Diary

Thursday 16 May 2002 - Italy

We have now been on the road for 10 days having left a cold and wet London on 7 May. We are currently in Italy staying close to Meldola in a village called San Colombano, west of Florence with the Venezia family. They have kindly opened up their home for us to use as a base to tour Italy from. It is about 2 hours south to Rome, an hour to Florence and half an hour to the east coast.
We have come through France, Germany, Austria and are currently in Italy having completed 1629 miles so far. We caught the euroshuttle channel train to France at 10am and were greeted by warm sunshine in Calais.

France: (2 days)
We headed east across northern France and camped in Sedan just north of Reims along the river Meuse. Our route through France was mainly on the back roads through some beautiful scenery. This included the Ardennes Mountains and the Meuse valley.

Germany: (2 days)
We entered Germany on the 2nd day when crossing the Rhine river below Strasbourg.
Our second night was spent camping on the banks of the Rhine. The following morning we headed south along Lake Constance and up toward Munich to pick up our carnets. We ran out of daylight looking for a campsite close to Munich so we slept in a forest about 40km outside Munich! We found the ADAC (German Automobile Association) to be very friendly and helpful. Once we had our carnets in hand we started to head south towards the Alps and Italy.

Austria: (1 day)
The pass we chose to cross the Alps on via the ski resort of Obergurgl, south of Innsbruck was closed. We had to backtrack by 50km and used the motorway to enter Italy.

Italy: (4 days so far)
We have been in Italy for 4 days now. We spent 2 nights camping next to Lake Garda and stayed there for a day to relax. The weather was good and we did some swimming though the water is not warm yet.
We moved on to Pisa for one night and visited the leaning tower in warm sunshine, the first real warm day since beginning our trip. Then we headed for some lovely Tuscan mountains and went over the ski pass of Passeo dello Calla (1296m). We are really learning and loving the twists and turns on the bikes. Our confidence grows daily on how low we can go!
Now we are staying at the Venezia's house in San Colombano. They have been very kind to offer us the use of their house as a base so we'll probably be doing a day trip or 2 from here to explore the lovely Italian countryside over the next few days.
Today we are catching up with our washing, communication, bike maintenance and enjoying the lovely sunshine!

The bikes are running very well and have performed effectively in a variety of conditions we've encountered. There have been long 80mph motorway sections; alpine ski hairpin passes as well as the odd bit of off road riding. The weather has also varied from sunshine, rain and freezing conditions in the Alps.

The brakes seem to be the most prominent component this week when descending the passes. We may need to get some extra front brake pads, as the weight we are carrying seems to be using them relatively quickly.

Here's a breakdown of the past 8 days:

UK - France - Germany - Austria - Italy

Tuesday:
London to Sedan (France) distance 274 miles

Wednesday:
Sedan to Rhine river (Germany) near Colmar distance 215 miles

Thursday:
Rhine to Sarburg (Germany) near Munich distance 290 miles

Friday:
Sarburg to Bicht via Munich distance 70 miles

Saturday:
Bicht to Lake Garda (Italy) via Innsbruck (Austria) distance 290 miles.

Sunday:
Day "off" spent at Lake Garda. Short ride of to explore, distance 40 miles.

Monday:
Lake Garda to Pisa via ski resort of Abbetone distance 223 miles.

Tuesday:
Pisa to San Colombano (Venezia's house) distance 227 miles.