Cycle trip day 22: Northern Italy
Written by Kat
It's hard to believe we've already left France (we didn't even manage to have a crêpe!) but we're already over the border into Italy.
After Beziers we headed to the coast and along a series of canals and narrow coastal strips. We saw so many flamingoes! Much of the route was very beautiful and almost entirely traffic-free, but some days the wind at the coast was quite brutal and after a full day on unpaved canal paths we and our bikes were caked in dirt.
It was a relief to head inland to Arles which turned out to be a very charming town (and another UNESCO site for our collection). Van Gogh lived here for a year or so and created hundreds of paintings. We bumped into our first fellow touring cyclist going the same direction, an American called Soren who is bikepacking around southern France before heading to Rome. We spent the evening enjoying the delights of Arles together before we parted ways.
The next couple of days cycling through Provence were very beautiful and although there was quite a bit of climbing, the cycling was very good. The slow build-up of training definitely did the job. From a pretty rural village near the Gorge du Verdon we rode to Cannes which was quite the contrast. Lots of fancy cars, expensive shops and busy traffic - we felt distinctly underdressed! We had a work/rest day then met up with Soren to ride to Ventimiglia just over the border in Italy.
Our route along the French Riviera took us through Monaco which was very intense. Coming into Monte Carlo we cycled along the F1 track, passing the start line. There was a huge amount of traffic and every other vehicle was a top-end sports car. It was an interesting experience but I'm not sure if I'd recommend it to other cyclists! The coastline after Monaco was very pretty with a winding coast road through tunnels and above coves.
As we went over the (non) border into Italy we immediately discovered the nice coastal route through a tunnel was closed and we had to climb a couple of big hills to reach our destination. After much effort we rolled into Ventimiglia, ate a lot of pizza and pasta and slept very soundly.
Our reward was a train up to Limone over 1000m above sea level in the foothills of the Alps, and then a long descent over 60km. We had said a final farewell to Soren, but on the train we met another cyclist, Line from France. We all marvelled at the scenery on the way up then rode together down to Saluzzo. The next day we met up again to ride into Turin.
This part of Italy is incredibly flat and very green and there's still quite a bit of snow to be seen on the mountain peaks behind the city. We've treated ourselves to two days off, a work/rest day and a sightseeing day to visit the Egyptian Museum and explore Turin. Then we'll head across northern Italy for the next couple of weeks.