All roads lead to Rome! From Viterbo they lead upwards! After a slightly chaotic but unique breakfast, which consisted of our Polish landlady taking us all to a bar in the middle of the old town and haranguing the poor Italian chap within to suddenly produce a breakfast (which he did, but with unique combinations of chocolate pastries and cherry tart!!). Jo did miracles in moving the van out of a steeply-ramped cul-de-sac and the riders: me, Tizz, Bernard and Dave, worked their way out of the labyrinth of streets to the right road. Which went up. And up. And up. And up. For 11km!!! Limpet Tizz attacked early, and got a lecture from me and Dave about how to ride steady up long hills. As Dave was wearing yellow, we tried to pretend that she was a domestique protecting the yellow jersey from attacks by me and Bernard. This was successful for approx. 100m after which she pulled away and I just latched on to her wheel again. A photo opportunity at the top before a great descent, ruined only by the uncertainty of the road surface. Lovely smell of hot pine as we descended through the forests above volcanic lakes. At the bottom we had the breakfast we didn’t have in Viterbo and then had an unexpectedly fast section through Capranica and down to another large volcanic lake where the support team were frolicking again. This time we all changed and jumped into the water and it was beautiful!! A nice sun-bathe and another dip later and then we all watched Jo extricate the van and then set off for Rome. Still not flat, and still the appalling road surfaces that make it so dangerous to ride on any reasonable way. If you move out to avoid the potholes you’re immediately hooted at by drivers! We joined the SS2 into Rome which wasn’t too bad and which led us to the river where Bernard promptly had a puncture! A quick ride round some of the one-way systems led us to the central touristy bit and from there it was but a short weave round the grockles to the Colisseum and the sight of Charlie directing proceedings from a raised area near to our hotel. The latter had not let anyone check-in until we all arrived (what are they on?!) but very soon we had the bikes in the van and ourselves in the shower after another testing 65-plus mile hilly day. Great to be in Rome, although the strain of carrying a bag to the 3rd Floor of the hotel was almost too much to bear! A rest day tomorrow too – very welcome after the efforts of the past 3 days!