All Weathers en route to San Marino

SAN MARINO.

We needn't have worried, the market is on the other side of the square.

Well, so much for my map reading skills. We walk to where I think the race should start and there is no sign of the run. In my defence, there are two stadiums, one in use the other not. I take us to the current one. I decide to run what I think is the course and discover the run at the far end of the park. A small world, yet again, the organiser and his wife spent time in Fallowfield and a runner who wanted me tp pace her taught in Goudhurst, where we stayed over the first weekend.

We eat breakfast in the square in a thunderstorm, thinking how fortunate we are that it didn't start an hour earlier. Then, we have to negotiate our way out of Florence. Several wrong turns later, we are on the road to San Morino. The journey takes us over the mountains. The scenery is stunning but the temperature drops at one point to 2 degrees Centigrade and the rain turns to sleet. Any lower and snow would have fallen requiring snow tyres. Naturally, we left them at home thinking that the weather would be much warmer.

As we dropped out of the mountains, we needed a break so pulled into a school car park in Bagno di Ramagne. Eat lunch watching two hooded crows in the field next to us. Our bird book tells us that they shouldn't be here. Perhaps, they are thinking the same thing about us.

Settle in a car park for camping cars in San Marino. The contrast between the quiet of last night and the sheer number of vans tonight is stark.

The temperature has risen to 15 degrees but, given that we're high in the hills, the wind makes it feels so much colder. Great views from the town. It's duty free so the prices are reasonable. Coffee and tea with petits fours in a smart restaurant only cost euro5 including tip.