1..2..3.. GO !

April 29, 2022 at 12:30, sharp, we left Villaroland (Aime) from the heart of the French Alps with the applause and encouragement of our family, friends and neighbors. It was so incredibly touching, exciting and motivating: words that we hope will accompany our journey!

In the few days it took us to cross the Mont Cenis mountain pass to get to Italy, we had a tight schedule of farewell and goodbyes ...

That's why we started our journey from Aime to Albertville. On the way, our friends Sandro and Steph organized us a surprised refueling session, just before the hill! Then it's Auriane, Robina and Diane turn, who joined us further down the valley with pasties from a French bakery so we can say goodbye to French specialties. We definitely will miss it!!!

In the evening, we were so lucky to be hosted by Olivier and Élisa, a pair of experienced cyclotroters who have just returned from 2 years around the world and 30,000 km by bike! We spend the evening discussing travels and asking them tons of questions ... It is thanks to the Warmshowers website, the cyclist's network, that we had a chance to meet Oliver and Elise !!

The next day, we started the first stage of our climb to the Mt Cenis pass. The Maurienne Valley is very long and it have taken us two days to cross it following Hannibal' footsteps.

We stayed overnight in St Jean de Maurienne at friends: Clément and Loic, who accompanied us with their bikes our last day in France, cycling 35 km with us! Thank you for the motivation and pedaling together!

Coincidentally, before the final ascent, we met a couple of cyclotroters in the middle of their descent. 1 year on the road. You can see it on them: countless bicycle modifications, sun tan, dust and joy on their faces. Next to them we were looking like newbies: shiny and with brand new bikes ... envying their experience. Hopefully, this look will come with kilometers !

We ended this hard day with Ema and Flo, our friends who joined us in Lanslebourg for the last climb to the Italian side: 5 airpins that allow us to climb the last 800 meters of the mountain pass! After 2 hours of suffering (bicycles weighing 45 kg, it was not a piece of cake) we finally crossed the pass! Photo at the pass sign, hot chocolate and GO towards the adventure! Our friends went down on the French side and we thought we would do the same in the Italian… But NO... the road is still going up! We barely managed the last 200 meters of elevation at 19:00, the sunset over the lake giving the last rays on the peak of Mont Cenis: the views are breathtaking! We ended the day with a gain of 2200 m. KAPUT.

We finally went down some kilometers on the Italian side, sinking in the sleepy Suze Valley and sleeping in an abandoned barn.

Adventure: here we come !!