Category: Landscapes/scenery

Off to the Races Again!

After corresponding with his oncologist back in France who told Colin that his most recent blood test wasn’t that bad we decided to go ahead on our planned road trip up north to see some of the Vuelta.

On the first day we made it a fair distance – past Toledo and on to the shores of a reservoir/lake. We were looking for a park-4-night place but ended up just pulling over on a very wide spot with a lovely view.

The second day’s travel was much shorter as we stopped in the hilltop village of Portillo – you could actually see Valladolid in the distance to the north.

We stayed at the park-4-night for two very rainy, stormy nights, emerging from the campervan during one break in the rain to walk to a local restaurant for lunch.

Along the way we noticed many gray gates that we could see weren’t made to keep people out, and realized after awhile that they were for the bulls.

Before leaving on the second morning I took a walk to a nearby viewpoint – there were wonderful views in all directions.

The trip to Valladolid was quick and easy – we knew exactly where we wanted to go and for once the GPS took us right there. It’s just to the south of the city in a large nature park with plenty of excellent places to spend a couple of nights, and most importantly it’s right on the Time Trial route for Tuesday’s Vuelta stage.

On the Sunday afternoon there was a huge group of motorcycles that rode past, accompanied by police – not sure what that was about but it was kind of impressive.

With Monday being the first rest day of the Vuelta we got to see many of the riders doing a re-con of the course. We were joined at our chosen spot by a couple of campervans from Belgium, one of whom had a Giro wolf and a Vuelta bull in his front window – also a moose from a race in Norway.

In addition on race day they put out a large teddy bear in Jumbo kit that they called ‘Wout van Aert’ – since he’s not riding in the Vuelta I guess he’s just hanging out enjoying the sun and watching.

As usual on race day more and more folks arrived to watch – we’re just before the 8 km to go marker and at the top of a very small hill.

Throughout the morning most of the racers did a lap or two of the course…

…as current world TT champion Remco was in the rainbow jersey.

I got a decent photo of Ganna approaching us with the photo-moto right behind him – he ended up winning the stage. If only he was on a different team I would be a huge cheerleader for him.

The crowds at our place got so big we even got our own police guards.

Remco flew by…

…and shortly after the current leader Sepp Kuss, who managed to keep his overall lead. Remco did make up a bit of time on his main GC rivals so it was a good day overall.

As per usual within a very short time almost everyone had left the site…

…and another quiet night was had.

To the Sea, Wasp Killing, Stray Dogs Rescued

We decided to take an overnight trip to the coast, heading first to the town of Carboneras. It seemed very pretty, and not too touristy but there was nowhere to park so we just kept driving north along the coast.

We stopped for lunch at the village of Sopalmo that was a bit away from the sea but seemed quite nice. It had lots of pretty white houses with lovely blue flower pots everywhere.

Henry had his first ride in his pram – he seemed to like it alright and we definitely made better time from where we parked to the bar/restaurant we went to for lunch.

We both ordered well-done hamburgers and ended up with almost raw meat. The potatoes were excellent, and the rest of what was in the burgers was tasty but Henry got most of the meat.

After lunch we drove a bit further north and stopped at a really nice looking beach with ample parking as well as a fort. This spot was used as a port hundreds of years ago as the water gets deep very quickly.

There was a placque giving the history of the place and part of it was in english – we just weren’t sure why it would have been manned by four people, three of whom were bullfighters.

You could see Mojacar in the distance to the north and we knew it would be very crowded, but there were very few folks at this beach.

We had intended to stay for the night but it was beastly hot, so almost at the same time we asked each other ‘should we just go home’? And so we did.

We got back to going for bike rides every second morning, one day making it to Taberno for coffee. On another day we rode down to the cafe at Llanos de Los Alleros.

After our coffee we explored the village a little bit – we’ve passed by it many times as it’s right on the way to Albox but we’ve never left the main road before to see the actual village. It was quite nice, with a lovely church and another cafe.

We had some company for lunch last week – we made good use of the sunroom, and their kids enjoyed the pool.

We are once again having water issues – this time we know the water is flowing in the channel but we can’t get hold of anyone to ask for it. That’s one of the more frustrating things about living here – we know we can call the tanker guy but we do belong to a ‘co-op’ that currently isn’t responding. We’ve now contacted the local facebook group to ask for advice – hopefully someone will have a different phone number or something so we can get the water we need.

We’ve discovered a couple more wasp nests and are pleased with the dozens of dead wasps, although there are obviously more nests to find as there are still a few that dip into the pool for water in the evening when we swim.

The birds are emptying the feeder almost as quickly as we fill it – we’ve also made a water bath for them and they seem to like it.

We found out on the local facebook group page today that the two dogs we feed in Las Pocicas have been taken into someone’s care. Last year’s puppy (who is named Chica) has been taken to the vet’s and has been ‘fixed’ and is doing very well. Mama Luna and her six new puppies are all in a couple of homes now and will be well cared for – we were so happy to read that as we look for them every time we pass through. We think they were rescued by a couple of brits we spoke with one day, along with help from a ‘sweet little spanish woman’.

(Photo from facebook group post)

Racing in France, Colin Returns, More Racing in France (a different kind), Garden Flourishes

Colin got back from France as scheduled, and all of his tests were ok. While there he helped the cycling club with their annual youth races in Angeau – the kids are so cute.

And the winning team was – the local organizing club Guidon Manslois (Colin’s club)!

I’m glad for many reasons that Colin is back but a big one is that I really don’t like being alone in the house at night. It’s frequently windy and things blow around and make noise – kind of freaked me out a couple of times.

The garden is coming along nicely – the weeds are tenacious, but so are the gardeners!

The Tour de France has started – the first three stages were in northern Spain and now they’re working their way north, then east. We’re both very sad that Mark Cavendish has crashed out as we were sure he would break the stage-win record in this, his last Tour. I was somewhat cheered up yesterday, however, when Michael Woods won on the Puy de Dome.

We’re trying to find a used pram or stroller for Henry – he can’t walk as fast or as far as he used to and Colin often ends up having to pick him up. In search of one we drove south yesterday to see if we could find one at a large second-hand furniture place but she didn’t have anything appropriate. She did have a beautiful german shepherd guard dog and a black cat with orange eyes.

We’ve put up a fly screen on the french doors so we can now have them open in the early part of the day – nice breezes come through. But all windows and shutters get closed by noon or so to keep the heat out. Our swims are later now also – usually around 7:30 or 8:00 in the evening because of the heat, and also the angle of the sun.

My arm rash has come back and I’m treating it with apricot kernel oil so I don’t end up looking like a leper. As long as I stay out of the direct sun it subsides and isn’t itchy so mostly I’m staying inside during the day and doing any of the outside stuff in early morning or late evening.

The herb garden is doing very well, especially the basil. I’ve made pesto twice now (for pizza) and it’s awesome to be able to go out and pick it, then crush it. I don’t have any pine nuts so have been using almonds – but what else would I use in almond-growing heaven?

We’ll be having fresh cherry tomatoes soon as one of the plants has gone crazy and already has fruit on it – small and green now but in a week or two…

Most mornings I do a bit of tai chi and chi gong on either the front terrace or the side terrace – it’s so peaceful and quiet and I get to see the sun come up over the hill to the east.

The birds have finally discovered the bird feeder and we now have to fill it every couple of days.

We had a nice lunch out at the bar in Los Cerricos – once again the cats were hiding from the heat.

The Ikea delivery arrived! We met the truck down at the restaurant/gas station and they followed us up to the house – now the office is full of the new kitchen in boxes.

Henry tried to walk on the pool cover again – luckily I spotted him right away. It was ok when he got out on the winter cover as it was tied to the sides, but the summer cover just floats and even a smallish dog like Henry caused it to start sinking. Fortunately he was near the shallow end so I just went down the stairs and fished him out – wet shorts was a small price to pay.

I finally went for a bike ride – not long but getting hot by the time I got home – I’ll have to leave earlier next time.

Housework Progresses

We’ve taken a couple more trips – the first was back to Ikea in Murcia to meet with the ‘kitchen planner’. As we had done a lot of measuring and looking at their choices online we were very prepared and the meeting went well. It is going to be beautiful and I’m very excited.

The second trip was to the coast and the peninsula of Cabo de Gato which we’d read about and seen on a couple of cycling videos that went through the area. Once we passed Vera most of the drive was past mile after mile of tattered plastic greenhouses so we were quite disappointed – it looked like a moonscape.

But the town of Cabo de Gato wasn’t bad – we found a nice bar that had excellent tapas and wine, and then drove a short way to a lovely beach.

There’s also a bird sanctuary in the salt marshes.

We’ve had more work completed – Steve (our carpenter) has done a bunch more stuff, including installing a door between the guest bedroom and it’s bathroom. Carlos has added three more outdoor taps as well as fixed the outdoor shower near the pool, and our wonderful gardener and her husband have planted the jacarandas, oleanders and cedars.

They also gave some advice on the cleaning of the pool – I need ‘shock’ and ‘floculant’ and then some vacuuming – hope to be able to use it soon as the weather is finally turning hot and sunny.

Our solar panels have been installed! Our roof is now covered with them – we don’t have batteries to store the energy but are going to be feeding it to the grid when we have excess – I’m so happy!

The summer pool cover has been fitted and installed – it will help a lot to reduce the evaporation rate, and also keep it warmer.

I finally had my first swim of the year! Our ducky thermometer says the water is 30 degrees – it was very refreshing and just what was needed on a hot, muggy day.

For the second time I had a couple of unexpected visitors – two larks (I think that’s what they were) were suddenly in the lounge flying about. They got in through the front door which we like to leave open for the breeze. The first time they found their own way out, and today I managed to get the french doors open to release them.

I didn’t have my camera handy but did manage to get a quick photo with my ipad – as usual the quality is a bit disappointing to me.

We now have a beautiful herb garden…

…the potted tomatoes are doing great…

…the oleanders are finally flowering…

…and while other plants and flowers are showing off their beauty…

…the agave is still working on it’s one-and-only blossoming before it dies…

Water is still sometimes an issue – the ‘canal’ that belongs to the co-op that we’re a part of is being repaired at the moment and the tanker truck can’t deliver to us until next week. I’m using as little as possible but have stocked-up on large jugs of water from the store – enough to keep the garden and new trees alive, and make a cup or two of tea in the mornings. The quantity of water available at this time isn’t an issue here – it’s just the delivery of it that is a challenge!

The Rambla Rages, and Finding Jacarandas

We’ve had some fierce storms in the last few weeks, and twice our normally dry rambla…

…became a raging river.

As far as the raging rambla was concerned it didn’t affect us that much – not like the folks who use the rambla to access their driveways. They were unable to leave their houses for a day or two each time as the rambla is the ‘road’ that leads to their driveways.

The torrential rains did do a number on our driveway, though. We already knew we needed to get it fixed up a bit but now it’s got huge ruts from where the water washed down.

The day after the first big washout I drove down to Albox to do some grocery shopping. As I went down our driveway it was very rutted but as I turned left to enter the ‘road’ we share with our neighbour-across-the-way I almost stopped and turned back. The dirt/mud road was so deeply rutted I wondered if I would get stuck but I made it down. Then all the way into town I was wondering if I was actually going to make it back up to the house. When I was finished the shopping and was back at the bottom of the shared drive I just put it in first and gunned it, barely slowing down for the sharp right-turn onto our driveway. I fish-tailed a bit but made it!

We also encountered a couple of other issues – we had small floods from both the front door and the french doors as they don’t have proper weatherproofing on the bottoms. I spent some time mopping and laid down some towels to prevent more seepage.

And another problem we had was a drip into the kitchen very near the fridge. It wasn’t from the rain but from a backup between my shower and the toilet in the guest bedroom.

Carlos – when he was able to get out of his house from the flooded rambla – came over and unplugged it, and is partway through re-caulking my shower as that’s where the backup was going, and from there down into the kitchen.

We’ve been out for lunch a few times – at the bar in Chirivel and also at the bar in Los Cerricos. The bar cats are still there, and there are a couple of new babies that are very cute. They hung around our table and got lots of little nibbles.

The second time we went there the bar cats weren’t around, but the ‘dumpster’ cats were. I, as usual, had leftovers of my pork tenderloin so ended up giving it in little bite sized pieces to the many stray cats as well as one very cute little dog. I wish I could help all of them but the best you can do is catch them and take them to the local vets to have them ‘fixed’. Apparently the vets do this for free and all you have to do is catch them, take them in, then return them to the street they came from. They’ll still be scrounging for food but at least they won’t be having six kittens four times a year…so sad.

Colin and I both got haircuts – mine is the shortest it’s been since the cut I got in Navarrete in Sept of 2018 – I love it!

We took a trip to Ikea in Murcia almost two weeks ago to have a look at kitchens. Looking in the online catalogue is one thing but we both like seeing something in person to really get a feel for what it will be like. We did pick up a book shelf for the snug and have since rearranged the furniture.

All around the area are beautiful flowering trees with lavender coloured blossoms. We found out what they are – jacaranda – and the local plant store finally got a delivery in – they’re very hard to get.

We picked three of them up this morning along with four more oleanders and I can’t wait for them to be planted. The jacarandas are very tall, but of course won’t flower until next year.

The winter pool cover has been removed but we’re having a heck of a time drying it out to put away – it rains at least a bit almost every day so it’s been impossible.

We’re having solar panels for electricity installed – hopefully next week right before Colin returns to France for some medical appointments.

The ‘giant asparagus’ hasn’t changed much – we’ve been told it will be a few weeks before anything happens. And it’s not a yucca (as I called it previously) but an agave and once it’s done flowering it will die.

They’ve completed a new display at the south end of Albox and it’s a very good one – showing the story of the area and the people.

North to Avigliana and Milano-Torino

Upon leaving Trasimeno we went west a bit and stopped for a visit with Colin’s estate agent to update the offering of the house in Papiano. The agent and her partner have a large, old house on a hill with a lovely swimming pool and fantastic views of the valley below.

Afterwards we continued west a bit before turning north towards our destination just outside Torino that we chose to watch the next race from.

We made it just past Genova and a bit up the highway north when we encountered major roadworks and traffic slowdown. As it was getting late anyways we left the highway and pulled into the town of Masone that was supposed to have a couple of aires. We found the quieter one and parked up for the night.

In the morning we had a quick cup of tea then proceeded north via the smaller road rather than the motorway. It was a very nice, pleasant drive – we had to stop several times at rail crossings to let a train pass. It was a passenger train that stopped at all of the small towns along the way and we kept overtaking it, then having to wait for it to pass at the crossings.

Having picked the town of Avigliana we were very pleasantly surprised – the town itself was alright but it’s the area in general that impressed us. On the map it looks to be surrounded by motorways and seemed like it might be very congested but it wasn’t.

We passed through the town and stopped on the edge at a restaurant right on one of the ‘lakes’ – there are two of them, one being Lago Grande di Avigliana, and the other Lago Piccolo di Avigliana (big lake and small lake). To me they were more like fair-sized ponds, but never-the-less they reminded me greatly of home and I loved it there.

Lunch was wonderful – I had wild boar stew with polenta and a side of grilled veggies. The boar meat was so tender and flavourful and the sauce was both sweet and savory – just delicious. It’s one of the few times I actually finished a meal instead of taking half of it home for later.

After lunch we drove just a bit further along the route and found a large paved parking area right on the smaller of the lakes. There were walking and riding paths and many folks were out with their dogs.

There was also a nice little bar that served a good local red wine. Sitting in the sun on the shore of a lake, beautiful mountains as a backdrop and sipping red wine – almost heaven!

The wind howled and rocked the campervan most of the night but we were snug and I slept well.

Race day was sunny and beautiful, with the wind having died down early in the morning.

We took Henry for a short walk, then had a cappuccino at the bar on the lake.

Milano-Torino is the oldest race in cycling, with the first edition being in 1876! We were very close to the finish – maybe 15 km or less – and when the race arrived the breakaway of four was about to be caught.

The whole race passed us so quickly I barely got 25 shots even in sports mode.

As per usual now we watched the finish on GCN, and one of the riders from new pro team Tudor won! The team was started only four years ago and is now owned by retired Swiss great Fabian Cancellara – the main sponsor is Swiss watch-maker Tudor. They’re not a World Tour team yet but do get invites and this was their first ever win at the top level – kudos to them.

After we’d watched the finish and they’d opened the barriers we got going the short distance down to Pinerolo where we stopped at the quiet aire for the night.

TirrenoAdriatico – Offagna

Shortly after the fifth TA stage had passed we took off from Gualdo and headed northeast towards Osimo. They cover about 85 km from the south before starting a large circuit where they go through each place three times.

It was starting to get dark as we approached the town of Offagna when we saw our Belgian friend’s bus and another campervan in a field, but when we pulled in the campervan guy came out and told us that the owner was not accepting any more campers.

We continued on to the town and a bit further, pulling into a very large area just off the road where we stopped for the night. It had gone very quickly from dusk to dark and we didn’t want to get too far off the route.

In the morning we went the couple of km back to the town and almost immediately pulled into a nice large area just down from a sharp corner on the route.

Having some time we enjoyed yet another excellent cappuccino at a cafe right across the road, then explored the town a bit.

The town is dominated by a 15th century castle, and there are many interesting and slightly odd artworks around the upper old section.

The coffee shop was doing a good business as people gathered for the race.

Each circuit took about 50 minutes for the racers to cover and each time they passed they were more spread out. The first time they passed the first and last riders were only 3 or 4 minutes apart but on the last circuit they were over 16 minutes.

There was initially a small breakaway followed shortly by the entire Jumbo team keeping Roglic safe at the front of the peloton.

Van der Poel was in the middle, but faded as the race progressed.

Cavendish and Sagan were there too, but several minutes behind.

Once again we watched the end on GCN then, having opted to not go to San Benedetto del Toronto for the final stage we booted it back to Trevi, arriving in the dark but happy to have made it all the way.

The next day was a nice drive back to Papiano, taking the back roads from Foligno again. As it was Sunday, which is ‘visiting your relatives’ day in Italy there was nowhere to park near the house so we made the decision to try to turn around down a small road near the bell tower. This turned out to be a very foolish choice as the road was quite steep and the turning area a bit small. After spinning out trying to back up the hill we parked for a bit, and I walked down and across up a farm road. Around the corner at the top I encountered a very friendly woman, Monica, who was busy pruning her olive trees. She spoke a bit of English, and understood that we were stuck – she said she would call her husband to bring his tractor to pull us back up. The main question she had for us was ‘why???’ – good question!

We went back to wait for the husband when Colin gave it one more try to get out ourselves, and thankfully, after much spinning and smoking of the front right tire, actually made it! I went back to Monica to let her know we were ok, then headed to the house – much relieved, but feeling very stupid.

We did two loads of laundry, and each had a hot shower – very nice after so long roughing it.

On our way out of Papiano we did, of course, stop at the bar to have a quick drink and say goodbye to Antonio – he was very sad, as we likely won’t be back in the area until maybe next year.

The drive to Trasimeno and the aire on the lake didn’t take too long and we settled in for an early night.

More TirrenoAdriatico

Trasimeno was particularly lovely in the morning sun the next day.

We had another delicious cappuccino at the same place we stopped at a few days ago and then began to follow the route markers for the day’s stage. They passed right through Pila – where our hairdresser/barber has his shop – and we went all the way to the edge of Foligno. The drive was all on the back roads and the whole area was very beautiful.

We parked in a large parking lot right outside a cafe and got a bite to eat, then settled in to wait for the race – we were just over 4 km from the finish.

The race passed by in no time – they were really moving.

We got back into the campervan in time to watch the end on GCN on my ipad, then headed up the road to the aire in Trevi for another nice quiet night.

Our next destination was for Friday’s summit finish at Sasso Tetto, passing through the town of Sarnano along the way. However upon arriving we changed our minds – it was so windy up top we were wondering if we were going to get blown right off the mountain.

We did stop to make chicken in curry sauce with rice for lunch, then spoke with some fellows that had stopped a bit further down. They told us that the race didn’t actually go to the large hotel but rather up another road where the ‘memorial to Scarponi’ was.

We drove up the other road to have a look – fairly desolate and again very very windy.

I got out and braved the wind long enough to take a few photos then we went back down through Sarnano and back along the route to the town of Gualdo.

Finding a nice flat wide spot just outside the town we pulled in for the night, being joined by the very large bus with the Belgian couple. We’ve met them several times now, most recently at last year’s Lombardia.

The next morning we went into the village for cappuccino before deciding that we would watch the race from right in the town rather than down the road where we’d spent the night. An observation: I don’t think it’s possible to get a bad cappuccino in Italy – even though the coffee brand is often different it’s always excellent – too bad the roads weren’t as superior.

It was far too windy to put the flags up, and they even took the ‘King of the Mountains’ banner down to prevent it from blowing away or coming down on the riders. There was still the painted line on the road but it’s not nearly as impressive.

The race was a little late arriving – the wind might be ok when it’s at your back but the fierce headwind going up the mountain could not have been fun.

It took a lot longer for the race to pass this time, and once again we watched the end on GCN – they’d shortened the course by a couple of km due to the wind at the top. It was a very exciting finish with a sizeable group actually sprinting up the slope of the very hard climb and Roglic coming out the winner.

TirrenoAdriatico

We took our flags down and drove back to Asciano to spend the night at the aire/sosta. They’ve put up a nice new fence that borders the field next door.

The next morning we got going at a decent time and headed towards our next destination of Lido di Camaiore for the first stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. We needed to get past Siena, which turned out to be a bit of a challenge.

We got halfway to Siena when we were stopped by a backup of vehicles. Wondering if there had been an accident – we could see a police car – I got out and walked to the spot and discovered that the road was closed due to a sportif. None of the police there spoke english but my italian is still good enough that I understood it would be about an hour before the road opened again.

Like many other vehicles we turned around and looked for an alternate route. Once again, however, we were stopped. This time one of the traffic wardens spoke good english and was super friendly. We patiently waited about half an hour until the bulk of the sportif had passed, then were allowed to go on our way.

Skirting Siena we made our way to Lido di Camaiore and were once again thwarted in our objectives. First of all we couldn’t find a service station that had gpl (for our gas stove) and actual service on a Sunday. Hoping we at least had enough to boil water for tea in the morning we went to the parking area beside the Hotel Joseph where we’d stayed before.

We’re not sure why but the whole parking area was blocked off – on one end by race buses, and the other by a barrier with a couple of campervans in front of it. We drove a short way and parked for the night outside a local soccer stadium. Many cars during the night gave friendly ‘glad you’re here’ honks to welcome us – not!

It poured rain off and on all night long, and in the morning we decided to skip the initial ITT and go to a spot along the route of the second stage for the next day.

We chose a small town on one of the climbs – Castellina Marittima – and drove a couple of km past where we found a nice wide fairly flat spot with a wonderful view of the plain below and the sea in the distance.

In the morning after breakfast we took a walk back down into the town and had a lovely cappuccino.

Walking back up to the campervan we decided we were not in the perfect spot for the race and drove back to the edge of the town to watch from.

There was a breakaway of five, followed about 2 ½ minutes later by the entire peloton…

Alaphilippe was up near the front, and one of his teammates threw his bidon right at us – score! I got photos of Michael Woods in the bunch…

…as well as Cavendish…

Shortly after the race passed we headed back to the aire/sosta on the shores of Trasimeno, passing through some very beautiful Tuscan countryside on the way.

Back to Travel and Watching the Races!

A near panic situation at the start of my current journey – at 4:45 in the morning the car wouldn’t start! Turns out I likely left the inside light on the day before when I went to the store and overnight and it killed the battery. My little Sly guy would have been happy if I hadn’t been able to leave – he’d taken to sitting in my suitcase as if I could take him with me (I wish I could!).

A frantic call to a local cab company and they arrived in only 3 minutes to race me to the airport for my first flight. Second flight left almost on time after de-icing, and I got to spend a few very boring hours in Toronto airport.

We boarded on time, then spent another very boring two hours before leaving – I watched a whole movie. We had to wait for the catering van to load food – the first one had broken down and they had to send another one or else we would starve. Then we had to de-ice before taking off.

As usual I didn’t really sleep at all, even though the plane was barely half full and I had some room to stretch out a bit. Watched another couple of movies, then the first few episodes of ‘White Lotus’.

We arrived in Rome over 1 ½ hours late – passport control was all automatic and no one cared. Colin was waiting right outside the exit door and off we went. We stopped just outside Trevi at a nice sosta for the night.

The next morning we passed through Papiano to say hello to Antonio, then continued on to Monte Buono where we had a nice lunch at our favourite restaurant there. We then went just a little further to the town of San Feliciano where we found a lovely sosta right on the shores of Lago Trasimeno.

We went to Pila the next morning so I could get my hair cut by my Italian barber, stopping along the way at Mugnano for a very nice cappuccino. After my perfect haircut we headed to Marsciano to visit the phone shop and arrange service so I could get good reliable wi-fi in the campervan. We got a SIM card that was supposed to have very good capabilities but would take a few hours to ‘become active’. We went back to the nice spot on the lake and waited, but alas the service never kicked in.

We tried and tried and got very frustrated before giving up, deciding that nothing we were doing was actually going to make it work.

The next morning we returned to the phone place in Marsciano and when even our friend there couldn’t make it work he ‘cloned’ the SIM card and told us again that it would take a few hours to become active. We chose to go a few miles out of town towards San Venanzo where we pulled into a large parking area and had a bite to eat.

After the local three hour lunch period we returned to the phone place and eventually our friend solved the problem after shutting down and re-starting our mobile router several times with the SIM card in it – yes!!

We then got on the road to one of the ‘Strade Bianche’ sections just outside Asciano – the same place we’ve seen the race from two or three times over the past few years. There was already one campervan there – from Switzerland – then another couple arrived, both of which were from Italy.

We had a nice quiet night and got up to a sunny, although slightly breezy race-day morning.

We had a good idea when the race was going to arrive – both by watching the GCN coverage on my ipad, as well as the progress of the helis and fore-running vehicles.

The race was neither very dusty nor very muddy. There had been rain a couple of days before and it had dried out just enough to not be muddy, but not yet dusty. Good for the riders but not so much for the typical conditions that they are famed for.

I did get a good shot of Alaphillipe and Van der Poel… and also Sagan…

After they had all passed we watched the end of the race on GCN – not really pleased with the finish. Tom Pidcock from team Evil (ooops – sorry! – Team Ineos) won and the rest raced for second – bunch of losers! I felt like sicking the dog on them!

Actually the dog in the campervan next door to us was very nice and still a bit of a puppy so not sure if he would have gone after anyone – but they do deserve a bit of a bite in the ass!