The Pushbike Song

We left our mooring at 7.30am, travelling down the tributary river to the river Po - the longest river in Itlay, running west - east to the coast. Just after 9 0'clock we moved the bikes onto the shore and set off. We travelled along back roads through the countryside, next to crops of corn,wheat, sunflowers and fruit ; but also seeing a lot of abandoned buildings - many damaged from the earthquake last year that hit northern Italy. These towns showed not only the downturn in this area but also the resilience of the people. We stopped for morning tea in Revere, then cycled on to the town of Bergantino for lunch in the shade. The weather was hot, probably low thirties, but at least there was a bit of breeze throughout the day. Bergantino is the centre of a construction industry for amusement park rides, and has a museum that records this history as well as housing a museum of old musical side show organs and pianola type machines. It was quite an interesting and unusual display. From there we cycled to the cheese factory where Grana Padano cheese is made : this is a high quality parmegna cheese that is sold throughout the world. After a talk about this process and a tour of the storage facility, we were treated to a tasting together with a glass of wine. Then the trip continued until we finally returned to our boat - hot and tired - that was moored in Zello. All in all we travelled almost 55 km today on both sealed and (bumpy) unsealed roads, returning home wih tired legs and sore bottoms. Our crew welcomed us home with cold juices, grapes and a pastry ; this was quickly followed by a couple of Moretti beers just to replenish fluids.After dinner tonight we plan  to visit the local (Irish) pub that is noted for its darts, so who knows what we will get up to. Tomorrow is prob

ably a shorter ride but with more places to visit; the weather should remain warm so we are looking forward to another good day.