This is our only rest day. The ferry is steaming across the Adriatic. There’s just been an incredibly efficient and determined safety drill – are they expecting something? All the riders are scattered over different parts of the boat – reading on the deck, snoozing in the bar. Our original intention was to come through Bosnia Serbia and up to Austria. Then the insurers simply laughed at the idea, and the distances were a bit too meaty to accommodate in a two week summer break. A whole kilometre to the hotel bed tonight and then back on the road early for 120 miles along the coast through Rimini before heading inland. We begin climbing towards the Alps on Friday.

As always the heroes of any such trip are the support crew who drive the van carrying spares and lunch. They scurry off to hunt for bread cheese and fruit for lunch and carry 100 litres of water – we are drinking up to 10 or 12 litres a day in the heat. Roger and Sue are doing a fantastic job.