Slightly overcast looking this morning, but that can and likely will change. My usual routine – do yoga, eat, ride to Cavour, drink tea at Caffe Vergnano while updating blog and catching up on news, ride for a couple of hours, back to cafe.

I’ve ridden over 37 km today so far – yesterday was 43 in all. Made it east to a little past Villa Franca on very small back roads, then returned to Cavour on main roads, after taking a little detour north towards Vigone. It started to rain a bit at one point, but I didn’t have to stop and put on my jacket.

It’s very rural around here – lots of orchards, and corn-fields – some of the corn is at least 8 or 9 feet tall. Also dairy farms – you can tell when you’re getting near one as they have their own special ‘aroma’.

Got back to the cafe and didn’t even have to ask for wi-fi – as soon as the waiter saw me he said ‘I’ll get the wi-fi on for you’. I sat outside for quite a while (eating the lunch I’d brought) before I realized he wasn’t even going to bring me tea – I could have sat here for 2 hours using their internet and not even ordered anything. I did go inside, however, and asked for some tea. He brought out a nice wooden box and inside were about 15 different kinds of tea – just in case I really wanted something other than black.

Blue sky is back – bit of a breeze but very pleasant Friday afternoon. Rode back to camp against a bit of a headwind – stopped at the market to stock up again. I’ve been getting a lot of things I normally wouldn’t because Colin is coming with his van and I won’t have to carry the stuff on my bike.

Had a nice shower to wash the road-dirt off, did two loads of laundry and had a really nice dinner on a bench in the playground. A lady I hadn’t seen before came to ask me how long I was staying, as apparently they are not open tomorrow. I told her I was meeting a friend on Wednesday, but would probably be here until Thursday (in Italian and she understood me!).

Went to do my dinner dishes – even baby puppy doesn’t bark at me anymore, and actually let me touch him – I’m becoming like family now! Grandpa of the place told me that mama’s name is Maya and baby is Preet (not sure of spelling).

Took another little walk around the barn area – there’s also a shetland-type pony and a couple of younger horses – they must have been resting inside the barn when I looked a couple of days ago.

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