A bit about Anne Mustoe

Anne Mustoe was head mistress at my school a short while after i had left. In about 1982 whilst on a train in India during the long summer holiday, she glanced out of the window and saw a lone european cyclist and was filled with envy. She decided there and then to resign her post and to cycle round the world. Two years later she set off on a bike donated by the school and did exactly that. Sal and I are now following her tracks in Italy. She decided to cycle along the three main Roman roads..the Via Emilia which is from Milan to Rimini. The Via Flaminia from Rimini to Rome and the Via Appia which is from Rome to Brindisi. All the roads are pretty straight and have been brilliantly constructed so that you hardly feel you are going up hill (despite signs to ski resorts!) and don't have to brake going down hill (not that we do these days!) Of course 30 years on the roads are much busier and there have been some hairy, scary moments on the Emilia which is now just about under our belts. It is fantastic to cycle straight through the centre of a city ( Bologna, Faenza, Forli) and straight out the other side! The city centres themselves are beautiful...paving stones, huge piazzas, churches, clock towers, arches and of course cafes, restaurants and bars galore. Tonight we are close to Rimini in the little principality of San Marino. Rob is here to drive us back to our starting point tomorrow which would be much closer if I hadn't left my phone on a bridge wall and had to cycle 10 km back to retrieve it! I would love to tell Anne Mustoe about our adventures but she sadly died two years ago whilst cycling somewhere in Russia, 27 years after first setting out and still on the bike that had been her leaving gift from St Felix.