After one year "sabbatical" I found myself on my bike again. I was holding my options open, until friends of mine (Jolanda and Bert) asked me to join them in Italy. And so I did.

On Tuesday July 21st , early in the morning,  I "mounted" the bike for a 1100km trip. Having thought it would take me two days, I discovered, thanks to my GPS, that it could be done in one day. A very long day, mind you.

The first three hours or so were hell and occasionally I thought of going back. But as the "halfway mark" approached and the first coffee had entered my system, I felt better and decided to go for the "one stretch leg".

So, Oberhausen passed, Cologne, Frankfurt, Nurnberg ......, wow, wait a minute ! S***, I missed something and now I was going to Stuttgart. Well, my GPS could make a new route. D***, I lost about one hour ! Still, 8.00pm was the target, and it was doable. And on and on I went. Munich, Innsbruck, Brenner pass and Bolzano. Only 80km and ...... Yep, 08.15pm I reached Dimaro and the campsite. Thanks to cellular phone and SMS, I contacted Jolanda, who waited for me and let me into the campsite. There we joined Bert and their kids Saskia and Luuk.

So, today I did some 1116km and 14 hours of riding. Which was a new record ! I had never been riding so long at one stretch before. And the funny thing was, I wasn't really tired !

As Jolanda and Bert were here with some 'old' friends of theirs, I later that evening was introduced to them ( Lex and Anamarie ; Errol and Dorothee and some of their children. The others would arrive the next day by plane). They welcomed me heartedly and we had a few drinks. After that I made my bed in Luuk's tent, for officially I would arrive the next day.

Wednesday, July 22nd - Up in the morning and having breakfast with Jolanda and Bert. After that I had to register at the office. No questions asked I got the necessary paperwork done and a plastic bracelet round my wrist, so people could see I was a legitimate guest. After that it was waiting for the people on my pitch to clean up 'their act' and leave. Which didn't happen ! They had to 12am, but nothing seriously happened. And then, at a quarter to 12, they suddenly were gone. A visit to the reception brought me nothing but a choice for another pitch. So I put up my tent and spent the afternoon in the company of J and B. In the afternoon the party from the other two families arrived and we met. My first impression was a very nice one (and it didn't deceive me as it turned out).  We decided to have dinner all together at about 8pm, so that everybody could have their time doing what they had to do.

Thursday, July 23rd -