ITALY

I don't want to be here. I want to go back......

Got back yesterday after 11 days in Italy - Lake Como, in the north. Fantastic place and fantastic weather.
I knew before I went, that a holiday in Italy would provide me with the opportunity for good food, good cakes, good coffee and, while I eschewed it, good wine [note to self.... God forbid that there is reincarnation ... but, if there is, "next time "go to Italy THEN go on the waggon. Muppet].

The hotel was very nice. Though it did seem to attract the "club 58-70" set. On the plus side, you can pick up some good tips from these old biddies... When you visit the breakfast buffet start with a couple of sticky pastries on the plate. These provide really good "anchorage" for everything else to be piled on top of. Also, if you start with sweet then build your plate up slowly towards savoury you can simply eat your way toward the cakes at the end. I saw one plate that was an engineering marvel. It had cake at it's core, then a sort of layer of bread, followed by a layer of cheeses, before being rounded off by a sort of "skin" of sliced meats draped over it.
Spent most of the holiday "wired" on caffeine and sugar (cakes and ice-cream). Though luckily we did do a fair amount of walking so damage limitation was maintained.
Went out our run early every day (before breakfast) and managed to average 5.5 miles a day. Nothing too strenuous - but then again it was a holiday! Found a couple of really nice wee runs.
We could either go into the back streets of the village and "explore" some of the lanes and roads. These had the "advantage" that while the runs were fairly short they did include some pretty long and steep climbs, so you really felt you were getting some work in.
The other run was altogether more scenic. Along by the lake front to the next village and back. If you went your run early you also missed the majority of the traffic that built up during the day.
We were not the only ones to take advantage of the quiet roads and saw loads of "proper" road cyclists while we out and about. Especially at the weekends.
In fact, after our run while we were having breakfast in the hotel we would look out to see people swimming in the lake. The place would be ideal for triathletes.
Couldn't understand why one day a "peleton" of about five guys, all on identical bikes and all decked out in identical kit, cycled by and shouted at us "hey - liqui-gas", till Anne pointed out that they were all dressed in Liqui-Gas Domo gear and I was wearing a Liqui-Gas Domo cycle cap.
Temperatures were tipping the low 40s by about midday though so only the really hardy - or the very foolish were out running then.

Back now though to rain and wind and cold... Have to start building the miles up again. Looks like the gortex jacket will have to come out of the bag again.