Route for the day - well that was the idea..

We manage to clock out on time. 7.31am, despite having about 3 hours sleep. Followed our route book and turned left again out of the hotel and chugged up the hill. We knew straight away that something wasn't right.

The Itala usually bombs up the hills without any effort but the old girl was struggling badly so back to the hotel we went! I did suggest it may be fuel filters in great hope but ...

We waved off all the other competitors, even the 'poorly' ones..
Sadly at 1.35pm we are still here with the Itala in 'bits' - well the front of it anyway.

The words being used are camshaft, threads and top dead centre as well as other things ....

We have moved out of the hotel car park and are now situated under a porch to keep out of this blistering heat. (Lets hope the owners don't come back too early lol)
Crowds of locals have come and gone. One gang have been rather persistent and stayed awaiting anxiously as i have for a flicker of good news.
They were so eager to muck in and help that in their enthusiasm they nearly dropped the 106 year old radiator onto the floor :(.
I don't think they knew the meaning of 'no' being bellowed at them, accompanied by flapping hands and scowling faces...

I cant say that i have been particularly helpful apart from asking stupid questions (i like to call it brainstorming) and providing site security and bottled tepid water at intervals.. Sadly no Coconut water here on site to hydrate us :((

H&H Team 'Xray' (06) have been extremely helpful and have stayed behind to help..

At this moment in time we are moving forward but will only know when everything is re assembled!!

I think Richard and David H&H crew, drew the short straw this morning!! (Crew, drew lol) They are being incredibly helpful and supportive.

One good thing is i think i am getting free wifi from somewhere (maybe the porch owner) so i can keep up to date with the blurbing ooooops i mean blogging :)

Hopefully i will make myself useful shortly when everything has to be loaded by on the car. We are all optimistic at this stage .

Chow chow for now.