BT xi - Day 8

Day 8
Despite setting a new Barbietours record of 223 miles in ten hours, without any lunch break or other significant stop.  I was having a very bad (grumpy) day from falling to get fuel from either of our first two petrol stops onwards.
The first 130 miles were constant towns with their 50 kmh limits and roundabouts every 750 meters or less.
Little did i know that was going to be the best of it ! 
The next few miles consisted of our first pass and first open roads, but average speed was not increased due to the exceptionally poor road surfaces.  Lines round corners being decided where there was a surface to ride on. 
Then came the Vivione Pass, which we both decided was the scariest thing we had been over, single track, poor surfaces and hairpins requiring full lock (and the of prayer that we were not going to meet any cars coming the other way)  It made being overtaken in tunnels seem tame by comparison.  Fortunately the way down was better than the way up.
Excellent, 40 miles to go and it starts pissing with rain.  Only the Gavia pass to go !
Half way up and alarm bells should have started ringing.  Cars heading down covered in snow (thought it was feeling a bit brisk).  Only 20 miles to go, press on!  Then we reached the snow line.  The first couple of hairpins covered in snow were scary but we couldn't face the thought of turning round and doing them on the way down.   10 miles to go, at the summit the snow was 3 inches on the road with only a barely any clear tyre tracks to follow.  We stopped at the summit and had a chat with a friendly local who said it should be better from there on in,  500 meters over the plateau then a gentle-ish descent with the snow clearing.  True to his word, this was what happened except for the road hadn't being blocked (still in the snow zone)  by a herd of cows and oncoming vehicles.  The rest of the journey, except for Graeme running low on fuel was relatively uneventful with only the odd herd of goats and a stag to keep us entertained.
Lovely hotel with helpful staff and beer and pizzas from LaTana make the world seem slightly better although we are very concerned about the Stelvio tomorrow as it is currently 1° C and heavy snow is forecast.  But that is for another day.