Fantastic breakfast buffet to start another sunny day - and a bit of grey fluff in the sky is a welcome sight. It does not amount to much but at this latitude all shade is welcome.
I decided to head off early i.e. at 0800. It is great cycling in a group but there are drawbacks! Starting in the "morning": Cats would be easy to organise! "We aim for an 0830 start. Be ready!!". At 0845 some are considering packing, others still in the shower. As you may know, I am a surgeon - I like my list to start on time and I like a plan, like to to make the appropriate incisions , sort out the problem and get on to the next case. Any delay in the morning will scupper the whole day. So I decided to head out ahead of the pack at 0800 - wearing different bibs (not to sneak out unnoticed but by now 400+ kilometres can be felt where the body connects with the bike!). The other advantage about an early star is so elegantly expressed by Noel Coward "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun". So gtting some miles or even kilometres in before noon is a bonus. And another thing - it is actually quite nice to enjoy the scenery on your own (ie on my own). Most my working days are spent talking and however much I enjoy talking to patients it is great to have some solitude. So the bike and I were just steadily rolling along at a comfortable pace (17-20 mph) with the legs doing their business whilst the head was enjoying the scenery, the blue sea, blue skies, rolling dry landscape up and down hills, and for once I listened to music - only one earphone in the ear closest to the kerb so all traffic sounds were loud and clear. The track that propelled me on was Gianna Nannini "Io che non vivo Senza te" . To which you will probably say Who?what? Well most of you will know Dusty Springfield and her hit "You don't have to say you love me". But did you know that it is an Italian song and amongst others Gianni Nannini has a great version. Check it out!
By 1300 hrs before the thermometer reached 40* I had done around 60 miles - and soon arrived at the hotel before (!!)the support vehicle. When it arrived Sam and Neil (N is down with a virus and therefore was carted along) had a great lunch. Neil by the way amongst his many other activities helps rehouse and look after refugees in Thessoliniki - far more efficiently and humane than the official agencies (Charity: Family to Family - check it out on Facebook). But therein lies another story. Now off to the pool! Ciao.
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