week 5 summary time: heat, sweat, uphill, 2000m climbing in one day, 11 punctures in the week, 95 mile finishing day with TORRENTIAL rain, karaoke with the mafia, team work, resilience, jasmine infused air, unending Italian generousity, maggot filled cherries, green mountains turning to yellow dusty mountains as we cycled south, hot hot sun and sunstroke. well done everyone!!

​​

Week 5 have proved themselves already this week by tackling a 120km first day with a 600m hill climb and going right the way through Rome all in a day! We then stayed with Matteo, in his vineyard, where he plied us with wine and pastries and made it his mission to get us in the Italian press. 
Last night was spent camping by the beach in Sperlonga, getting unending generousity from Graziano, who has allowed us to stay on his land, use the showers and bought us a beer. Deeeelightful!

14. How to hide when you get caught skinny dipping.

we find this extremely exciting! well done everyone!

How to sum this week up? ice cream. sweat. pizza. heat exhaustion. olives. sunburn. thigh burn. smell of jasmine and wild flowers. pot holes. amazing team work. people pushing through even when the day seemed daunting. lots of laughing, chatting and swimming in volcanic crater lakes. watching out for snakes. seeing snakes. being chased by a snake. driving the van into a ditch. power poses. stretches. vineyards. generosity from strangers. pasta. and coffee, lots of coffee.

After a tunnel of sand we veered off the coast road into the rolling hills of Tuscany and some unexpected dinner guests! 

After a sunny first day, Italy gave us a year's worth of rain in an hour. Fixing brakes and being drenched to the bone is a bad combo! Harder still is tackling a 600m climb to start the day!