The snake

 Well last night was an experience ... our accomodation was an old house with nothing working inside ... think a bit like the Addams family residence.  None of us wanted a cold shower this morning,  and nobody admitted to using the non-flushing toilet..... although someone did !

Breakfast was out of the question, so the first job of the day was to ride the near vertical cobbled pathway up to the main road. 

We tried various techniques, but all survived and we were on our way.  Technical problems are preventing uploading Gopro videos, but I'm sure they will surface in time.

Dave honored my request for an early coffee stop, but food still prooved to be elusive.

 

We tried again a little further down the road, where the croissants tided us over.

Riding on through the Italian countryside was uneventful, apart from a green snake crossing our paths.  I missed it but Neil seem shaken by the event.  Hard to describe sthe size, as the length and girth increases every time he tells the story...

Lunch was the ritual fuel station stop, and then a final coffee next to a dam some 50km out from our destination....

Fighting the Piacenza traffic was another ordeal, with a few words from our worthy leader about sticking together in traffic.  Two beers quickly calmed him down.  The evening is being spent in a Chinese restaurant, which ordering via an iPad with a Italian titles is causing issues ... still, we got 4 beers in so far and learning fast !