Wednesday 23rd October 1940

Awoke at 4a.m. Moved off at 5a.m. in the usual “desert formation” (a convoy, not in a line but in a diamond shape).

Jolted down the Road to Rome, reached the smooth Cairo – Barrani road, and got back to camp at about 7a.m. “The Road to Rome” as we call it, is not on the map. It is about 5 miles long and runs south from the real Road, up the escarpment onto the plateau and the desert. The “road” is made of rough lumps of stone and was built quite recently. It is now known – officially – as the Road to Rome, because tis thought that the enemy will one day advance down it, rather than along the more obvious Mersa-Cairo Road and that after the Battle of the Bagbush Box we'll move forward on our way to the capital of Italy! Balls!