Oh Yes!!!!

After yesterday's downer, I really needed today to be a goodie and boy, was it just that ...

Left Alessandria about 8.30am, under a cloudless sky, destination Maranello. The Ferrari Museum doesn't close until 7pm so I have time to take to the mountains and did so. Bardi via Laccio went into the GPS and when it asked "Do you want to avoid unpaved roads?", I boldly said "Nope" ... well, I know now what that means which I shall come to later.
So, onto (and into) the mountains I go for the 3rd day in a row with not a worry in the world but the Italian version was a proper test. The road conditions constantly changing, the rate of climb simply staggering, with 45+ degree angle of road switching back into another 45 degree climb (that low down torque of the R1200GS came into its own), barely 6 feet wide which made it interesting when a wood truck is coming the other way; 4 foot long Vipers basking in the sun enjoying the heat of the tarmac and at one point as I exited from a long-sweeper, half the road had completely subsided for at least 100 metres! Oh, did I mention that most of this was on roads without barriers leaving sheer drops which is probably why I've never seen so many flowers with messages tied to trees and sticks all along the side of the road. Such sadness amongst such beauty. (See pic, that's the edge of the road and the other pic is evidence incase you didn't think I'm in rural Italy). Oh yes, "unpaved roads" read "narrow gravel tracks"; when the GPS decided on a couple of occasions to link me to a higher road by sending me vertically up a track to get there. I'm making it sound awful but it was both breath-taking and a proper adventure. But I will tell you that I was quite exhausted by the time I got to Bardi as multiple gear changes, often not passed 3rd combined with constantly flipping the bike from side to side had my wrists, forearms and shoulders calling time-out.

While recovering in Bardi, I hear "Come far?" from, what turned out to be Mike, an Englishman who lives there and when I told him about the snakes he mentioned that if I had been riding 2 hours earlier, I would probably have come across wild boar and wolves!
I really could prattle on more and more about today's ride but will stop here only to mentioned that the Romans building ruler-straight roads is a myth as the roads I was on today were designed by that famous, maverick, Roman, civil engineer, Maximus Twistus. Hail Maximus!

OK, so I get to Maranello ... Outstanding! Ferrari factory, Ferrari shops, Ferrari Museum, Ferrari restaurants, Ferrari cafe's and yup, you've guessed it Ferraris everywhere. Heaven! Loved the museum and upon my exit ...

"Fancy a ride in my Ferrari?" says Alessandra, from Brazil.
"But it's yellow", I say
"I've got a red one", she says
"Oh, OK then", I say

Yeh, right!!!

Anyway, 50 Euros gets you 10 minutes in a Ferrari F430 F1 Spider ... SOLD! to the Armenian with the big nose. Couldn't resist. While waiting for the car to return from a previous booking, I found myself talking to the owner of the business, a bike fan too, so we are exchanging pics, blah blah blah ... 10 minutes in the car turned into 20 as the owner is now the passenger and directed me out of Maranello to some open road.

Holy @$%£! and &%?@! and ?£$%!

Well, I'm still shaking ... she just flies and when the rev needle hits 7,000 rpm ...

WHOOOOOAAAAAA!

Phenomenal piece of kit and the sound was a metallic symphony. Why did it have to end ...

What a day ... that's all I need to say .... ciao tutti x