opposite the laundromat the boys opted for a coffee.  With the washing done it was time to head back to the Hostel and have a cuppa, again making our way through t...

Nothing about the ride today and all about Firenze (Florence). It's amazing how two people from Christchurch who know each other and both happen to be over in Europe riding bikes and  both happen to be overnighting here in Firenze. It was great to meet up with young Tom (half my age) and share a meal together at our hostel before heading out onto the town to have our desert gealato and a walk around this amazing city, quite different from the other Italian cities we have visited. Streets full of people out enjoying themselves and no motor vehicles. Not only did we share our table with Tom here at the hostel but the only other two guys also out on the terrace were a couple of young fellows from Christchurch...  A rest day or touristy day for us tomorrow. 

60 km of our ride today was on a trail beside a drainage canal so was totally flat and although it was through open country for some of it we were fortunate we were on the shady side of the trees. Even so much of it was exposed to the sun and the heat. After about 3 hours I stopped to apply more sunscreen to my calves and legs as I could feel the sun burning happening especially my right calf - we were heading due north and the sun was coming at us directly from the south east. We are happy we are heading north as we would be getting fried if heading south directly in to the sun. Because we were out on the flat plain the trail did not pass through any town or village so we did not have a morning tea so instead riding on to our lunch spot. After having our share of pizza and pasta over the last week the mixed salad the Cafe had was just the best along with a couple of glasses of freshly squeezed orange. This area appears to have been swamp land that has been drained and is growing huge ...

  While it was a cool mist at the start of our ride after about an hour the sun came out and with it the heat that quickly rose to around h. There was quite a variety to our ride today from roads with moderate traffic through to very quiet sealed one lane rural roads to clay/gravel back roads full of pot holes. Some  hills  as well with one section having a gradient of 17% - I managed to ride it and didn't stop at the top coz the down hill breeze was a great way to try to cool down. The scenery was lovely valleys and hills and again for some of the ride we were following the Tiber River and tracked alongside the railway and motorway however never having to travel on it. Because we are not aiming for the 100 km per day it means we can take longer with our tea/coffee/gelatto and lunch stops and with the low cost of food they are very enjoyable. Things that I see along the journey that have me wondering is the number of un-lived in houses and unused industrial sites where wh...