Bella Italia - June 14th 2010

The 3rd day - and the first snow line passed.

The roads start to get really interesting now:

I reach the snow line for the first time - stunning scenery.

And into Italy!

gorgeous, gorgeous technical twisties going down, and then some more on flatter ground.

Into my first ever Italian town, La Thuile, and I meet a group of four guys from South Wales. They approve of the Hornet!

And one of them kindly takes a picture of me beside it as well.

From here on there are fantastic roads all the way to Aosta, but then I have to 'make progress' more seriously. I get on the autostrada all the way to Pisa (and mistakenly pay a toll of EUR36.40, more on that later) and get to the hotel in Pontedera just 5 minutes after the advertised meet time. No too shabby, and the Hornet had done gawd knows how many miles at full Wide Open Throttle without missing a beat.

All the rest of the party were there, and I started the tricky business of trying to get people's names knocked into my head. We later went for a meal - of so many courses it completely defeated me. Then to bed - I was sharing a room with Roland, who was an ideal room-mate. He tended to retire earlier than me, and get up earlier, but I'd be as quiet as possible going to bed, and he would make hardly any noise (that I heard anyway) until finally setting off for breakfast, so waking me very effectively. Well done that man, and as it proved a damn good rider too, so a public thank-you Roland for your kindness and consideration.

The track of the day (550km):