Niall's Travel Blog

The sun was shining and the sea was glistening as myself and Neil, a friend of mine from Nice, took off from the Negresco hotel on the Nice Promenade. Some kind friends got up early to see us off and after stretches and goodbyes we made our way eastwards.

At the first hill, about two kilometres in, I really felt the strain of the extra weight from the fully loaded panniers that I hadn't really trained properly to cycle with! I really started to have some doubts as to whether I was ready for this but keep going in that optimistic, determined manner of mine. I was really glad, though, to have the company of Neil for four days as far as Milan. He was travelling with much less weight and was able to keep the pace up so we made reasonable distances.

Before the Italian border we met a Swiss cycle tourer (website http://www.walkabut.ch/, in French) and cycled with him for a while, crossing into Italy. He was obviously much fitter than us, coming to the end of a 19 month journey! He had passed through Iran as well and spoke highly of the welcome he received as a traveller there. I invited him to have lunch with us and he asked whether we were going to the approaching McDonalds. I laughed, assuming he was joking, but as he pulled in we said our goodbyes and exchanged details. Neil and I stopped fairly shortly afterwards and enjoyed the first of many delicious Italian meals.

As the sun was setting and with 102 kilometres on the clock, we pulled up to a beach and had a swim. After a meal, beers and some bad attempts to communicate with the locals we set up camp on the beach, hoping to avoid the attention of the local polizia!

We woke to the condescending stares of Italians and their poodles who seemed to think we ruined their morning stroll. While Neil got breakfast a man approached and tried to speak Italian to me. After lots of smiles and pleasantries he asked me if I had any money for him, quite surprising since he obviously saw where we slept that night! We cruised through the 55 kilometres to Savona with some beautiful coastal views - watching and listening to the Mediterranean crash against the rocks was stunning and peaceful.

At Savona we met the Swiss guy again and he advised us on a change of route, cutting inland earlier than we had planned. He also informed us of the fact that no matter which route we took we faced a small mountain pass of about 500 metres before the flatlands of Lombardy - very useful information!

We found the mountain tough going and we had to walk a lot of the uphills. The benefits of this was that we were in pretty good shape after the pass and were able to cycle a hour into dusk, reaching Acqui Terme with 115 kilometres on the clock. Again, we opted for stealth camping, pulling into a field off the road. Using the cooking stove for the first time, we put together pasta and sauce which went down a treat after a tough day's cycling.

Industrial Lombardy doesn't provide much in the way of scenery and day three consists of stretch after stretch of busy roadways. My body is now starting to get into the rhythm of the cycling and are strengthening up although, slightly worryingly, I'm been having some pain in my thighs and knees. My legs will just have to get used to it though! As Neil and I pull into a field for our last night's camping together it starts to rain and we quickly cook dinner (splashing out by adding some chorizo sausage!) and celebrate the nearing end of our journey together with a drop of whiskey.

The next morning, we journey the 12 kilometres to his turnoff for Milan, say goodbye and good luck and, here I am, alone in the middle of a raining Northern Italy with a bicycle, sore legs and a long road to Asia!