The Italian Traverse

Italy: our first country crossed. And what a traverse!

10 days of pedaling on the plains of the Po river to reach Slovenia, the gateway from the Alps.

Our adventure in the land of spaghetti begins with a long descent, a perfect mirror of our climb on the French side. This descent takes us to Turin, where the flat section starts for us.

The monotony of the route and the landscapes did not delight us: 800km of straight lines, in the middle of the cornfields... We thought we would suffer in Italy, it unexpectedly surprised us!

In 10 days, we had the chance to live the rhythm of this region of Italy. The encounters were numerous, the loaded bikes being to our advantage to start discussions. Even if we don't speak the language, the dialogue takes place, through gestures, translations, smiles... These meetings are often linked to our evening campsites, following our explicit request "could we plant the tent in your garden?”, or via the other means: Warmshowers/Couchsurfing. For example, we were lucky enough to be welcomed in a center for minor migrants, located in an old abbey, the vibes and the accompanying people are of great help to successfully integrate these young people into Italy' society.

We also pitched the tent in barns, the inhabitants offering us a little of the local production;) At the end, not enough natural bivouac, because the cultivated fields do not allow it.

We were also surprised by the weather, in a little over a week we had the good luck, or the bad luck, to taste all the climates: from the cold of the pass to the heat of Venice, from the big blue sky to the rain and especially headwinds and tailwinds, mandatory learning for us, young cyclotrotters.

Finally, the bike path we were counting on, along the Pô river to the coast, turned out to be a fraud: it doesn't exist except on the outskirts of towns!

A second small disappointment was the fact that Venice is completely forbidden by bike. Only a street of 500m is authorized and reaching it by the Constitution bridge makes it possible to understand why such a law was established: impossible to move with all these bridges!

In the end, we were lucking and met Joaquim, a Swiss cyclotrotter who is also heading east. We rode and camped together and will surely have the pleasure of meeting here and there on the road.

We were still very happy to see the mountains in the distance signaling Slovenia: a new facet of our trip awaits us: the passes!