Sunday 17.04.2011 - For those friends who are into bikes (not bikes that you have to pedal), you would know that each Sunday, weather permitting, out come the sportsbikes. Hence the name - Sportsbike Sunday.

Sadly we left Florence behind and decided to ride by the Mugello Circuit where the Italian MotoGP is held late May/early June each year. Oddly enough the circuit is not actually in the town of Mugello but in Giogo di Scarperia which is about 15 km away from Mugello and about 30 km from Florence. We attended the 2007 Italian MotoGP on our last visit and saw The Doctor (Valentino ROSSI to the uninitiated), win the race. The Italians went mad!

Anyway, we thought a drive by was in order and it turned out we were very fortunate indeed because it was the Italian Amateur Championships for Superbikes (hotted up 1000cc), Supersport (hotted up 600cc) and Superstock (basically 1000cc street bikes straight from the dealer floor). We eagerly handed over 25 Euro each and took in a morning's bike racing at a world famous circuit that is also used by Formula 1 cars.

After departing the Mugello Circuit we followed route 65
in a generally northern fashion towards Bologna. Route 65 is a well known "bikers' road" in Italy as it takes in Futa Pass (passo)

and Raticosa Pass. Futa Passo was scenic but somewhat disappointing as it wasn't what you would expect of a "pass", that is some where near the top of a mountain range. Actually it was 'somewhere' near the top but there were no views to be had, only a cafe with half a dozen bikes. Raticosa Passo, on the other hand, was an entirely different kettle of fish.

There were bikes, bikes and more bikes! All coming and going, with a very nice and warm cafe serving all sorts of goodies. Just as well because it was freezing on top.

We played the biker there for about half an hour before getting back on board the P-D and setting Tom the task of getting us to our hotel at Maranello. We chose Maranello to stay because it is a quaint little town and it is the home of Ferrari, both the factory and museum which we planned to visit. We also planned to visit the Ducati factory and museum in Bologna about 40 km distant but didn't want to stay in that big city because it is heavily industrialised and has hectic traffic.

At about 5.30 pm we pulled into the drive way of our small hotel in the Itallian country side, Hotel Locanda Del Mulino, about 2.5 km from Maranello. Tomorrow is Ducati day.