The usual beautiful morning bird song alarm call is today totally drowned out by the insanely loud traffic noises. 

We have basically camped on the hard shoulder of the motorway.

Unsurprisingly then none of us had a very good nights sleep (again!) and on the back of 11 straight days of cycling I think it’s fair to say that the three men and a tent are in a “deeply reflective” mood this morning.....to the extent that I don’t recall a single word (other than rude ones which i couldn’t possibly repeat here) being said in the first hour. To be fair I don’t remember getting washed, changed and packed either but all those things probably happened (almost definitely did happen, or at least i hope they did!)

In spite of everything (a mind numbing, backbreaking day yesterday plus very hot riding and a “sub optimal campsite with added traffic noise) we still manage to have a reasonable evening (as only we can) dining on pasta (again!) and beer in the middle of a marshy field trapped in between two competing motorways.....yay, go us!

Given we still haven’t had a rest day and our current campsite only meets one and a half of the three non negotiable criteria we have set to take one (Good weather....tick, bar and food nearby....just barely a tick really and nice location .....OMG not!!!) we decide to press on again. 

We do though agree that rather than push for our planned destination of Mugello deep up in the Apennines we will instead split the next two planned days over three....I am so glad we did.

We pause several times as we pass through the outskirts of Modena and into Maranello taking the obligatory photo at the gates to the original Ferrari factory and a sneaky one of Ferrari employees just going about their day (Ps...for anyone in any doubt about how tired I am, I think the selfie says it all....who even is that?)....

....and then again for second breakfast (or it could have been first elevenses, who even knows anymore) .....

The first 40 miles of our day continue to be much like the  previous 200 plus miles we have experienced in Italy....flat, busy and potholey...in other words still not very inspirational.

The weather is still glorious though so whenever we stop for something to eat or drink we make sure to reapply sun screen, which is I think and hope what is happening here....

....and then as soon as we clear Sasso Marconi we turn off the main drag and the road kicks up, and up and up. Unlike our Alps  experience where the climbs are very, very long but rarely above 14% in steepness and more usually between 7% and 10%, here the climbs are brutally, insanely steep. When the Garmin reads 20% plus then something has to give and if you are carrying panniers as well then most of your internal organs feel like they want to involuntarily fly out of your body and they always want to take the shortest route possible.....a lot of clenching is required to keep things respectable.

Despite the beautiful scenery (and i should say that THIS is now the Italy that we came to see) the next 26 miles are probably the most hateful I have ever experienced. Again and again and again we drop down and climb up, then drop down and climb up. In France they at least had the foresight to see an incline and think “well we need to make a road with lots of zig zags so it’s at least possible to climb it”......in this part of Italy, well clearly not so much....”it’s a hill, shortest way is straight up, let’s do that then” (I did try and write this in a comedy French and then Italian accent but decided it was mildly inappropriate and potentially insulting…but I’m sure you can imagine it anyway)

I am so so glad that we decided to split the next two days into three otherwise we would probably still now be trying to pedal up some cliff face in the middle of nowhere.

Instead we have arrived at Camping Le Querca (Marc takes great delight in telling us it mean “The Oaks” and given the number of acorns which seem to be under my side of the tent, it’s hard to argue).

It’s a pretty location and the hosts are lovely but the overall “ambience” still needs some work in my opinion. I do known though where I will be hiding out if the storm that has been following us all day catches up with us (even if it will be a bit cramped!)

I am delighted to say that today mine is not the only editorial contribution for your delectation and amusement....ladies and gentlemen I give you ….Marc and Dan (yay....crowd goes wild!!) 

Hello all you blog readers, it’s Dan. I thought it was about time in our trip to give you a slightly different view point other than that of just Nick! Only joking he does a great job in blogging everyday. It isn’t just entertaining for you all to read about our adventures, but is great for us to read and remember what we have done and when. That’s just it when you are on one of these adventures everything merges in to one. So, this is our third adventure and how we have stayed friends is anyone’s guess! I think it’s time to give you a little insight in to what has changed from our first two trips and what it really is like spending every second of every minute of every hour of every day!!!! with Nick and Marc.

Firstly let’s tell you what has changed personally for me since our last adventures. I got married! It was an amazing day, my wife looked beautiful (as always), Marc was best man and did a cracking job (couldn’t have asked for more) and Nick spent the day heckling Marc, which was fun to watch, great times had by all.

At work I passed my Masters in advancing practice and am working as an advanced practitioner which is a dream job for me. I work with an amazing, fabulous, hard working (you get the idea) team and hope to do this for the foreseeable future.

Right to the trip, things that haven’t changed. Still got the green mist of man funk seeping out the tent in the mornings (in fact it never really leaves the tent now). Nick and Marc are still like brothers that keep trying to out do each other at every opportunity, which is the right direction, what is the right amount of feet climbed is, who can eat quickest, who can say the most in french then Italian (regularly interchanged at random times), it’s very entertaining to watch and in fact it’s why we just work as three men and a tent. I am the mountain goat, who loves the hills and carries whatever we can squeeze in to my panniers. Nick is the meerkat, who once he lifts his head from looking down at the garmin directs us from danger and Marc is the squirrel, who likes nesting everyday, builds the tent and doing the cooking. This is just how we work and it seems to work well. How else would we have made it from London to almost Rome in one piece. I couldnt imagine doing these adventures with anyone else.

Life around the camp is simple, I am the longest in the shower (I just like being warm and clean) and the last to climb out my sleeping bag in the morning. This is probably because of the poor prostates of the other two being alittle more mature but what that does mean is that they sort out breakfast and tea for when I climb out my pit. After all I do need more beauty sleep.

Other than that life round camp is good. After climbing the alps and cycling for 12 days solid there are a few aches and pains but manageable (ibuprofen working wonders on my left knee). My bike is still in one piece, shocking I know following on from my previous nickname of dan the destroyer. As you would have seen I have had to do some minor repairs on my panniers. Not blogged so far is that was because a lorry driver got a little close and we ended up in a heap at the side of the road with broken pannier clips. No one was hurt and it is an easy part to replace not via amazon sadly. No other dramas for me though.

I really do hope you are all enjoying reading about our adventures and will follow us all the way to Rome. Thank you all for your support and kind words of encouragement. Look forward to catching up with you all when I’m back. Take care and be safe. X

Hey, it's only me Marc here. Just thought I'd add a few words as Dan is doing the same. As Dan has said, Nick is doing an amazing job as orator of our crazy adventure, no. 3 as Three Men and a Tent, as we wend our very long and hard but fantastic adventure from London to Rome. Just a few extra observations from me. It is quite obvious that the Sat Nav and Google maps lie...as the only one without such technology on board, i am constantly informed by my 2 amigos that we only have 18 km to go, despite being given the same reply 10 km ago!!! Obviously they can only tell me what it says on their Sat Navs but believe me, when your last bit of energy is gone from your legs, you really want those last few km to go by extra extra quick. Another observation, we all snore lots, I didn't think I did really, but am reminded by Dan courtesy of a short recording on his phone of what i thought was just deep breathing, but actually had woken him up! My final observation is what an amazing time i am having, with my 2 fantasticest mates, on a really really hard challenge, for a really really amazingly good cause. If you have enjoyed following our journey so far, and have not contributed as generously as lots of you have done already, I would implore you to please consider adding a little more to our fund raising. It's tough going, amazing fun and really challenging all at the same time, and hope you enjoy being part of our travels with us. Marc x

As always let me sign off by echoing Marc and Dan in thanking everyone that has supported us and donated so far. Please do share this website and our social media pages (@3menandatent) as far and wide as you can. We are so close now to raising a massive £12.5k for Winston’s Wish and only you can help us get there. Thank you so much. N