Bike Ramble - Cycle Adventures on Planet Earth
Currently cycling down the south coast of France, from Nice to Saint Tropez. Last night I found an epic cliff-side spot for wild camping, with a hidden beach below. Can you see the tent? Going to the toilet in the middle of the night was risky business!
Yip, it’s officially the most terrible pun ever. ‘Nice’ is actually a really nice place. It’s one of the oldest human settlements in the world, dating to at least 300,000 years ago, and could be as old as 2 million. And it’s only been French for the last 150 years, previously belonging to Italy, which is…
Yesterday I cycled the 25km back to Monaco from Nice, pannier free, along the coastal road, instead of the main road. It was one of the best cycles I’ve ever experienced. Not only was it 27 degrees on a quiet Sunday but the surrounding coastline is simply amazing here. The road hugs the cliffs, gently…
The last few days have been tough. Waking from Lake Garda, after a thunderstorm during the night, I cycled 165km (100 miles) per day to reach where I am now – Nice, in France. The first two days involved cycling across the most boring farmland plains of Northern Italy to reach Cuneo. The traffic was…
From Venice, I cycled across the plains of Northern Italy, The Alps a permanent fixture to my right, quietly ebbing away both east and west until the horizon allows no more. As the sun set behind the small hills overlooking Vicenza, I swapped sunglasses for head-torch and pitched up next to the river for the…
Ahhh, Venice. Well I finally made it here, five days later than I thought. Cold, heavy rain followed me from Ljubljana back to Nova Gorica, but a strong wind was behind me nearly the whole way. My bags like a sail, I managed to confuse a few car drivers when they were overtaken by a…
Back in Ljubljana again. On Saturday night just when I went to bed in a vineyard in Italy, I realised I lost my wallet, with all my bank cards. So I had to make a U-turn from Nova Gorica and head back over the unavoidable hills to Ljubljana and to the British Embassy to get…
From Ljubljana my journey took me north, on the advice of the hostel staff, to see the real Slovenian countryside. A gently sloping back-road broke from the forestry surrounding Ljubljana to reveal the vast plains of the Sava Valley, a huge glacial valley leading directly into the Julian Alps. My journey was far from isolated…
On Monday morning I woke early to find my way to Ljubljana. I was camping just south of the city and although I was worried when I covertly went to bed that someone might find me and my tent, in the morning only one thing was clear: the fact that I was completely invisible. It’s…
I think it’s only rained twice since I left Budapest over a month ago. I guess I got so used to it being super sunny that I didn’t see the point in checking the weather forecast anymore. But early yesterday morning when I left Pula the air was hot and the sky was a blanket…