Day 015 > Monday 16 September

Executive air travel provides a completely different experience of flying than standard air travel. We left Dublin in a Special Edition Gulfstream IV, powered by two beautiful Rolls-Royce Tay engines. The cabin was decked out in cream leather and walnut and we all had more leg space than we could ever have dreamed of, including Mike.

Tracey served us with pastries, cooked breakfasts and drinks as we cruised over France on a wonderfully clear day. The windows were so much bigger and clearer than on conventional planes and the view as we passed Mont Blanc and the Alps was something else. Our special thanks must go to the kind donor of this flight.

Our first impression of Nice was probably distorted by the cost of the taxis to the Hotel. €90 out of our very tight budget hurts when we are doing our best to limit all expenditure and then to be asked for about Stg£3.50 for a coke was ridiculous.

Nice itself was beautiful and some of us set off to walk to the harbour to check out "Tenacious", the Tall Ship owned by the Jubilee Sailing Trust and our means of transport to Monaco tomorrow. Tenacious and her crew were in fine form and we were invited on board for a barbecue, which went on well into the evening. Apart from the joy of being on board such a beautiful ship in such a beautiful place the offer of free food compensated for the extortionate taxi fares earlier, allowing us all to sleep more easily.

Day 016 > Tuesday 17 September

Following a full breakfast on board Tenacious at 08:00 a.m., the team was given a full safety and operations briefing for the short voyage to Monaco.

Although only built two years ago, the Tenacious is kitted out, just as the famous Lord Nelson, to accommodate able bodied and disabled crew and passengers on voyages around the world. En-route to St Lucia, via the Canary Islands, the Tenacious provided an exhilarating mode of transport for the adventurers.

While on board the team climbed 90 feet above the sea on the yardarm, took the helm, washed the deck, braced the ship, sung sea shanties, drank, ate and generally had a great time in the sun.

The ship sailed elegantly into Monte Carlo to a reception by the press, T.V. and classical musicians. Jon gave his first ever T.V. interview in French, which has now been shown, un-dubbed, all around the region so it must have made some sense at least.

The evening was spent in fine style in a superb restaurant overlooking the harbour lights, thanks to the hospitality of Brigitte, Mike's nearly-aunt (a long story). Brigitte is one of Monaco's most loved and influential charity workers and it was a real honour to share an evening with her and some of her friends, including the French Consular Generale to Monaco.

Day 017 > Wednesday 18 September

The number of "beautiful" people in Monaco increased by 6 today as the 80 Ways team was in town .The official population on Monaco is around 30,000, all crammed in to an area of 1 1/2 Km by 1 Km. The plan for the day was to re-pack, catch up on e-mails and to have a quick look around Monte Carlo before heading off for Rome in the evening on the night train. By early evening everything seemed to be going well although the complicated street system of Monaco, the narrow walkways, high curbs and steep inclines were hardly wheelchair accessible. We did, however, manage to make our way to the Cafe de Paris by the Casino for a coffee.

Travel to Rome began at 7:00 in the evening. The driver of the first taxi we summoned was obviously having a bad day and refused to take all our bags. Most of the team rolled, walked and tripped their way to the station as a second taxi was organised. We bumped into a couple of holidaymakers from Galway while we were waiting for our train and it was encouraging to know that they recognised us from the publicity we had received in Ireland last week.

Then the fun began. When the train tickets were booked, wheelchair access was confirmed as "no problem". The guy must have been on drugs! With two of us lifting the chair from front and back, Mike had to remove the wheels in mid-air to get through the door which was 3 feet off the platform. Once inside the packed train the wheelchair could not get around the corner or along the corridor so we had to transfer Mike onto his narrow shower chair. 6 people, 11 bags, a T.V. camera and two wheelchairs were then forced through the crowded corridors into the sleeper compartment, which was double booked, and 2 hours later we eventually settled down for what was unlikely to be sleep, with Carbonara in the next compartment with his camera and some of the bags.

Day 018 > Thursday 19 September

"Where's my camera?". Carbonara was almost frantic as we searched to two sleeping compartments again and again, trying to avoid the obvious fact that it was gone. We could not believe that we had walked straight into the trap, with all our years of travel experience behind us we still got robbed. The gangs that operate on the train to Rome are notorious, as we have been now told about a million times, for robbing silently during the night and even drugging their victims with sprays. We all felt so stupid, but worse still, we felt sick that people would target our group of blind and paraplegic as easy prey.

The formality of registering the loss of Mike's £14,000 T.V. camera and a bag of recording equipment belonging to Aoife was managed routinely by the police and then we set about the task of getting back on our feet again. We were in Rome in order to obtain Indian visas for our Irish contingent so Caroline and Aoife set off to do this. The rest of us sat in a cafe at Termini station and started working on plans for accommodation and transport.

Robin had also set us a number of challenges for our time in Rome, including talking to a group of charity workers, organising some PR activity, travelling on some typical Roman transport, meeting up with Rotarians and, of course, spending as little money as possible. The latter soon looked to be the hardest as those few hotels that said they could accommodate us gave us their prices. Finally we had a breakthrough and an offer of a guest house in the countryside of Umbria. Not cheap but probably ideal for re-grouping after all that we had been up to over recent weeks and the hassle on the train. Late in the afternoon we set off on a 2 hour journey to Todi and to the guest house. It was stunning! We couldn't afford to stay there but we would address that tomorrow.

We had been challenged to travel around the world using 80 forms of transport. The Italian sleeper train was one of them, we survived but were badly bruised. We are not, however, destroyed.

Day 019 > Friday 20 September

The theft of the camera is a big problem for the team. Mike McNamara invested all his capital on the necessary equipment to film the 80 Ways adventure and has been paying his own way in the belief that a worthwhile documentary will be sold to raise money for the 80 Ways Foundation and the charities it is supporting. It is a long time since I have seen someone looking so downhearted, made worse by the first offer from the insurance company which was for less than half the cost of the equipment, despite it only being just over a week old. We need to get Mike back on the road again and all help will be appreciated. Mike needed to travel back to the UK to get this problem resolved and flights were booked for the evening.

We spent most of the day on the phone, trying to make the arrangements for us to meet the challenges we had been set, talking to contacts, embassies, PR agencies, hotels, the Vatican, etc. etc. as well as the insurers. At the same time we wanted to enjoy the beauty of our location. We had a 270 degree view which included Todi, vineyards, wooded hills, hamlets and villages and the river Tiber.

The run to the airport in the evening took about five hours, and it was clearly upsetting for Mike to be leaving the team again but we do believe an answer to this problem will be found.

Day 020 > Saturday 21 September

Weekends are taken pretty seriously in Italy, it seems. So little could be achieved today apart from responding to e-mails, washing clothes and resting up. Caroline is still keeping fit and, so far, has managed to persuade Miles and Aoife to go running with her. Even Carbonara fell into her trap before he returned to the UK. There is only Mike Mackenzie and me who have not been caught yet, but I suspect my days are numbered. The concept of Caroline (registered blind) taking Miles (totally blind) is a worrying one but they did return relatively unscathed.

Each weekend Mike has to mix up his quota of medication for the week. Dosages may vary depending on blood tests that he administers to himself, e-mailing the results back to England for doctors to calculate any revised dosages. Mike takes around 27 tablets each day, preferably washed down with a wee dram of his favourite tipple.

Having locked ourselves away for the last two days at our secret hill location, we drove out to explore in the evening. Driving is so much more fun when one is in a foreign country, in the dark and with no map and only a rough idea where one is heading. After quite a while we eventually found our way to Porano, near the beautiful Ovietta to visit a small restaurant we had been recommended. Porano was a labyrinth of small, steep cobbled streets and tunnels, which are always fun to negotiate with Mike. Passers by always looked at us as if we are stupid even thinking of negotiating these streets although I would like to know how the local elderly or disabled cope, if they do.

The restaurant was fantastic, although it was a bit odd sat in a cave with water dripping from the ceiling!

Day 021 > Sunday 22 September

Sunday again, our third in so many weeks, they seem to be coming at us quickly. All we had planned to do was transfer ourselves away from our little hilltop paradise and head back to Rome. Basically that is all we did do, but the spirit of the team was high and the day turned into one of laughs and blessings. Most of the morning was spent dealing with issues regarding project organisation and future route planning in liaison with Robin and Mary back in the UK.

Eventually, three hours later than we expected, we loaded the van for the trip back to Rome. Our first major blessing came from Daniella and Maria, the guest house owners, who slashed the cost of our stay with them as a way of contributing to our adventure. They had warmed to each of us just as we had warmed to them and we left with our trust in human kindness restored after our less than perfect entry into Italy.

On leaving the villa we noticed a small Ape Car, a three wheeled agricultural van, belonging to Cirri who worked at the guesthouse with his wife. We soon negotiated that Cirri took the adventurers all along the rutted country lane from the villa and down to the main road. The Ape Car, so named because it sounds like a bee (Ape = bee) strained under the weight of the wheelchair and the gang and set off leaning and bouncing along the track. Another way of transport claimed, and a fun one too.

It took nearly 4 1/2 hours to get into and through Rome to the hostel that would be home for the next few days. Each road we tried to turn down had a row of policemen blocking it off and sending us back the way we came. After passing the railway station three times, the film Ground Hog Day came to mind.

We found the Sisters of Mercy hostel quite charming but quite a contrast to the last few days. After a pizza and an ice cream in a local cheap, but charming restaurant, some retired to bed while the rest of us sat under a huge picture of the Pope and typed our diary updates long into the night. We wonder if we'll get to meet him.