Took Mo out for a walk early as Colin and Neil were tearing out the kitchen counter and lower cabinets.  We took the small dirt road that goes up from just below the bell tower – it goes a bit southeast then comes to a T – took the right turn heading mostly west and still going up, although more gently.

It was a very foggy morning – couldn’t see any of the beautiful countryside I was overlooking, but it was peaceful, at least until we came upon the ‘dog house’.  I could hear at least two dogs barking as we approached and noticed that there wasn’t a fence. A large german-shepherd type dog was sounding very ferocious, but he stayed in the yard until we were almost even with the house, then he bounded off the terrace and came right at us.  Mo was now barking back fiercly so I scooped her up and stayed still hoping the shepherd would back off. He didn’t – just stood there about two feet away from me barking and growling and all puffed-up. I was screaming ‘no no!’ very loudly and trying to keep hold of Mo who was desperatly trying to get out of my arms – no one came.  I finally started slowly walking the way we’d been heading and hoping like hell that we wouldn’t be attacked – the big dog followed for a bit, still barking the whole time, then he finally went back into his yard although he was still barking.

I was shaking and sweating as I got further and further away – when I judged we were far enough and the dog wouldn’t follow us I let Mo down and we continued our walk.  We eventually came to where another small dirt road veered off to the right – I wondered if we should take it but Mo seemed to want to go straight on and I let her lead.  We ended up on the main road that runs from Marsciano to Perugia so had to follow it north for about 1 ½ km to the turnoff back to Papiano. We tried hitchiking and got lucky on the third car – a very nice lady who spoke no English but knew where to let me off.

We hiked up to the house and kitchen counter cutting was happening – neither Mo nor myself cared for the noise so back down the hill we went to the bar to watch the Giro.  I had to take Mo out twice for little walks, then when she got really antsy we went for a longer walk up the hill on the other side of the village. The fog had lifted by now and the views were, or course, stunning.

Back to the bar to watch the end of the day’s stage, then up to the house to check on the progress.  The oven was hooked up so we had pizza for dinner and watched a bit of Italian basketball – it’s the playoffs so the announcers are all super excited.

Friday morning was an early one – had to pack up all my gear, and head down to the campervan to clean out the fridge and wash the floors.  I took Mo with me as the kitchen reno noises are ongoing. Got everything tidy while Colin and Neil went to the tipping place again, then wheeled and rode (!) my bike down and Colin got it onto the rack on the campervan and we were off.  Stopped to fill up the fridge and headed north before 1:00.

Keyed in our destination and ended up, once again, on the highway north that goes thru Bagno di Romagna.  More work being done on the highway – slight detour for a few miles but not bad.

Decided to stop just north of Ravenna and continue on to Trento tomorrow – checked into a very large but nice campgound at Lido di Spina.  

Went to setup my tent and the damn frame broke. The very end of one of the main connecting poles at the top cracked and broke – we tried to fix it but it just kept cracking off bits further and further down.  Luckily I did have the option of the campervan so lay out my sleeping bag inside, but I was very disappointed about the tent.

We went to the bar for a drink before dinner, then had to go to the office to get their wi-fi password.  At the restaurant I looked up about getting a new frame for the tent. I might have to order one from the store I bot it at and have it shipped over to France.  The campground has an awesome pool area, including a special one for kids, as well as an outside theatre and other activities.

Dinner was wonderful – Colin had pasta with shellfish and I had pasta al ragu – it was excellent.  Mo was very good and sat quietly on the floor the whole time. As we left the restaurant thru the exit that leads back to the bar we were met by a group of 4 of the staff – kind of a welcoming committee to the evening’s music, etc.  We weren’t staying for the festivities but still chatted with them for a bit – they all made a fuss over Mo, as usual. One of the young fellows is the archery instructor – like I said, lots of different activities here.

Back at the campervan went straight to bed – a kind of exciting day as the ‘travel’ part of my journey has now begun.

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