Lucky Phil

One swallow does not a summer make as the old saying goes. I wouldn't make a statement like this without quite a few miles on the bike in various weather conditions. Been there. Phil

The writing literally takes 5 seconds. Phil

Carlo Guzzi memorial. Centre of Mandello.

Forgot to mention that yesterday I got to sit on a Guzzi V8 that was in the small Piazza where the statue of Carlo Guzzi resides. This Piazza was where they had a display of about 20 old Guzzi race bikes and some were started up for the benefit of the crowd including the V8 and the 500 Bicylindrica. I cheekily asked the custodian of the V8 if I could get an image of me sitting on the bike and he looked a little shocked that someone would ask such a thing but then happily agreed. So on it I sat and my wife got a few images. This is the bike.

One for docc and scudd. The wife and I are so taken with Mandello we are looking at properties here. Six months a year here would be quite agreeable.

Big day today wandering around Mandello. Still packed with Guzzi enthusiasts. I got the hear an old bicylindrica running (the 120 degree V twin 500cc GP bike from the thirties to the 50's if memory serves) and also got to sit on a Guzzi V8. I didn't get to see it running due to timing issues (me being around) but I heard it run twice during the day from 1/2 a klm away when it was started up. I also had the great privilege of visiting the preserved workshop of Giorgio Ripamonti who was a teacher of the young Carlo Guzzi and in this workshop with his help the very first Moto Guzzi called the "GP" was built and assembled. I spent 1/2 hour talking to his grandson who spoke very good English. On this very anvil and in this tiny workshop at this hearth Carlo Guzzi and Giorgio Ripamonti created the very first Guzzi.

This is called the Dunning Kruger affect.

Thanks for the tips, I'm hoping Monday is a little less fraught and we can tour around a bit more. I plan on visiting Agostinis while I'm here just to say I've been there. I've bought stuff off them in the past including the mufflers still fitted to my bike. Images from our hotel room. We're up in the hills. Very pretty up here. Phil

Same for me in 1997, closed. This time I waited to make a booking online which you need to do now but they only open the bookings a month in advance. When I went to make a booking the time of my visit was booked out! Then I found out about the big Guzzi weekend thats on now and we went down to town and just walked in with everyone else. They were obviously not taking bookings over the special weekend period. Got there anyway at last. It's totally manic in Mandello at the moment with a gazillion people and streets blocked off to cars. It's no place to be seeking out alternative routes to your Hotel through the maze of super narrow back streets half of which are one way. We drove to Bellano for the day today to get away from Mandello and the drive through town was a nightmare. Will walk the 2klm into town from now on even though it's the steepest 2 klm walk you've ever seen. Just not worth the agro in the car.

More from the museum. Met up with V11_meticcio today. He rode his Guzzi up to our hotel in the mountains and we had a nice chat. Very nice guy and very happy to meet him. Grazie Mille, Massimiliano. Phil

The movie did the man no real justice in the grand scheme of things. The book is a must read as is what I'm currently reading on a totally different theme, "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn. A truly remarkable and disturbing story. Not only was it instrumental in the bringing down communist Russia but gives insight into the Russian mindset. Phil

Just the image I think Phil

Sounds good. Give me a time and place Phil

Arrived in Mandello today and went straight to the Guzzi museum for a look. Lots of people in town for the Guzzi weekend so lots of enthusiast stuff happening. Here's a Greenie from the museum and an image through the gates of the new factory under construction. Phil