Day 9 – The Italian way of life

We made an early start making our way through menton towards the Italian border with passports in hand although it wasn’t long before we got a taste of the traffic to come, this time fortunately just a bicycle race which we decided to tag along on for a small while before they all pulled away from us. We soon crossed the border into Italy before we even knew it with not a single border check to be seen. The journey today was for Genoa although confusingly Genova on all the signs. 123 miles was the ambitious target to be completed. However it was similar terrain to the day before but overcast until lunch so we could plough through the miles. Genova however was not so fun, rush hour in soaring heat created a similarly caotic carnage of cars and mopeds to that of India. Some aggressive cycling in true Italian style (reds are apparently ignored) got us through the haze of the industrial town safely and we exceeded our target and made it south of Genoa. 

A long day but the authentic Italian pizzas settled well in our stomachs yearning for something other than pasta and energy bars. A pretty idyllic evening by the coast until we all stood up and hobbled off (starting to look more decrepid by the day)