Day 5, Bologna to Porto Sant'Elpidio

The day started pretty much as last night ended, warm. By the time we'd had brekkie, a very nice spread, and were on the bikes, it was 25 degrees. That was 8:30. Besides a fuel stop, we only had one other stop planned, a monument to Marco Pantani. I hadn't a clue who he was but thought it would be something Grizzly would be interested in, being a keen cyclist in his younger days. Not only did he know who the guy was but he's one of his heroes, so it was a worthwhile visit. It was extremely hot today, pretty much 29 degrees the whole ride. I thought there was a beachside cafe by the monument but it turned out to be a full on restaurant, so we made our way to the nearest McDs for something cool and refreshing, in a much appreciated air conditioned environment. 

Back on the bikes, the ride was, at times, quite tiresome. There are so many roundabouts to negotiate, made worse by the Italian drivers failing to indicate where they are going. Half the time you are pulling out in front of someone, or sitting there watching them take the turning before you. Their lack of lane control is also an issue. Italian drivers probably are the worst in Europe! When we had our next stop, Grizzly told me of how he had tried to teach one truck driver some good old anglo saxon, after he'd been cut off by the guy. They don't care though, it's just the way the do things.

The second stop was a planned McDs stop. Again we were glad of the aircon in there and a cold drink. I think the Italian kids have broken up from school, as both our stops today had loads of kids in them, some with t-shirts with names on, from fellow stiudents.

The last part of our journey was about 1h45m but the last 10km were probably the worst, for traffic and the continued heat. Eventually though we found our hotel and commandeered two parking spaces. After freshening up, we made our way up the road, to an Irish bar. These don't often go down well with Grizzly but there wasn't anything else that took his fancy. They had real brewed in Dublin Guinness and some Kilkenny Red, both of which Grizzly wouldn't touch, so we ended up with Benediktiner Hell and Weissbier, perfectly good enough to wash down our meagre chicken burger and fries. Beer count is now 11.

On leaving the bar, we made our way to the beach. It was pebbley and shelly with not a lot of sand and covered in hundreds of sun beds. Still, would no doubt have been heaving during the day.

Today's pics.

Marco Pantani Monument

Must've been busy during the day

Gently lapping waves

Tomorrow we are making our way to Foggia. It's about 175 miles. Heavens knows how many roundabouts or Italian idiots we'll encounter on the way. 36 degrees predicted. Time to break out the cooling base layer.