Blog #18 Pesaro to Martinsicuro

29th September

Sitting by the beach is a rare moment. Counting all of my trips there are just a few where I have stood in the sea. Deconstructing your motorbike kit is an ordeal; boots, socks, double layer of trousers, it's hot, the breeze can't get in, off with the helmet then the gloves, can't get the bike onto the beach, lost interest, ride away. As cycling you just kick off your shoes. I dangled my legs into a warm Adriatic sea. Too rough in which to swim. It wouldn't take long. I'd get washed up on a different beach and depending on the current it would be Albania or even Greece. Instead and for the second day I've had a roaring tail wind, again something not relevant to riding a motorbike but for cyclists and me in particular the only way I can keep to a schedule.

I know it looks like a holiday, but it's not. Ideally Yamaha would have me finish this journey in 4 months maybe 5, but 7 plus is way more than they are used to managing. Prompt being it's significantly about the bike and against the ocean as backdrop it stands on bleached pebbles bone white and smoothed. How is the bike doing? I ride 10 hours a day, I click through the gears smoothly, I micro manage the power consumption from the battery in such a way there has been no need for a spare. This bike has taken me across Europe - 15% of the route. So much more to go.

Bike on Beach

It was all going to plan but I blew it at the end of the day. Hung around somewhere too long. Departed from my Pesaro base 30mins after I’d planned and with 24kms to go it was getting dark. Busy home going traffic on a Friday night in a rapidly dying light all of us plunged in a warm Italian darkness. Cycling at night competing for space with the joyful enthusiasm of Italian motorists is more than a little edgy. I have learnt never to be in the way of the car driver; his tolerance of other road users is sketchy. But before then I spotted a cycling family who had ridden with their two infant all the way from Germany.

Too tired to write or think. My senses are literally shutting down. Another 100 mile day, same again for the next three days to Brindisi. I leave early in the morning. I need to be rested by the middle of the afternoon.

Map of the Day (enjoy the music)