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Grand St Bernard – Italian side

Grand St Bernard

Rescue helicopter

Bike

• Thorn Explorer Tandem, with drag brake fitted
• Water bottle ×3
• Meths bottle ×1
• Water purifier bottle
• Carradice Super C rear panniers
• Carradice Super C front panniers
• Carradice Super C bar bag

h2.

Route

Planned Route

The plan was to ride via Belgium, Switzerland and Italy and then east to the Black Sea via Hungary and Romania.

Planned route 2005

Actual Route Cycled

Hungary is not a big cycling country. There may be miles of cycle routes but in our experience so far they are in useless strips 100m long with 10cm kerbs at either end. We have picked up a map of cycle routes in Hungary and it shows that any major road that goes directly from A to B cycling is prohibited.

As we pack up in Zagreb we find a mouse in my pannier, but it has to go, no freeloaders are allowed. The campsite is South of Zagreb so to get North we have to cycle through the city. We use cycle routes we spotted from the bus the day before, avoiding the horrendous route we took in.

After Ljubljana we head North West to Bled, Slovenias number one tourist location. We stay there 2 days and do a days ride without luggage which is a pleasant rest. We climb the foothills of the Julian Alps and do our steepest climb yet of 18%. The scenery is lovely but the road surface degrades to gravel and potholes at the top, which makes it harder work for Ian steering.

We had a couple more pleasant days with my cousin and her husband in their house in the country. The address is just a number and the village name as there is only one street. Ian surprised them both by insisting on a DIY fix of various hard labour in hot sunshine, so he earned our keep.