We have not checked the weather forecast for days as it’s been the same, hot, hot, hot.

When we awoke today it was very cloudy hiding the sun, and the trees were blowing strongly. Strong winds of up to 37 kmh SW were forecast.

Whatever we thought! She’ll be right!

Today was to be another hilly ride, sporting climbs plus one super tough one in the wind.

Today’s route was exploring the eastern aspect of the islands starting and finishing at the green dot in Lido. Basically a figure of 8, heading towards Port Azzuro, Rio nell Elba, Rio Marina, Cavo, back to Rio nell Elba, Magazzini, and back to Lido.

A total of 53 km, 939 m climbing. Back home by lunchtime, despite stopping for lunch and morning tea.

Port Azzurro is only 3.5 km from Lido so we reached that town first.

Climbing and descending was the order of the day. Given the lack of sun, the brilliant blue azure seas were not revealed.

We stopped for a coffee break in the port town of Rio Marina, a port originally to transport iron from the island but today, a hub for ferries from mainland Italy.

Leaving Cavo we had the longest climb of the morning at around 7 km. It was a nice climb, with the wind interfering only minimally climbing, usually on an exposed right hand bend.

Some photos from the climb. Not as many as Tony went into a competitive mode, catching three riders ahead and staying ahead, ha ha. I too managed to pass them, not that it was a race!

What goes up, must come down, and we descended back into the cross point of our figure eight at Rio nell Elba, heading back up for a nastier climb.

This climb was shorter at around 4 km, but more evil with 13-14% sections, very narrow road, with cars going both ways at times. You could guarantee a car at a right hand bend!

Right hand bends are the hardest as they are steep into the turn, and no option of heading left in case a car is descending on the narrow road. In addition the fierce winds hit us at those bends (side on often) pushing you towards the right hand edge.

The descent was hairy! The wind was extraordinarily awful, it started to spit with rain, the road very narrow and steeper than what we had just climbed.

A very slow and controlled descent by me particularly given the number of bends and barely one car wide. I think I could smell my brakes!

Once we’d completed the shaky descent we decided to go to the nearest local village to sit out the spitty rain. We headed to Bagnaia,where not much was happening, I guess due to the crappy weather.

Bagnaio is a pebble beach offering a range of aquatic activities. Today, most were sitting in the local cafe. We stopped and had a light lunch, watching a sand storm gust through that left our bikes filthy!

Feeling replenished, we left the village and immediately went into a short climb that had a 13% pinch. The cold legs did protest much!!

The afternoon we decided to chill. Tony got to work cleaning our bikes.

Washing is done and is out drying in the wind. It is still warm despite the wind and has been in the mid 20’s.

So tomorrow we head off early. We will be on the road by 6 am to ensure we are at the ferry with time to spare, or enough time to cover a contingency such as a puncture.

Hard to believe that this time next week we will be well on the way home.

Thanks for reading 😊❣️

We woke to beautiful views out our bedroom window. Blue skies!

First to breakfast (again….people seem to sleep in), we packed and rolled down the hill out out of this interesting little country.

We quickly realised that our descent was the ascent route for the upcoming Tour de France. The freshly laid new road surface being the biggest clue, along with supporting signage. kg was a much nicer road than our previous day ascent.

We remained on the new surface for 30 km and it was so smooth. In places though, due to the heat of the sun, it had partly liquified, sticking to our tyres, adding more rolling resistance on the hills.

Hills and heat would be part of my days summary. It got hot with little shade reprieve.

The climbing graph. You can see the initial descent but we then went into two five km length climbs. The longest climb of the day started around 25 km, intensifying, reaching to top at 66 km. That’s a lot of climbing on a loaded bike in the heat.

Our first climb were through the local hills including Chiesanuova. The Tour will pass through as you can tell by the road, and the sign with the older men.

It was a nice area, quiet of traffic, lovely views.

The second 5 km climb took is to San Leo perched high up that rock. It is an old fortress town 600 metres above sea level.

It is a nice little village, very quiet, minimal tourists at this time of day. We stopped at a small cafe for refreshments including filling up our bidons. Other cyclists cruised through, many grabbing a quick espresso before cycling off.

We rolled down the hill, this angle showing a more dramatic cliff, with chunks having broken away.

After 30 km of nice road seal, we were on strada bianchi, white gravel. This was a bit cooler.

But alas as has happened many times this trip, we hit a road block. Not one we could sneak through either as there was a gaping hole caused by flood damage. So back we went to find an alternative.

Onto the long climb of the day. It went on and on with sections up to 11 percent. The heat was quite draining but we drank water regularly and were otherwise fairly comfortable. Our tops were soaked in sweat.

The road was a major route through these new Tuscan hills but overall fairly quiet. There was the one crazy bus driver….

Much of the hills remain undeveloped and fully bushed out. Others are cleared and farmland.

We enjoyed the cooling descent and headed off towards our overnight Anghiari, a place made famous in latter years by Leonardo da Vinci, in a lost mural, depicting a mythical battle between the republics of Florence and Milan.

Boasting an incredible old history with buildings dating back to at least the 12th century.

It is quite imposing as you ride towards it. This,road seemed to go on and on and right up the middle of the town. Our accomodation was just to the right of the road you can see.

Our view from the stairwell looking towards the old town over the roof tops.

We crossed over that long straight road, where the earlier photo was taking lower down.

We wandered towards the old village with this guy pointing towards tomorrows route direction.

The old village is steep, with lots of narrow alley ways, cute arches and flowers, interpretation panels explaining the history of many of the old structures.

We searched for food but as is common 7 pm was the opening time here too. We went to a restaurant boasting typical Tuscan fare…and he offered us a table at 6.45 pm so that sealed the deal!

It was outside at the top of the hill, adjacent to the long road, and we just kept staring and thinking….we made it!

I have made today’s map smaller to show where we are relatively within Italy. Not that far from Rome or Florence, but our direction is to traverse the width of Italy via Siena and Piombino.

It does show that we traversed green hilly areas having climbed over 1600 metres, 99 km. The next two days are similar.

Thanks for reading 😊💪❣️

June 1st, first day of summer in Italy and the forecast only showed sun, sun, sun.

Get out the sun protection cream and lip balm!

After an ‘interesting’ breakfast discussion with accomodation owner Sven (he speaks 6 languages, has a low opinion of anyone not speaking at least 3 😳), plus our faux pas mentioning we hate all the smoking in Venice which put us off going there again (to then note the cigarette lighter in his hand), and Tony saying how in Australia you cannot smoke at outdoor cafes. Sven became almost apoplectic (now noting cigarette in his other hand) and we went into our best ‘dig yourself out of a hole mode’ as he went into a passionate rant about the diminishing liberties of smokers…ho hum…

Thank goodness another guest arrived for breakfast and by the time we went back to our room, passing Sven I could smell the cigarette stench, but he was calmer 🤣🤷‍♀️.

We left via the beach side of Lido, where they were just gearing up for the day.

Two ferries were required today. One from Lido to Pellestrina island, then a second to mainland Chioggia, In between we would ride the remaining length of the Venice Lagoon.

Both islands are very narrow with Venice lagoon one side, Adriatic Sea the other.

In many spots a high sea wall exists to protect the islands, the views across the Venice lagoon were lovely. The myriad of small islands, aquatic activities and fishing structures.

On Pellestrina life is very casual. We rode through a spot with two vans selling their wares, the first fruit and vegetables, the second cheeses. Locals all get around in bikes vs cars.

The ferries were not an issue, more of a waiting game. More nice views,

Docking in Chioggia, another canal city. As we could tell from the water, busy as and we made a beeline to safely extract ourselves from the throngs and the markets we seem to route through!

We found a quiet cafe to stop at, as I needed a toilet, so buying a coffee gives us access!

The next chunk of riding was on a busy arterial road, which was to feature a bit today. When I saw the sign Romea I’d groan.

But we did turn off to see some of the extensive Po Delta, one of the most important wetland areas of Europe, largest in Italy, boasting double UNESCO recognition.

64,000 hectares in total, with over 400 animal species and 1,0000 plant species. 300 different bird species, 50 species of fish, 10 amphibians…the extensive list goes on.

We did see an impressive bright green lizard, flamingoes, deer, a large dead mammal looking animal ( no idea what it was), and a plethora of birds.

The riding is very chilled through here. More people riding bikes than cars. There were higher vantage point lookout towers built.

The day was hot, our bike computers had it well over 30 degrees, it was also very windy and we were in a very flat and open area with little to protect us from the super strong headwinds.

The headwinds were cooling, but they do make pedalling forward harder.

We were back in that busy Romea road, and we did detour through a nice little village of Mesola as we needed something more to eat and cold drinks,

We found these two buildings in our way to locating a small supermarket boasting a gazebo with table and chairs. We did enjoy chilling there.

After around 110 km we arrived at our overnight destination, Comacchio, founded 2000 years ago. It is considered a major centre within the Po Delta region, and is also known as Little Venice, due to all of its canals,

We found our accomodation, next to this canal and boat.

We started our post shower wander and both really like this town. It has a great vibe, wonderful historic bridges and buildings without the chaos of other touristy towns,

Some of the views.

Did I say no chaos in this town? We found it! Last week it was the Giro d’Italia, this week the Giro del Lago! We walked into the epicentre of an 8.5 km running race that had very good support.

Now this guy is the kind of official needed at all running and triathlon like events. He is at the triple bridge as we tried to walk through. Think again! He also reminded us very much of one of Raymond Reddington’s friends from the Blacklist.

Back on the course, #125 is in the lead into the second lap. By the third lap he’d cleared out with a comfortable lead. By the fourth lap the shirt was off. He won.

Heading back to our dinner we did try to go into the cathedral but a church event was happening. A quick glimpse though and it looked very nice with high painted domes but it was just not appropriate to enter further.

This is the nicest grilled octopus dish I’ve ever had. Very much enjoyed this,

Health wise how are we tracking? Tony still has a receding thigh lump but otherwise the accident has pretty well healed. He is getting a cold and hacking a bit.

My bruising is coming out. The lump is making sleep difficult as it hurts most in bed. It does not affect me riding as the lump does not touch the saddle when I sit.

So we’re now heading in a southerly direction for a few days before we head west through Tuscany.

The sights have dramatically changed, the weather is warmer. The forecast is good for tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. 😊❣️

It is a shorter blog today as we did not take many photos and I can sum the ride up as … very wet.

We rode 110 km leaving Lake Garda up a hill I have ridden twice before. It had a special name we refer to it as that I cannot possibly commit to writing here. I’ve not done it with a loaded bike so it was harder again. I had planned a different route out but we tried to trim km due to the weather.

This is looking back towards Lake Garda 1 km into the climb. You can see how bleak the lake looks.

Northern Italy has had numerous floods in the past week and that was evident today with rivers raging and obviously higher than usual when you see playground equipment in the waters.

At Rovereto our original plan had been to visit an old cliffside church but due to the rain and the fact it was closed for renovation we moved in a more direct line to our destination.

On the edge of Rovereto there is a marvellous long distance bike path following the Adige River, and we would be on this path for most of the day. In fact I estimate we spent over 100 km of our 110 km ride on sealed bike paths.

This was certainly safer for us, as wet days in roads means you get road water sprayed every time a vehicle passes.

We were wet enough without that additional hazard.

At this point on the path were the cycling figurines and counter showing over 900,000 people had been through since opened. It also showed 11 people for the day.

Later on around Trento there was a similar sign and counter showing 1.8 million users and over 200 users for the day.

Finding shelter was not easy. The path had many signs stating we were on EuroVelo 7, the Sun route 🤣🤣. There were plenty of resting spots in the open, with bike racks, but not under cover.

Here we stopped under shelter at a recycling centre.

We stopped at a supermarket to grab some food, but stopping made us colder and we started shivering. Despite having a $500 highly rated cycling rain jacket water still makes its way through so I threw my best cycling jacket on over my thermals and under my rain jacket to ensure I looked like Michelin man and to generate more upper body warmth.

I also had a wooden skull cap and a rain cap under my helmet.

I had over booties on my feet and wool sox to keep the wet feet warm.

We needed to keep moving and spin the legs more to generate more body heat, which we did.

There was a spot for a few km where the rain eased to a drizzle about 30 km from Bolzano.

We had ridden through many vineyards and stone fruit orchards.

There were high rocky cliffs and hills on either side, many with waterfalls from the rain.

We saw lots of other bike packing cyclists today…maybe 100-120? They were all heading in the opposite direction, which was downhill, we were the ones on the uphills and only had two people pass us all day.

We also saw three of the Giro d’Italia tour buses caught in a bank up of traffic on the autobahn. Hope they got to their cold riders in time. We later learned the Giro route in the area had been changed due to snow at the higher altitudes bringing a freezing point to lower altitudes.

We are staying outside Bolzano up a hill, of course, in a town called San Michele. We turned up from the river path at this point and changed to a different bike path that appears to be an old railway one as we went through three beautiful old tunnels.

Our accomodation is an Air BnB and we are in a room in someone’s house. I did enjoy a nice bath, but she does not have a dryer and given the damp air, our clothes are not drying so we will be putting damp clothes back on.

We borrowed umbrellas and went for a walk and eventually found a nice place to eat in this very German looking town. We forgot to take the camera.

Tony had his ‘usual’ carbonara, and I had a really nice seafood paella.

Tomorrow is one of our big days, with around 2000 metres to climb to get into a more central part of the Dolomites. Rain is forecast but not like today.

There is no breakfast available here either so we will head off early sniffing out food.

We are in the South Tyrol region of Italy which is a German speaking. Signs are predominantly in German now. The border with Austria is not too far away.,

Today’s elevation and map.

Thanks for reading 😊❣️