Took it kind of easy the last couple of days – had a fierce wind storm one day that blew some of the laundry off the fence where it was drying, despite the fact that it was well pegged down.

The full moon was pretty spectacular (although my photos of it were not), and Spring has finally arrived. Colin and I both got our hair cut at the local shop in Papiano – same nice fellow. I think I came away with shorter hair than Colin did, but at least it’ll be easy to take care of.

We got away on Friday morning nice and early, and it was a good thing. We hit a lot of road works – which is great, because the roads really need help – and witnessed the usual crazy drivers. I don’t know why I’m still surprised when I see a bone-headed move, or when we pass a car – or large truck – that’s been driving eratically and see that they’re on their phone, or worse yet texting.

As we were passed at one point by a Ferrari I had the thought that Italy is the land of the best coffee, the most beautiful cars, and the worst roads and drivers. As we neared Genova we realized we might have a problem with the GPS – the campervan’s system isn’t quite up-to-date and didn’t know about the overpass that collapsed and it was the one we were meant to be on. There were pitifully few signs about what road to follow instead, and we ended up using the other GPS on Colin’s phone as well – although it was up-to-date about roads, etc, it didn’t know how large the campervan was and led us down some pretty narrow roads in our effort to get on the correct highway. In the end we made it, after taking the ‘scenic’ route through the city, which actually was quite nice.

We arrived on the Poggio just after 5, and were surprised by the number of cars and campervans already in the parking area at the top. Colin needed the guidance of two very helpful Italian fellows to negotiate a way through the tightly-packed crowd of vehicles to a space. I was no help at all – I jumped out and watched the maneuvering from afar.

Once we were settled we walked just down and over to the cafe, where we had a drink (or two) and ate free nibblies.

The weather was chilly and grey as I took Mo for her morning walk – being only a block from the seaside that’s where we headed. Many of the buildings have lovely murals painted on them, almost all showing scenes of the fishing life.

Just around the corner from where we were parked in the campervan was another camper that made Colin’s seem like the Hilton. I think it was taped together in places and Colin said there was a man inside without much clothing on – perhaps he was drying everything he had at the same time.

There are many places that have plaques describing the history of the area, and luckily they are in both Italian and English.

The walk to the race site wasn’t far, and they already have the roads closed off with barriers and policemen, including bicycle cops. The road was lined with beautiful old houses, apparently built in the mid-1800’s for the owners of the fishing fleets and other rich folks.

At one point as we passed a building we noticed a couple of cats, and along the wall were a bunch of food dishes. When we passed the same place later there were 10 or 12 cats – it’s nice to see that people are feeding the strays. We speculated that they might get a lot of leftovers from the fish market just down the road.

We walked all the way to the end of a smaller road that’s lined with stalls, all of which have great photos or murals. The road ends at the sea, and there’s a really good statue/memorial to fishermen.

There were several different areas where the team buses were parked and we were free to wander all around and watch as some of the racers warmed up or went out to try the course – it’s the Individual Time Trial, and is the last stage of the race.

There was a crowd gathered outside the Quick-Step bus waiting for Alaphillipe to return from his warmup ride and give interviews – apparently he was a little late but that didn’t deter the reporters.

A little further down Tony Martin was warming up, and was having trouble with one of his monitors or something, and in the next parking lot a throng awaited Peter Sagan’s emergence from his bus. We waited for a few minutes, then gave up and went into the nearest restaurant for a nice pasta lunch.

When we finished eating we found that Sagan was finally out of the bus and warming up, then we walked down to about 200 metres from the start line to watch from.

I chose to watch from the median, where I could see racers coming from the start, or cross under the tape/barrier and see them coming from the other direction towards the finish.

Colin had picked up a nice little booklet about the race as well as a start-list for today’s ITT – he passed along important info to an older italian gentleman who passed it along to others about who was coming next, etc. Afterwards the fellow pointed out his house, which was right behind them – nice!

Once the final racer, Simon Yates, had passed we made our way back to the campervan – we found out later that he lost the overall race by one second. I felt so sorry for him – seven days of racing and losing by a single second.

Somewhere along the way back to the campervan my water bottle either fell out of my backpack, or was stolen – bummer.

Getting onto the motorway out of town was impossible so we took the minor highway right next to the sea north as far as Civitanova Marche where we got onto the highway southwest through the mountains. Arrived home to Papiano in time for dinner – an excellent little trip.

The day started as the last few days had – very warm and sunny. We left our free camping spot at a decent time for the trip slightly north to Jesi, where the racers will do a short finishing circuit three times.

We followed the circuit all the way around and picked a great spot on a corner, then settled down to wait. We sat outside under blue sky without even a sweater but that soon changed – grey clouds moved in and temperature dropped from 19 to about 10 in the space of an hour or two.

We ended up inside the campervan to wait, although it never really did rain – just a bit of spitting now and then. It was cold enough that I actually got to wear my winter coat, hat and gloves.

A couple more cars joined us in our spot, and several more folks walked down from a side road to watch as well.

On the first pass there was a lead group of seven or eight followed about a minute later by the rest of the bunch. They passed so quickly they almost blew me over and most of my photos, even in sports-mode, were blurred.

For the second pass same thing – I got a few not bad shots and lots of blurred ones so I changed my settings to see if it would help. Basically I got a few less blurred shots, but the exposure was very dark and the flash didn’t co-ordinate properly with my camera.

Upon closer look I did get a couple of decent photos when I lightened them up a little so all was not lost.

When we left we drove back to the coast and along the motorway south to San Bernadetto Del Tronto, and part of the way it just poured rain – we were lucky to have missed the worst of it when we were outside and the race was happening.

We parked for the night right down at the port, since both the start and finish of tomorrow’s time trial are within walking distance.

Woke up early to another beautiful day – blue sky and sunshine once again. We left our nice free site around 10:00 and headed to Senigallia, which is on the sea. Did a bit of food shopping, and made our way to Recanati, which is where today’s stage ends.

Once we had passed the town of Loreto we followed the route to the end – they actually do a circuit three times before finishing in Recanati. There aren’t any real mountains on the route, but the hills are steep and punchy – we ended up pulling into a church parking lot where a couple of other campers were already parked. The churchyard has excellent views of the wide, flat valley below.

We are partway up one of the steeper climbs and have 3 different kinds of officials to control the cars and people. Two of the policemen are right on top of things – no one is going to get in the way of the racers with them around. One of them speaks very good english so we all got to chat a bit.

There was a group of Italian men just down the hill from us and they were having a picnic – proper wine glasses and everything. I think they downed 3 bottles of red with their lunch, then one of them had a snooze under a tree for awhile.

The racers reached us the first time around at about 3:20 with a breakaway of 12 or 13 riders, and each time they passed they were more strung out – each circuit took about 40 minutes.

On the last circuit Daniel Oss shared some words with the fellows that had the picnic, but I couldn’t catch what was said in Italian – they got a laugh out of it, though.

The sprinters (including Peter Sagan) passed in a group a good half-hour after the first riders had, but they didn’t give up.

I wanted to get a photo of the two policemen but they told me, with a smile, no. The younger one did, however, turn around so I could get the badge on his shoulder bag.

Packing up took no time – we’d only put one flag pole up since we were right under a tree. Our destination for the night, Castelfidardo, was only a short drive away, made longer by mis-direction from miss GPS that took us down very narrow streets, including a dead-end. A group of young girls watched as Colin had to backup and turn around with no space to spare – at least they got some entertainment out of it.

We eventually made it to the camperstop, which was 4 free spaces next to an ambulance place – there were no emergencies during the night.

Got organized fairly quickly – gave the fridge in the campervan a little wipedown, packed our stuff up and were off. We put our destination into the GPS but didn’t like the route she chose for us so ended up just following the map.

The first stage we’re going to starts in Foligno and follows the same road part of the way that we went on last year to see the Giro. We chose to follow the entire stage route rather than taking the faster roads to our destination of Monteguiduccio.

The whole way was beautiful – once through the mountains it was rolling hills, bright green fields, orchards and vineyards. Small, winding roads connected little villages on the top of almost every hill, and the route seemed to go thru as many of them as possible. As usual they were still doing road repairs in some places – nothing like leaving it until the last moment – at least the local villagers will be happy.

At one point I got quite excited saying ‘oh look – there’s a deer!’ in the woods to the right – then we realized that it was a deer farm as there were dozens of them eating from a bunch of hay bales. We drove a bit further than needed so we could scout out the best spot, then backtracked to a nice wide flat place on the side of the road to camp for the night.

The next morning was bright and sunny, getting warm already by 9:00. After a cup of tea and a bite to eat we drove a bit further up the road to a nice field we thought would be good to park in.

We got the flags all up, setup the table and chairs, and prepared to wait for the race.

We’d been sitting reading for awhile when I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye – there was a small brown animal trotting happily towards us. I thought at first it might be a dog coming from the house on the hill above us, but upon closer look I realized it wasn’t a dog at all – it was a wild boar!

It took me a moment to realize that it was just a little one – not a giant male about to attack. By then I’d let out a noise and made a movement that startled the small animal, causing it to stop and retreat into the nearby hedges – my camera, for once, wasn’t within reach so I didn’t get a photo. I waited and waited but the boar didn’t show his snout again – shy little guy.

A couple of hours later a red car pulled in beside us – we wondered if it was the local landowner come to chase us away, but he didn’t. What he wanted was for us to email him some of the photos we were going to take of the race, and in return he presented us with a 5 litre can of extra virgin olive oil – grown from his trees ‘just over the hill’ from where we were!

The racers arrived right around 3:20 with both Dumoulin and Yates in the first small group. We’d picked our spot carefully – on a fairly steep hill just after a very narrow, winding part. As we were the only ones on that part of the road we ended up cleaning up on the bottles – got seven in all without even trying. It was great with no kids to compete against!

Peter Sagan had a stomach virus for five days prior to the start of the race so isn’t a contender overall – we’re just glad he was there and hadn’t given up and gone home.

After the last racer passed we took our time getting the flags down, etc, and ended up going through the finishing town of Fossombrone on our way to our stop for the night in the town of Corinaldo. We made our way to a camperstop that was totally basic but free (!) – we had electrical hookup, as well as water dump and fill.

Had a few quiet days – Colin re-planted the pansy that Chairman Meow had dug out of the top flower box while we were gone in Siena. Colin now feeds Meow when he’s here, and apparently Meow wasn’t pleased that we’d gone away for a day. It’s kind of funny because it seems that Meow’s human – Angelo next door – is actually home right now so should also be feeding him.

One afternoon there was a fierce wind-storm for about an hour, then another even more fierce in the middle of the night – but the morning dawned clear and sunny. Walked down to the Other Bar around noon each day for a cappuccino, read a bit, watched highlights of Paris-Nice.

Little Mia, a beautiful beagle puppy that some neighbours got recently, follows us from time to time, and is constantly jumping at Mo wanting to play. She’s just a bit too exuberant after a while, and desperately needs some training. We’re worried that she wanders around the whole village alone and doesn’t seem to be supervised at all.

Some of the village cats are still around from last year, but we haven’t seen the cream-coloured ones with the grey/brown ears yet.

The weather has generally been pretty nice – warm enough when in the sun, but definitely need a sweater or light jacket if in the shade. One afternoon rain had been forecast for around 4 in the afternoon, but didn’t arrive until about 7 – when it did come it just pounded down.

At one point we noticed that the streetlights were all out – lightening must have hit something. Mo felt the need to bark at the first few thunderclaps, but eventually settled down.

Got up nice and early, packed up (way too much stuff) for our first little trip, and got on the road by around 11.

Took a little detour at Lago Trasimeno so we could have lunch at ‘il Ristoro’ – once again didn’t get exactly what we had ordered, but it was, as usual, delicious. We were the first ones there – they hadn’t actually opened yet but they let us sit down to wait a few minutes. By the time we left the restaurant it was totally packed – not an empty table to be found. I didn’t see any of the cats, but I’m sure they’re around somewhere.

After lunch we were off towards Siena to check out the last 30 km or so of the route for tomorrow’s Strade Bianche that starts and finishes in Siena. We followed the route into the city so we’d have an idea where we might want to park tomorrow, then found a nice campground for the night.

Race-day morning was blue skies and sunshine – had a nice hot shower, then drove down closer to where the race was starting. We ended up parking right across the road from the place we’d stayed at last year, then just followed the crowds up into the old town.
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The start was at the stadium, and all of the team buses were parked in a large area just below, with crowds of people milling about, some waiting outside a particular bus for their favourite racer to come out.

One photographer made us stop and look – he had at least 3 or 4 cameras mounted together on a hand-held contraption that looked very heavy – I wouldn’t want to carry it around for long.

We walked partway up to the start area, then stopped so we could take some photos of the riders as they approached to sign in. Everything at the point is still casual – riders go up the road smiling and relaxed.

Vincenzo Nibali was the last to come up (of course) and I was about to take a head-on photo with him looking right at me when a large fellow stepped right in front of me, even running alongside Nibali as he passed. I felt like smacking him in the back of his big fat head for ruining my shot so completely but he’d already passed, along with my shot.

We then moved up the road just a bit to where the group would come around a sharp corner and be going slowly past on the roll-out. Afterwards we consulted the city map we’d geen given at the campground, but ended up having to ask a policeman how to get back down to where we’d parked.

The area around the stadium is quite nice – there’s a park with a carousel and stuff for kids, as well as a couple of nice statues and memorials.

We left the city planning to go back down the highway a bit then follow the route of the last 30 km or so (like we did last night) to find a place to park and watch. We made it to the turn-off but didn’t get any further – the road was already closed for the women’s race to pass. They had started a couple of hours before the men and had a shorter course so were already almost finished.

After about 30 minutes we were allowed to proceed so we drove to the town of Castelnuovo Baradenga where we turned west to follow the route and find our spot. We ended up at a nice wide pullout partway up a small hill where we setup the table and chairs and sat down to wait.

Another few groups of women racers passed by – the last small group didn’t look like they were even trying, and we saw later on tv that many of them had gotten off their bikes near the end and pushed them up the hill rather than riding into the Campo.

The first group of 15 or 20 of the men arrived around 2:40, with Nibali passing by a couple of minutes later – this time I got a decent shot of him with no fat-head in the way. Most of the riders and all of the cars were covered in dust from the ‘white road’ sections – some cars you could hardly tell what colour they were. One of the Vini Fantini riders near the end saw me taking photos so threw his empty water bottle right at my feet – another prize!

After the last cars had passed we drove back home via Perugia, stopping at a home-store so Colin could choose his new sofa. I walked thru the store with him – kind of setup like Ikea where you walk thru a virtual maze of rooms, but Colin knew where he was going so I didn’t need to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find my way out. After testing a few sofas out he knew which one he wanted so we continued to the checkout. It took several minutes for them to find a salesperson that spoke english but they were all very nice. Colin went back with the young fellow to discuss delivery, etc, while I returned to the campervan to keep Mo company while we waited.

Business done we made it back to the house at a decent time and had a lovely salmon with mashed potatoes dinner.

My current journey began very early – up at 2:00 and out of the house by 3:45. Check-in was easy – I’d already paid for my extra bag – Dominic had to leave when I went thru security so then I was on my own. Flight to Vancouver was ok – although we didn’t get so much as a cup of tea or bag of nuts. Waited a few hours in Vancouver for the flight to Montreal – this time at least got a cup of coffee, although no food. Watched Ocean’s 8 and a couple of tv shows.

The final flight was delayed a bit so they could de-ice the plane but the flight was good. We got dinner not long after take-off, then it was lights-out for most as it was by then fairly late and dark. Watched another movie and some more tv, then tried to get a bit of sleep, which was fruitless.

Landed at Fiumicino a half-hour early to bright sunshine and about 19 above – the winter coat I started out wearing was changed for a light sweater. I headed through security – there was one poor couple up at the front with their packs open and items strewn about – I assume they had lost their passports – the wife was getting a little irritated.

Had no problem with security so moved on to pickup my bags and out the door to meet Colin. I sent him a message and he called me back, agreeing where to meet. 20 minutes later he and Mo pulled up and we were off – just as if I’d never left.

I’m so glad he came and picked me up rather than having to take the train to Foligno – I was so tired I could barely stay awake on the drive to Papiano, and ended up having a nap almost as soon as we got to the house.

After a couple of hours sleep I managed to get up and eat a bit of the roast chicken legs and veggies that Colin made. Stayed up for a couple more hours, then early bed.

Feeling better the next morning we did a bit of cleanup on the campervan then went down to the bar for a cappuccino – best coffee I’ve had since I left Italy last October.

Colin’s new bed arrived, but they could only get part of the frame up the narrow stairs – they’ll have to bring a different setup next week. I made a nice chicken soup out of the leftovers from yesterday, and had another early night.

I woke up just before my alarm went off at 5:00. Had a shower and made a nice cup of tea before packing up. I was already pretty organized and it didn’t take long – I have another bag of stuff I won’t need at home – Colin’s going to take it back to Italy with him.

After a bit to eat and a final check we were on our way as planned at 7:00 – we took the BMW rather than the mini so that Mo could come – she’s not allowed in the mini. We left way earlier than we needed to but I’d rather be early and wait than be rushing about at the last minute.

It rained off and on but traffic wasn’t too bad – a couple of spots where it bogged down for a bit, but all in all a decent drive. Colin parked in the parkade so he could come in with me – said goodbye to Mo in the car.

I took my stuff up to an agent to make sure the large bag was ok – it’s just the same as when I came over but you never know. I had to take it to ‘excess baggage’ to check but she gave me a sticker for it and both of my boarding passes so it was all good.

After that all I had to do was go through security so Colin and I had to say goodbye as he’s not allowed through. There was so much to say but rather than get all red eyed and blotchy faced crying we just had a nice good hug and said ‘see you next year’.

Security was a bit fun – something I had on made the machine beep so I got the whole pat down routine – that’s never happened before but eventually she realized I didn’t have an AR47 down my pant leg.

I was way early for my flight so sat in the lounge area reading. The walk to my departure gate took a few minutes, then we boarded almost on time. The first flight was pretty good – all the way from Heathrow to Calgary, and it wasn’t full so there was an empty seat between my (at the window) and another lady in the aisle seat.

I watched a couple of movies and some tv shows, and ate the chicken dinner they served – it wasn’t terrible. We passed over both Iceland and Greenland along the way, although it was cloudy a good part of the time so visibility was spotty.

We landed a bit ahead of schedule in Calgary – clearing customs was easy. We each had to fill out a one-page info sheet and scanned it and our passports into a little machine. You then answer a few questions and as long as you’re not stupid answering the last one you get waved through. I was laughing as I left and one of the security guards asked why – I pointed out that the final question was ‘are you bringing any cannabis or cannabis products into Canada’. I thought that was quite funny – they don’t care about harmless little things like guns or anything – just the dreaded cannabis.

The second flight was short and on time, and Dominic picked me up and took me home to the babies. Once again Sly played the shy guy and fled out the window, but Merlin was a bit braver. Walking around with the comb in my hand helped, and Merlin was leading me on his ‘tour’ in no time. Sly took a bit longer, but was purring and cuddling by bed-time.

Another fantastic, awesome trip – can’t wait to sort through all of the photos. Colin, Mo and I travel so well together – we make a great team. My adventures would be considerably different if I’d never met them. We’re already planning our next trip, which will start in early March in Italy, then on to….

Got started on our way south at around 8:30 – took the motorway part of the way, then on to quieter roads to the village of Bratton. We stopped in at Pickleberry Coffee and Gift Shop, which is where Colin’s cycling friends gather for a cup of tea on their regular Tuesday morning rides. We’d done the same thing last year as well.

They were all very pleased to see Colin and we had a nice sit down visit with his good friend Mick. Several others came by to chat, then they all left within a few minutes of each other and rode away – there must have been about 30 of them in all.

The area is so beautiful, especially at this time of year with the changing colours. There’s a large poppy on the hill above the field that we parked in, and most of the villages we drove through had displays of one kind or another.

Next we headed further south to the town of Frome, where Colin grew up – we visited it last year when we were here. Along the way we glimpsed the White Horse on the hill to the left near the town of Westbury.

We walked around Frome a bit and looked for a place to grab a quick lunch. The first cafe we went into shooed us right back out – no dogs allowed, which kind of surprised us we’ve become so used to it being ok. As we left a couple of women going in told us that the place at the end of the block would suit us.

They welcomed Mo in and we each got a sandwich – well Colin and I got a sandwich and Mo got hand fed tidbits. The place is in a very old building and the waiters and waitresses have to go up and down very narrow steep stairs to and from the kitchen.

As we left we passed an older lady sitting at one of the outside tables and she asked if she could pat Mo, which she did. As Colin continued on I stopped to take a photo of a pub across the road and the lady piped up that it was the oldest pub in the town.

I told her that Colin grew up here and she started asking questions. Colin strolled back to us and they chatted for quite a while – they went to the same school, although a few years apart. Pat B was at one time the UK women’s champion javelin thrower, and apparently also played a mean game of table tennis (don’t call it ping pong!!).

After Frome we drove up to Melksham for another visit with Mick and his wife Sandra – we went to their house last year as well. We had a cup of tea and Colin got them all caught up on our travels. It was a really nice visit and we were on our way home around 4:30 or so.

It gets dark really early so part of the drive back was in the dark – it had been a lovely day but was nice to get home. Got a slightly earlier night for once.