Saturday 16 August 2014

Day 7 - 57 miles

First day in the Alps! It went smoothly to start with and the climbing hasn't been to bad as of yet. Just lots of long gentle inclines with the occasional hairpin bend thrown in.

Fred and Arch got yet lost in the town of Bellinzona and had to dismount to walk through a market in the middle of the town. Alpine roads are very difficult to navigate on due to the different levels they are on and the various roads on these levels.

Just before lunch we met a cyclist called Peter who spoke very good English, went to school in Bournemouth and knows Cornwall very well - bit weird! He took us out for a drink and introduced us to a really nice new drink called Rivella. He told us about a cool mining museum which sounded like it was worth a cheeky visit. It lived up to expectation and I will never slag off the London Underground system as the engineering that goes into such projects is incredible.

After lunch Jack and Fred battled on against a seriously strong head-wind and then we struck yet another problem. Fred's bike is broken. His gears have sheered off and we are now on the prowl for a new set up for him. This is gutting for him as we are about to tackle the main climb tomorrow in Airolo. We will keep you posted on the bike repairs.

The evening was spent watching the Arsenal game via Facetime and eating pasta.

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