Day 1 Italy

We arrived on Sunday afternoon at Borzonasca in our blue Fiat Puntos. Its a very pretty village about 20 minutes from the coast an hour or so from Genoa

We unpacked the bikes and decided to go for a quick ride just to get a feel for what lay ahead. From the village the only way is up but fortunately it was not as steep as I imagined and I actually quite enjoyed it. The countryside was beautiful with some fantastic smells of jasmine and wild herbs.

The local restaurant is known as 'Jesus' - can't quite remember why, where the food was amazing and incredibly cheap. If we'd caught the flight back to London the next day, the trip would trip have been worth it.

Day 2 Italy


We had a big day ahead so prepared for it with a lovely breakfast from the local cafe. 2 pastries and 2 cappuccino each. We set off up the 17km climb and after an hour and a half had reached the top. We were 900 metres up and the views were amazing. Before this, I thought Crystal PalaceHill was tough.

Kept going through the countryside for most of the day. By mid afternoon feeling knackered and wasn't sure I was going to make it back, until an ice cream and can of coke revived me for the return journey.

Eventually we got to the top of the big hill above the village and was able to freewheel down for 25 minutes which was great fun. In total covered 92 km.

There was only thing for it. More wine and food at Jesus' restaurant. And Praise the Lord he didn't let us down.

Day 3 Italy

This was the day that we were supposed to see the Giro d'Italia and see some of the world's finest cyclists in action. However, it didn't quite work out that way.

It was a really hot day and we were a bit knackered. After about 30km - largely uphill - we figured that it would take a big effort to get there, so we had a vote and decided to take the short cut back to the bar and watch it on the telly.


We cycled down a very steep and pretty road back into the town and soon had a beer in our hand, watching proper cyclists whizz up the mountains. Much more civilised.

In the evening we decided to a give Jesus a miss and go to the local pizza restaurant. The local speciality is farinata - a pizza base which is made with chickpea flour. We talked lots of nonsense, drank lots of wine and grappa and called it a night.

A fantastic few days. Thanks for organising it Simon and letting us stay in your appartment and thanks Neil and Tony for the great company.

Italy - best country in the world.