The bikes are finally here! Not a second too soon, either – especially given that we are one day out from seeing our first day in Milan on the 10-day forecast. We even had the chance to take them out on a test ride or two before the snow hit. They ride absolutely solidly – […]
Although we like to think of ourselves as adventurous, planning this bike tour has been pretty over the top in terms of what we’re used to. We’ve never done something so big, so far away, and so open ended. We tend to be very particular about things and we tend to plan our travel down […]
Bree: After staying up nearly all night packing (and partly just so that we would sleep on the plane) 6:00 came early. My dad kindly drove us to the airport and helped us lug all of our stuff through the airport. Even with our incredibly small bike boxes, it was quite the load. For some […]
Bree: We woke up this morning and wondered what our second day in Europe should hold. We were pretty positive that there were no campsites within riding distance and we were very concerned about avoiding the kinds of traffic we had encountered the day before. We knew we wanted to head south and we figured […]
Bree: After the crazy day we had yesterday, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the prospect of heading out of our cozy hotel his morning. I didn’t even really want to be awake due to the jet lag that I’m still fighting – the same jet lag which didn’t touch Ben a bit. Further, I could […]
Bree: Waking up in Camping Tocino, all I could hear was rain pouring down on the tent. We had discussed in depth whether to push through to Bobbio today, or whether to rest and at the rain, I quietly rolled over and waited to see if Ben would do the same. He made no effort […]
We woke up this morning not long before the various churches and cathedrals began sounding their Easter bells. The bells, whether sounding various tunes or even just the hour will be something that I miss. Even the smallest towns, which are almost always centered around a church with a bell tower, can be heard from […]
We turned in for the night as darkness set in, ready for a good nights rest as we had had a long day of riding. Being our first night free-camping, we were a little on edge, but fought our anxiety by telling ourselves that we have a great spot and nobody can see us. Within […]
After our long night in the “wild boar” camp, I was pretty anxious to wake up and get out of there before the herd of boars who had paraded our camp all night got a second chance at us. Ben assured me that they sleep during the day, but my imagination had been running away […]
One week. We have been at this one week. In all honesty, it has been probably the toughest week of my life. The logistics of a trip like this are mind boggling and the limited access we have found to internet/power have been a huge hinderence. We have pedaled a few hundred miles at this […]
Finally, a rest day. A REAL rest day. We didn’t pedal anywhere except into town (3 times because we are disorganized). I noticed my sore legs from hiking before I even crawled out of my sleeping bag and instantly felt glad to be staying put one more day. Plus, we had some pressing things to […]
Bree: Today we packed up from our lovely Levanto camp to get back on the road. Our departure did not go unnoticed by our French neighbors who had been enthralled with our heavy bikes. For the last three nights we’ve shared ridiculous attempts at conversation, her speaking in French, and us in English with a […]