Italy here we come again
Our dream to do a long bikepacking trip in at the end of our parental leave time was in our minds since the day we realized that Anouk is most likely going to support it.
After long discussions where to head to – for a long time Lisboa was the actual destination – we changed our minds to ride down the Italian boot, all the way to Sicily. The reason was simple it was bit shorter and the way to return was way easier -> ferry Palermo to Genova and then a day train ride from Genova back home seemed much preferable to organise a return flight for bikes, trailer + equipment and al this with time pressure in the back. So after hours of planning we were super excited when the day finally arrived when we packed all our stuff mounted it in on our bikes and got going.
Follow our adventure on a total of 6 weeks riding in 36 stages,a total of 2400kms, 2 alp crossings through Germany, Switzerland and Italy
The Stages
The route
The route loosely follows the Eurovelo5 cycling path and so the via Francigena Pilgrim path. The original route crosses the alps on the San Gottardo Pass while we chose the San Berandino because San Gottardo includes a 3km descent on cobblestone which we decided to avoid thinking of Anouk in the trailer. Choosing the pass also defined that we would pass Lake Constance on the East side. Additionally we included cycling along Cinque Terre before entering Tuscany and we decided to bypass Rome via Tivoli and catch the path afterwards again for a short term before heading to Naples and then Salerno as final destination on the main land where we would take the boat or train to get to Sicily. While on route we adapted the route to go along Lago Maggiore and also bypass Milano which we wanted to cross by train initially but then decided to keep on riding.
Find our GPS tracks here:
https://www.alltrails.com/lists/sicily-5de8a36?u=m&sh=mxokkp