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Back in Lozzo and life resumes a more respectable pace, lots of thinking about what to do, less time doing it and just generally slotting in to "la dolci vita".
With nothing much else to do, it was out on the bikes and as it was Jean's first ride we rode out to Montagnana, a magnificent walled city. It was so good that we went into the hills up to Teolo, a gentle 60km ride, except for a small section of 3 kms up with 250 metres of climbing and as it turned out, a rather miscalculation on the descent. I thought that it would be better to take the short way down with less traffic. BIG MISTAKE! It was shorter but I had forgotten how steep it was in order to accommodate the reduced distance. Clearly Jean still has memories of our last steep mountain ride of three years ago where she went over the handle bars on the descent. But we arrived at the bottom safe and sound, with plenty of ammunition for Jean to use for the next few days. But a great effort of 60kms.
The next day, we decided to have another shot at Teolo, only this time we took the more conventional route down, to the applause of all.
More days, and more hills, with each one better than the last.
With the bike riding sorted out, all that was left was where and how to replenish the lost calories, which as it turned out, wasn't too much of a problem. Plenty of fresh fruit and veg, pasta of every shape and size, wine at 3 Euro bottle, la dolce vita indeed.
As I write this I am sitting outside a swimming pool in Este while Jean is stretching out any unused muscles in the pool. Because we had to ride here from Lozzo, it falls to me to keep the bikes safe, (it's a long walk home). There are not too many bikes in the back blocks of Este that are in the same market as our Scapins, so they seem to attract a fair bit of attention. So much so that I have just had a 20 minute conversation ( which might not be the most accurate of descriptions) with a 75 yo who has 4 bikes, watches Outback Truckers on TV as well as Border Security so he was well up on his knowledge of road trains and food controls at our borders. He had also heard of this group of Australian bike riders that come to this area each summer to ride, that's us. The amazing thing is that Este is not only 15kms from Lozzo, it's in the next valley, which puts it well and truly off the Lozzo map, but the grapevine, of which there are many in the area, carries more than grapes it seems.
The weather has been a bit varied, a little rain, fairly decent thunder storms at night, but today is magnificent. Mid to high 20s, no wind and a clear sky.
Next week we will take a day trip into Vicenza for a bit of retail therapy before heading home.
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