All were on good form ready for the ride to the boot of Italy and Vibo Valentia. Apart from Patty, who fixed his tyre, tried to find his kit which he had, as ever, strewn about the van, watched his tyre deflate again and the get a rollicking from me for losing one if his cycling gloves!

In the heat and humidity we fell out and he therefore stayed with the van whilst the rest of us set a searing pace southwards. A combination of good road surface, reasonable gradients and a following wind saw the first 40 miles of the day covered well before midday. The route contained much engineering again: viaducts soaring above the dry river valleys and tunnels where the hills to the left came down to meet the sea on the right. The longest tunnels were both over a km in length and, although lit, were still unnerving at times, especially when shared with big wagons!

After the break (after we popped into a local Spar for Anthony cold!!) the topography became gentler, but this failed to prevent Patty puncturing again shortly after re-joining us on the road. Sending the rest (including George) ahead, we waited for the van and Patty got on with the mission of fixing all tubes, tyres and anything else he could he his hands on!! I went on down the road at a fair clip, feeling good today with the favourable wind, and caught the others just in time to help fix a rear puncture on George’s bike!!! Tizz had been carrying his spare tube (he has 26″ wheels) and a tube of sun-tan lotion had burst all over it, meaning that the entire operation took place with slippery hands and also that George had virtually no brakes as there was lotion all over his rims!!

By now we had just about reached the turn into the boot of Italy, and we slowly swung westwards through low-lying and extremely fertile land with a real agricultural emphasis rather than the tourism that had essentially been present so far down the coast. It meant too that the following wind became a side wind, and the going got a bit tougher, although the road was flat. We’d arranged to meet the van in Pizzo, where the hills rise up again to the left and where tourism kicks in again. We found the support team frolicking on the beach and we all piled down for an extremely welcome swim! Many Italians were alarmed to see Bernard and Martin, clad in full lycra, heading across the beach carrying their bikes (!!), but when they realised we were English they fully understood!!!
A prolonged beach stay meant that we hoped the digs were not too far away!!