It's been a very busy and difficult couple of days! It's been so frantic, and with not much cycling, the blog has been a little quiet.
Thursday 31st August was supposed to be day 1 of our 14 day south to north ride though Italy. It started well, but only 50 miles in, unfortunately me and the van were in a car crash. I'm ok, just a little stiff, but the van is un-drivable and has now been taken away.
Originally we had planned to camp each night and cooking our own dinners where possible to keep costs down. Meanwhile I was going to drive the van on each day, which was fully loaded with all of camping gear, tents, cooking stuff and luggage.
We now have a replacement car, which is great news, but We've had to make some massive changes to our plans and the challenge going forward for a number of reasons.
- It's very small. We can't fit the tents and camping gear in it. Suddenly our trip going forward has become very expense. If we were to carry on with original route it would mean staying every night in a different b&b/hotel/Airbnb, no camping no cooking for ourselves.
- Probably the most devastating to the trip - I don't want to drive!! The accident has really shaken me up. If I was at home I wouldn't want to drive and it's really hectic here, it's literally like real life mario carts. It's knocked my confidence and you have to be bold and confident here. Being hestitant causes accidents and I'm worried I'll be a danger on the roads. The boys have been very supportive and understanding.
So. We have come up with a plan which keeps costs down, means we don't need a lot of kit, and means I don't have to get behind the wheel!
Essentially - we head north about 2/3rds of the way up Italy, and stay in the same spot for 5 nights.
Staying many nights in one place gets you much better rates than just one night at a time. In terms of riding, the boys will take it in turn each day to plot a different route. This means they can actually do more miles a day as there is less admin for them, and it means I don't have to drive anywhere.
We will then go further north for base ourselves somewhere in the Dolomites for a further 5 nights in the same place.
The guys will try their best to rack up a similar mileage to what was
Promised. But what we can't do in milegaves they can make up for in brutality - spending 5 days solid with the same base inI the Dolomites means they can take on harder climbs and do more miles per day.
The new plan does render me a little useless. I feel awful and like a rubbish spare part and I'm effectively now just on holiday. I guess I'll try and run a bit, earn some sponsorship that way, and do the cooking for them.
We've got the next 5 nights booked, but the rest is all still liable to change.
We've been planning this trip since January, working out every day's ride to minute detail so it's really upsetting to have just change things up so quickly. Plus all the hard work that's gone in to the van, customising it especially for this trip. And ask that horrible two days we spent getting the van here when we could have just flown and hired a car it turns out. We're all pretty gutted and deflated but hopefully we can salvage the trip and still carve out an epic trip.
So on Thursday morning we had set out to travel 100 miles. But just 50 miles in I had a crash. The boys were at the top of Vesuvius at the time, and raced back down and around the mountain to wait with me until the van was recovered, the police checks carried out, and a taxi and replacement car organised. That all took about 5 hours, and the guys still had another 50 miles to do.
They arrived in Mondragone at around 9pm, so it was a very long day for them. Having to route around Vesuvius a different way added an extra 10 miles, plus they were riding flat out. Then during the evening they cycled 50 miles, through Naples, in the dark.
The next day, Saturday, we set about heading north in the car and by train. The bikes were dismantled and went in the car with James with as much baggage as possible. His drive was about 280 miles and took around 4 hours in total. Meanwhile, Jake, Steve and me got the train up to the nearest place possible to the villa we had booked in the rural countryside. We arrived at the train station an hour before James, so ordered lunch etc. The station was around 25 miles from the villa, so Jake and Steve cycled, while I hopped in the car with James.
We arrived at our villa at around 6pm, and it is beautiful. It's in a very remote location in Tuscany, with no neighbours for at least a mile, and a beautiful view of the town of Petroio which looks like a giant castle on a hill at first glance, but is actually many little houses.
James was disappointed about not having been on his bike for two whole days during a cycling trip, so went out for an hour or two once we'd unpacked, while Jake, Steve and me went to explore our little hamlet.
We walked a mile or so into town, to find an open pub bar at the top of the tiny hamlet that looks like one castle, so we bought a few beers and enquired about restaurants. About 1.5 miles from our villa in the opposite direction it would seem.
Once James had finished riding we walked to the restaurant and had what most of use described as the best pizza we'd ever had, along with a whole litre of wine for just 5 euros!
Amazing!
Here's the summary video of day's 2&3. Surprisingly it's not that interesting and I didn't record much!
So now it's Sunday. This morning James, Steve and I went to the supermarket to get food for the next 4 days. Meanwhile, today is Jake's turn to plot a route. There is a lake to the east, which looks like a nice place to cycle round, and also a place called Bagni San Filippo which looks like some sort of cave, sulphur place. And some kind of hot spring too! Sounds pretty cool. It's about 60 miles in total but with a few hills in there too.
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