So today is the day we try out e-Mountain bikes for the first time. Will we be spoiled for ever? We will cycle from Paesana (600m) up 25 km of a tortuous road to the source of the Po at 2,065m. We had booked two e-bikes in advance and we wandered around Paesana to find the hire spot. There is a large new tourist info centre on the outskirts where we had a friendly welcome and fiddled with an App to register our hire and pay for the bikes.

And so we set off anxiously in warm weather with sun peeping through misty clouds.

As it is a steep climb, we still had to pedal hard despite the "assist" though we did not go beyond the "Eco" setting leaving "Trail" and "Boost" for emergencies. We stopped on the way up and had a coffee and cake in the warm sun in a Refugio in one of the mountain villages. And cycled on up. Quite hard work and building up a warm glow and perspiration. And we made it. Fantastic. Phew.