Sunday, October 06, 2024

The Italian Job - Day 10

Today we travelled from Vieste to Montegranaro - a distance of over 350 kms, our second longest day on the road. Despite several thunderstorm warnings on our phones from the Italian Met service over the past few days (take note Met Éireann) we had escaped all the rain and had nothing but sunshine and blue skies on the tour so far. That all changed today with heavy rain all morning. We delayed our start by an hour, but when we got on the road at about 10 o’clock, it was pouring - for the next two hours we rode through the lashing rain. At the beginning of the ride there were lots of hills and hairpin bends - thankfully the pace was a lot slower, as riding conditions were very difficult. We were well protected with our rain gear, but despite this (and hundreds of euro spent on rain gear over the past 25 years) rain got though my suit - where else, but the crotch. I had a damp arse for the rest of the day.

Yellow alert - setting out from Vieste.


Waiting for this to pass.

We had no sight seeing stops or interesting places to visit today. Most of the ride today was on the A14 autostrada, and our stops were for comfort breaks and coffee/lunch/petrol. There were a lot of road works on the way, and we were also caught up in a serious incident that meant a lot of stop-start on the motorway. Eventually we reached our hotel at about 6 pm, and we were very releaved to finally arrive. Most of us made for the indoor swimming pool before a late dinner and early to bed.

Tomorrow promises much more interesting things to see and do - today (day 10) was unfortunately forgettable. Some more photos from today’s ride…

That’s Roma and me on the blue bike at the back of the line.

Going to the pool in our hotel.

A smiling Roma at one of our (dry) stops.





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