recent posts
- First nights in Bosnia
- Croatia by numbers
- Day of food – Croatia
- Camp Croatia
- 5000 kilometre photo
- Greeting to the Croatian sun
- Italy by numbers
- Surreal ride up coast to Ancona
- Road to Piano Grande
- Day of food – Italy
random images
archives
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
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- December 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- January 2008
- October 2007
Italy by numbers
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
We’ve always loved Italian food, and while we had some substandard focaccia and gelato in Italy, overall the cuisine lived up to our expectations (oh and the scenery was spectacular as well). We left food heaven with more insect bites than we arrived with, possibly more weight (see gelato figures below) plus fantastic memories of the roads we travelled and the people who stopped to talk to us in every small town we passed. Here are some facts and figures from our time in Italy. – Posted by Emma
Surreal ride up coast to Ancona
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
We were at danger of staying in Italy forever, so looking at maps and timetables over beers in Montegello we made a rash decision to cut our hilly meander short and head straight for the coast, then up to Ancona to catch a ferry to Croatia in just three days. – Posted by Emma
Road to Piano Grande
Monday, June 28th, 2010
To the title music from a spaghetti western we headed off into the sunset on the road to Piano Grande. Well at least that’s how I had pictured it when I first read a guide book description of the Piano Grande area. – Posted by Justin
Day of food – Italy
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
This is what we ate during one cycling day in Italy. We ticked all the boxes for the clichéd Italian food as our day started from a forest free camp continued as we cycled through towns pre-occupied with the Italy vs Slovakia world cup match and ended in our quietest free camp yet next to the Fonte Avellana monastery. Maybe the monks vow of silence has spread to the forest critters! – Posted by Emma
The easy life in Tuscany
Monday, June 21st, 2010
After two weeks of rigorous testing I can confirm that spending your holiday-time with a car, firm mattress and washing machine is vastly more comfortable than cycle touring through the summer heat. We were lucky to spend two weeks in relative luxury with my parents Bruce and Judy who had flown over from New Zealand for a couple of weeks with us. – Posted by Emma
Italian gear drop
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
Most of our gear is holding up pretty well so far but with May and June birthdays in mind and a few repair parts needed, we got some bits and pieces ordered to reach us in mid-June. If you’re planning an extended cycle-touring trip you might find the following interesting. – Posted by Emma
4000 kilometre photo
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
After speeding across the flat argenes alongside the Po river we have made it to 4000 kilometres very quickly. This photo was taken on 03 June as we headed East towards Sassoleone through the Appennino hills, climbing just outside Bisano. Unlike the previous 1000km mark on this occasion we weren’t stinky.
– Posted by Emma
Cherries at Casa Nova
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
Back in Alba we had made contact with a few Warm Showers hosts in Bologna to see if they had room for us to stay for a few days while were were trying to arrange the delivery of our new sleeping mats. One of these hosts, Kersten, responded that she had moved to a small town called Sassoleone in the hills north of Florence. After leaving the Po River valley and still with no campsites (or showers) in sight we decided to head towards Sassoleone for a few days with Kersten. – Posted by Justin
Po river riding
Monday, May 31st, 2010
To get quickly across Italy to Florence we chose to cycle along the pancake flat Po valley for a couple of days. From a campsite at Alba where we ordered replacement sleeping mats to be delivered in Florence, we descended from the last of the vine covered hills with their views of hill-top towns on each peak and into Italy’s agricultural lands. – Posted by Emma
Italian impressions
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
Our last day in France saw us hoping for an easy ride across the Col de Braus and into Italy through a small pass to the north of Nice. However after a roadside chat with local cyclist Patrick, we were a little more cautious. He said we would never make it on our heavy bikes to Italy on that day as we had 3 passes and at least 15km of climbing ahead. – Posted by Justin