We rode from Rome to London as complete beginners at bikepacking and made plenty of mistakes along the way! This video is the Italy portion of the trip. We feel Italy is the best country for beginner bikepackers! If we can do this, you can do this!
Timestamps:
0:53 Rome
10:44 Civita di Bagnoregio
28:50 Siena
38:05 Stealth camp in abandoned building
45:20 Florence
53:10 Ride into huge storm
56:10 Camp next to a church
1:04:34 Ride in lots of mud
1:08:39 Ride in huge landslides
1:16:38 Bologna
1:57:10 Lake Como
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We went bike packing across Europe as complete beginners, starting in Rome and ending in London. We rode 1,700 miles through 10 countries over 4 months. This is the biggest adventure we have ever attempted. This video is the Italy portion of the trip, including all 24 riding days where we ride from Rome all the way to the Switzerland border. We want to share the good, the bad, and the ugly of bike packing and why we think Italy is the best country for beginner bike packers. If we can do this, you can do this. [Music] Day one of our Europe bike tour. We landed. Took a while to find our luggage and our bikes. Then we spent about an hour or two putting them back together outside of the airport. It went pretty well. We got all our bags on. We got dressed to ride and then we headed out. We found this bike path that would lead all the way from the airport to the city of Rome. Going to be single track, Susie. That was fun. Uh, and this part was double track. It was pretty hard riding even though it was pretty flat. We had some weird obstacles and a lot of rubbish in a few places. This was a gorgeous part of the bike path. Then we’re heading into Rome and look at this beautiful bike path along the river. About 5 miles of it. Then when we got to the city, we realized we had had to get up to that bridge way up there and the only way was these really long staircases, which didn’t look fun. So we looked around and we found a ramp, so that made it better. So we got into Rome. There was a good amount of traffic. It was a little scary, but the city was beautiful. A lot of places had bike paths. Um, sometime we were riding along with sirens and scooters and we felt like we were in a Jason Bourne movie. We made it to our Airbnb. First day, 28 mi. It was a great day. What went wrong today? Well, leaving the Rome airport, I hit some rebar and damaged my derailer. Then I fell off my bike and hit the bike path. And Darren’s data didn’t work. But we’re better now. Prown to wander. You’re at bike tour. You must be doing a battery. There was a market. We rode by the Tyber River again. Saw a train and some people rowing. Rode on a bike path for a little while. More traffic. Leaving Rome. Kind enough letting me pass. Letting Suzuk pass. Maldy, proud of us. It’s about this time that I realized I forgot to buy camping fuel. Don’t video me. It’s not really a fall cuz you you were in control the whole time. The whole time I was in control. You’re laughing. I laugh at you when you found the the road. You didn’t? No. Well, I’m sorry. It’s cute though. I liked videoing it. We did a little offro. Very steep. Brakes screeching. Wow. Beautiful lake. We didn’t know if this place would be open. We parked our bikes. Had lunch at the food truck. What a gorgeous place. See evidence of traffic. found a great stealth camp spot. Later, we went down to the water for a little picnic and some horses walked by. We had a great night’s sleep and didn’t get asked to leave. Good morning. Day I don’t know three of our tour at least on our bikes. Day two of the tour out of Rome. Hey, somebody’s been here on bicycles. It’s good to see. So, the plan is to ride from this little lake about 30 miles to Vetrola. Problem is, we have no idea where we’re staying tonight. Puddles. Susie loves puddles. He’s rubbing a little bit. This is wild flowers. So pretty. Belimo, I’m fine. I’m fine. No time for a rest. We’re only a quarter of the way there. So Susie found a place called Welcome to My Garden where you can camp in people’s yards and use a shower, etc. Anyway, she texted him, so hopefully he’ll call us back about a place to stay tonight. This is Mont Rosa. It’s a beautiful ancient city, and we met some great guys on bicycles and had a nice breakfast with them. [Music] Where are you from? Texas. Texas. USA. Good. San Francisco. [Music] We had a great midm morning snack that cost a grand total of five bucks and a nice bathroom. Well, we’re currently on the EV5, the Eurovilla 5. Kind of just found it out of the blue. Um, the search for gas continues. We forgot to buy gas for our little propane stove when we were in Rome. So, we can’t cook any of our oatmeal or pasta. So, there you have it. We’ve stopped in maybe three towns. No luck. But any rate, we’ll get it figured out. Bye. Rose lined olive farms. Nice. Okay. I just got that on video, honey. About 2 seconds after this, a train came over my head. You’re the first girls we’ve seen from here are from a tour. Just friends. Ah, great. How fun. It’s they’re hazelnut trees. I just we found met a group of bicyclists and touring around here and they’re uh they’re hazelnut trees. That’s what they make Nutella out of. I bet Davey’s eating about 27 of these trees worth of Nutella. So, while we were eating supper, Susie found an Airbnb that was actually a hostel that provided a beautiful dinner and only cost 25 bucks and also a breakfast and a nice toasty warm shower. It rained while we were at the hostel, but we got to go inside for the meals and we camped out back in our tent. Uh, we had this great dinner with these other hikers that were doing the via friend Senna and it was great conversation and really good food. And here’s our tent. We had a great day. Welcome to Prone to Wander Europe Bike Tour. We’re in Italy. We left Vitroli this morning and we’re riding to we’re in Vurbo. We’re headed to this beautiful town called Cvite de Bagario, but it’s super uphill on these cliffs. So, it’s going to be a lot of hills today, but this morning has been beautiful. Bit terrible [Music] little to your little bread on your bottom. Maybe I shouldn’t say that. See the baggio. Here we come. Yeah, you’re insulting the cameraman the other day. We just came from that city way up there on the hill. On the hill. Monte fiasco something like that. [Music] Hello. We have uh reservations up top inside. Yes. Aware and then Airbnb. Which Okay, you can go. Okay. See, can we ride slowly? No, no, no. Hey yay. Yay. I think you can turn your light off. Oh, you can’t reach it right there. I’m filming so you know square on the right. That’s us. The first one on the right as you come in the city. Here’s [Music] our place. Oh, it’s beautiful. Look. Oh, it’s amazing. Look at this. Oh, it’s beautiful. A hey, welcome to our room at Sevita de Bagario. Um, at the Palazo Palati and what room is the name of the room? Latero. Latero. Welcome to the kitchen. Susie’s going to be doing no cooking. We have This is the kitchen balcony. How many balconies is one? Our dining table, sitting room, and look at this view. Wow, the view from the balcony is great. So, there’s the only way into the city. that bridge going down there. And we’re the first house on the right. pulls up the hill. Oh, you can Welcome to Prone to Wander Europe Bike Tour. I think we have a 27 milei ride today. We’re sort of heading towards Sienna and we’re going to go to Florence, but it’s a little far and makes us skip over a lot of Tesus. We don’t want to do that. So, scaling back a bit. Hope you can see the steepness of this. It’s kind of crazy. All right, see you later. Ma oh my bissimo that’s our destination over there up on that mountain you’re ready to ride to Orvietto it’s amazing the surrounding view is not too bad either you okay Suzuki Are you sure? Okay, Susie. [Music] Italian breakfast cafe americano cappuccino. Two of these thingies called crema and some futa. €7. Wow. Amazing. Eight leaving or that is the town we just came from. Una Rockstar. This is Darren checking out a stealth camp spot, trying to see if there’s a good place. And if you can see off in the distance is this beautiful little hilltop village up there. Isn’t that cute? But it’s just a gorgeous uh meadow. Welcome to Prone to Wander Europe Bike Tour. Uh I don’t know what day it is, but we’re outside of August Depende, something like that, but we have no cell service hardly ever. And I haven’t been able to route, so we don’t know where we’re going today. So, we’re going to pack up and go to a coffee shop and try to figure out a route. Good morning. Cuz Susie’s leading. Which way are we going, Susie? Left. There’s no left. That’s where we just came from. If you ever come to the bar Roma, the Wi-Fi is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and the breakfast 5. Yeah. How would they pende still getting out of town? When you’re climbing up a long hill, it’s funny what your mind does. So, right now, I just keep working on perfecting my song. What goes down must go up. Spinning wheels just might throw up. Not sure. Could this be the Aion way? I thought that went along the western coast. Sure looks like it. Feels like it. [Music] Good job, Susie. That was hard. Uhoh. I think I see the road we’re heading or the city we’re heading to. Why are you going so fast? [Music] prepares you for day nine. I’m hoping that’s the case. Long hard day from the big valley. Good job, Susie. Hi. Does a camera help alleviate tears? What? Does the camera help keep the tears away? All right, we’re about three miles from Uh radical finding hard day of climbing and we are whooped. That’s where we’re going. So we’re going from Ratopina which is that tower up there toi [Music] to a bed and breakfast. That’s the route today. It’s almost all downhill. [Music] [Applause] [Music] I turn the bike. [Music] He’s susi. This is our darling little Airbnb. It’s on the second floor and that’s our second balcony. This is going into the Airbnb. Coming into the Airbnb bedroom, balcony, kitchen, and another balcony. Here’s one of the balconies. Cute neighborhood. And can you see those tuskiny hills way over there? So pretty. Dinner on for bright day tomorrow. So two nights in the B&B. Dinner out at the pizzeria. Greetings from Italy. We are going to dinner. Wait a bit. pasta. Is it the pasta? I’m so confused. Okay. [Music] Okay. I’m glad that didn’t land on my dress. Thank you. We are all packed up and ready to go. And I got rid of one whole bag of stuff about five pounds worth. There’s the town we just came from. We’re actually back on the VFN Sinia. We’ve seen a lot of campers. Probably 10 people pilgriming, I guess. Hi. Good Sunday morning. Look at that view. Leaving head towards Sienna where parachute parachutamino Uh yeah, [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the right way. But it’s the right way. It’s the right way. Beautiful. Beautiful. Hard to miss it. My videographer likes me to talk. the caparo. I think this is the wine tasting place. Here comes the lovely Suzie. All right, Mark and Pam from Denver. Sweet folks. They’re spending three weeks here in the Tuscany region just in celebration of life. Anyway, looking for a campsite tonight. Beautiful area. A little bit of climbing. Our restaurant for the evening. Moto. Bill, we were supposed to stealth camp tonight, but I didn’t see that the place I wanted to camp was on the top of a really big hill and all day long we were being followed by the Gabin, which is like the military police of the Italy. We met these guys twice and um anyway, the restaurant I went to was way out in the country and guess who showed up? So, we’re being followed by the military police all day long. were in charge of policing all the specific laws and we thought I think I’ll just go to a hotel tonight. Sun’s going down so we’re going to sleep better than I expected. Good night. Okay, we’re leaving someplace and heading towards Sienna, but I can’t remember the name of the place we just left. It’s really long. Bye. Good timing on the camera. Good Sunday morning. Look at that view. Head towards Sienna. Gates of Sienna. Actually made it pretty quickly. Still got a little bit more of a climb. If you can see it. Entrance to Sienna is quite impressive. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a double gate. Wow. Our first look at the El Campo Le where they have the they race the horses around the track and turn this into a track. I wonder when that is. Wow. Mama mia. So in Sienna, you can walk your dog, you can drive your car, you can even ride your motorcycle. But if you think about riding a beach in here, they will toot their horns and honk and wave and scream at you. Ask me how I know. [Music] [Applause] It’s a busy place up in here. Are those the prettiest flowers you’ve ever seen? or what? Here’s our little street where our Airbnb is. Really steep, steep roads. And can you see the little holes in that building up there? That’s what they used to put the scaffolding in when they were building these walls. I guess they put the scaffolding in, they built a little bit, and then they moved it up. Pretty cool. Here we are at our Airbnb in Sienna. Cute. That’s nice. And here’s the second bedroom. Yay. [Music] Cheese. Cheese. What’s up? [Music] You want this? Yeah. Welcome to Prone to Wander Europe Bike Tour. We’re still in Italy. Oops. I gently Actually, I didn’t even slam. I just pushed the door open and it exploded. There’s glass. There’s a handle down there. Oh my. Oh my. Are you okay? I’m fine. Cut. We just left our Airbnb and are headed, I think, halfway to Florence. It’s a beautiful day, I think. Leave Sienna. Dropped my chain. Broke a shower door. Got something in my eye. Other than that, it’s been a great day. If you’re going to have a bad day, I guess is probably a fine place to do it. Lots of memories. Derby went to the bus station. We’re heading out of Sienna. Going down a big hill. I realized just now that I think the town we’re going to is called Jail Enante. So, I’m not sure if we should wild camp or not. Exclamation point. There’s Sienna. That’s where we came from. We’re heading out of Sienna, but it is some kind of Bissimo. So, we have this glass, this little electrical building over here. And on the other side is this tower with a little spiral staircase. No idea what that is, but it sure is beautiful. We got to add our sticker to the sign for the Loya bike race thing. Looks great, honey. All right. Okay. Isn’t that jail? That said, it’s spelled like that. I’m not sure, but in Italian, it’s pregnant. Thank goodness. It’s close. Fella’s working on their tractor. I’m working on our nutrition and our hydration. Gale in Kante. Got a little climb ahead. There’s a queue. They must be welcoming me in this. And it’s noon actually. [Music] Wow. [Music] Anything you want there, Suz? Anything you want? Huh? [Music] with those olive trees. Would you How do you grow anything in that? I thought Texas was hard in Jol in Kiante. And it was so early in the day, we decided to make a little bit of a run for it. See if we could get a few more miles in before the evening sets in. supposed to be pretty cold tonight. I think 42 Fahrenheit. So, we’ll see what we find. Well, we missed the rain. Just barely touched us. Made it up from the valley. Here comes Susan. All right. Top of the hill between Goliante and Rada and Keiante. tired of this view of these beautiful Italian cyprress. But when we climb up a huge hill and we get to the top and there’s just rows of these things, beautiful roses, I just want to tell you about it. Thanks for being patient. Okay, seems a little scary, but home sweet home for the evening. Seems a little scary. So, I’m not going to say this is the safest place or the most comfortable place we’ve ever stayed. Old abandoned building. I’ll send you a pen. So, we’re sitting in this abandoned building um about to have a little dinner and um we’re waiting to set up to tent till close to sundown. And who walks out by two other bicyclist, two girls from France that we’re looking up for a place to camp, too. Just keep the lights down. I think there’s a house right around the corner. Did you Did y’all come this way? No. Cute. That is fun. We don’t see the And here’s where our friends are staying. Right next door. Welcome to Prone to Wander Europe Bike Tour. Good morning. We’re leaving our dilapidation station hotel and heading more toward Florence Fienz. Um start off the morning with Susie having to pee about three times. So I think she has a bladder infection. Luckily, I brought some cypro and hopefully that’ll make everything okay. She’s not happy this morning. But hopefully all will be well. How the hogs have gotten through this thin wire fence and they put the thicker wire several places. You can see it. Well, we’re the on top of a mountain. Just had to climb first thing off this morning. Susie’s having a hard day. There’s not really a place to stop, but she’s she’s coming, I think. Long morning climb. All right, say goodbye to the camera. Our friends from France caught us finally. Ciao. Hey, still 3 and 1/2 miles away. At least the last lightning count. Brakes are breaking. Wife is running. She feels better. She still says she’s having a 10. So that’s a great day. Bye. Great. She’s amazing. Downhill 30 km an hour. Yeah. And this is me. I don’t even know if you can see me. Hey, we’re still trying to get to Florence. We have Let’s see how many. That’s the route. We have 10 kilometers to go. I think we’ve gone about 32 today. It’s going to be a long day, but it’d be nice to get to warm showers. All right. Bye, guys. See the white stuff on the side of the road? That’s where the hail came a few minutes ago. It’s a good thing I have my or we have our hail gear on going up this massively steep hill. Says impruna I think it’s imprudent to come on this route because it’s so high and we’re having to push our bicycles up a 15% grade. We’re going to Fenzi the the route. It sure looks kind of crazy. Just back there. It looked like somebody’s driveway. And here we are in an alleyway looking like we should be picking up trash. Just a little while ago that had the hail just trashed all the roads. I mean, it’s quite impressive route into the camping area we’re going to, but it is really special. It’s so skinny that only one car can pass. Anyway, really amazing. [Music] Well, just had our first flat. When we pulled in here yesterday, it was raining and I got a flat tire right there in the parking lot and it was crazy. So, I didn’t video it, but this is the best campground um ever. And it was great. They had a restaurant and coffee and everything and nice swim showers. Good morning. There’s our tent we slept in last night. It was the best night’s sleep in a tent yet on the whole trip. Good morning. We’re waking up in Florence at a campground after a rainy night and we’re nice and dry. We’re back to go get a cappuccino. Mhm. Well, that was an eventful day yesterday. Susie got a bladder infection. I had diarrhea seven times while we were riding on the side of the road in the rain. Uh, it poured, it hailed, it blew, but we slept at a nice campground about 5 miles outside of Florence to the south. Campion International were very nice. Had a restaurant and a bar. Again, when I say bar, it’s a a eat to go kind of place. Um, we’re heading out now to go to Florence Hotel. The road was supposed to turn left, but they had a big barrier on it, so we had to just go the wrong way. [Music] They’re going the right way. [Music] This is Florence. It’s beautiful. City of lovers. There’s all these couples around taking pictures of each other. It’s very beautiful. [Music] You with me, Suzuki? Sorry. [Music] Susie says she feels like Jason born again. Not born again. Jason born. One more time. Home sweet home. Nice terrace. Via Sangrias. Bia sun something or other. Back from the bike shop where I was having to get some new brakes. I got organic which wore out quickly and I should have gotten metallic or semi- metallic. Um any rate, we’re heading back. Rain’s coming, but this beautiful park just presented itself and we couldn’t keep going. We had to come see what it’s like. Isn’t it beautiful? [Music] Ah, in Florence. Let’s see. Uh, cleaning day. Uh, laundry day. Rest day, tour day, and Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day, Susie. [Music] Here’s where they have the David statue. Michelangelo, which line would you prefer to stand? I think we’ll keep walking. Pretty [Music] impressive. GMO. Welcome to Prone to Wander Europe Bike Tour. We are leaving Florence and riding 20 miles going toward a park that’s between here and Bologna. And so today is mainly city riding and then I think we have 4 days of riding through a park. So, we’ll have to provision up. And since we gave away our pots and our stove because we were a tired of carrying it and b having restaurant food every day, um, might be a little more of a challenge. Anyway, love you guys. Thanks for following along. This is how you fit your bike in an elevator. exercise in the morning. Checking it out. It’s a day of bicycling here in Florence. I think this is our whole day like this actually along the Arno the Flume Arno. So the flume the river Arno a beautiful ancient river but this is just a bicycle walk path boat we’ve been on it for probably 2 km you think maybe three and it is just beautiful man I think we even have a tailwind lovely Somehow I’m supposed to go across these tracks. Not sure how we found this route, but I like it. Anas, hopefully we don’t go that direction. I think we’re in between them. [Music] Seeing outside of Super Marcado outside of Florence. Got us some lunch. Change clothes. What a gorgeous day. Yeah. I’m not sure where we are. We’ll just eat right here. I wonder if we get to go up those introduced sound of teeth chattering. The little pink and blue smok. [Music] We’re on some cool river yet. Strata Highway, but they always frequently have these little bike paths going each way. You just have to know which side of the road to be on. There’s Susie. She’s been a great rider today. We’ve been on the EV7, Eurovella 7 most of the day, which really just follows rivers and flat paths. So, it’s been an easy day of riding in the cities. It’s kind of nice. We going this way. I can’t see any stairs. I just got a little blood. What’s a little blood between friends? [Applause] This is our room. [Applause] [Music] We’re having a hard time deciding what to do tomorrow because it’s supposed to be a wide range of temperature before between 47 and 49. Not a big range. Winds of gusting of 32 and 100% chance of rain all day. That goes on for 48 hours. So, we’re just walking back to our agurismo and trying to decide what to do over that big mountain right up ahead. So, we thought we might be able to stay an extra night or two here. And they said we’re full. Good luck. Well, there could be a lot of arguing and bickering today because I was unsuccessful in finding a hotel room. They were all full in these towns. So, so off we go. Nobody said it was a good idea, just the only idea. the top of this mountain. My GPS says I’ve gone about 290 meters up, which feels like a lot. And if you were to look through these trees, which we’ll do, there’s a lake way down there. And uh I rode around that lake looking for a camp spot. That was about two hour three hours ago now. But we’re making it. We’ve come up about 1,000 ft. I guess feels like more. Man, the roaring coming through the hills trees is a little bit scary. But we’re making it okay. This is how we spent our day. At least the first 3 hours going straight up a hill mountain. Anything to say to the camera? Hard. Yeah. I don’t have anything encouraging to say at all. This does remind me of backpacking. The rigors of it. Yes. And not really knowing. Well, backpacking was more like we had a route, but we weren’t really sure if we were on it. Yep. You know. Yes. Look, another climb. 90% of this hill. Think in 2 km we get to have some downhill. It’s been a tough morning the top. Hi. What? A bunch of signs. Reserve a natural. I think we’re at the top is downhill. Lord willing. Not the video I wanted to record. I like to record about how amazing we are and how clever we are and such like that, but it brought us into a not great situation. I wish we had a little more warmth and a little more food. We didn’t plan very well. We didn’t make it to our end point. had planned to make it 18 or 19 miles. It’s mostly downhill from here, but we climbed straight up so much today that we couldn’t make it. So, we’re stuck behind this church. It’s pouring rain and blowing wind. Probably, I don’t know, low 40s. So, anyway, but Susie’s being a trooper. I’m warm. She’s warm. Her feet are always warm. My feet are always cold. That’s why I got cold feet. I got moccasin, two pair of shocks and tail. All right. Bye, guys. Thanks for your prayer. Here’s where we stayed last night behind the back of this uh church. Here’s our tent. And hello, our bikes. This corner that’s beside you. little stream. Well, we didn’t film much this morning because we woke up nice and toasty in the tent, but man, it’s still pouring rain. It’s 49°. We didn’t reach our destination last night, but it’s still six more miles and we don’t have any food. I think we have one apple and a couple of pieces of chocolate. Google said that that this was where our bed and breakfast is. We knocked on a couple of doors. See the 57 way back there? So, as you come through this little alleyway, what’s the name? Borgo Masurana. And there’s the entrance. Very sweet people. And a beautiful place. I’m so thankful. So thankful. Be nice to get a shower and warm feet. So thankful. Look at this beautiful view of the lake. Still raining and there we’re up above the clouds. So I’m in a emergency room physician and been to some wilderness medicine conferences. One thing you hear over and over again is that you can live three hours without shelter, three days without water, three weeks without food. But for us yesterday, we were riding in soaking wet conditions. Wind was blowing probably 40 miles an hour and the temperature was hovering right around 45° F. So for us, the biggest deal was the 3 hours without shelter. So when we started getting ready to ride, um I was pretty cognizant to not wear things that I wanted to get warm with later. So I was we were trying to focus on keeping our bags dry, our sleeping bags dry, our puffy jackets, our insulated jackets dry. So we had rain gear on. Even though they get damp inside, it wasn’t the direct rain that was continually bathing and cooling us. So, we had our rain gear on. Um, but once we got to the campsite, we got all of our wet, cold clothes off and got into clothes that we had saved um to warm up. So, warm dry socks, long johns, warm shirt, puffy jackets, and our sleeping bags and got ourselves up off the ground so that we could maintain our body temperature. After 30 minutes, we felt like new people. So, just an encouragement. Susie had worn her warmest socks actually to ride in thinking that that would keep her warm. Problem was that we’re riding bikes. So her feet were soaking within you two minutes. I there was a little bit of conflict and I encouraged her to not use her warm socks. But at any rate, I wore my regular keen sandals with light socks and they were wet all day. But it was really only from the ankles down, right? The rest of me was nice and dry and then was able to switch into some nice thick wool socks at the end. So just encouragement. Day 14. Italy is flooding. Well, I hope you can see me. Um, so we’re leaving our wonderful bed and breakfast here in body and we’re heading 23 miles to Marzabota um along the same river valley. Of course, it’s raining and it’s 50°. Graci, Elenor. Gracia, boy. [Music] What does that mean? Storm. It does. ML is the storm. Oh, that was what you were saying this morning. Yeah, we found out what a mist was. There’s Susie. Hey, hope you can see her. I’m not sure. No socks on. Crazy girl going through the puddles. Crazy like that. I don’t know if I can see her feet. It’s pretty cute, though. All right, Susie, how do you feel? Pretty good. Not cold at all. The ride’s all downhill. Yeah. Do you feel damp? Just a little bit on my feet. Yeah. I was just telling her that with my rain gear on and my REI mittens, riding mittens, I feel about the same as I do when we’re riding on a pretty day. So, I’m pleased even though we’re getting wet a little bit on the outside. Bye. We passed the bus, Mangan bus. Uhhuh. And it was full of snow. I told you. Wait a moment. That’s not so It was It’s high. It was higher than the Oh, and this was yesterday. No, no, no. Three days ago. Full of snow. It was really beautiful. Put it where the Oh, the camera can see. Oh, neck works unavailable. Anyway, um it was a crazy crazy pass. And what day was that? Sunday. Sunday. Last Sunday. And today’s Friday. Duck farm, goose farm, rooster farm, silly goosees. Um, met a nice fellow who had who actually lived next door to the bed and breakfast and body. That was about 12 15 miles ago. Anyway, just going down this old provincial road brought along the rushing river with the floods in northern Italy. It’s funny how when you climb a hill, it gets a little warmer outside. It’s a lovely day. Thought you might enjoy coming along with us through the mud. She’s really a big fan of mud. She says that knocked it up a notch. So, she likes the mountain bike. Bonjour. No. Not your favorite. There’s the river. I might like the think I might like the mud better. Hard riding helmet. Uh-oh. Was that your boyfriend? Yeah. Yes. Play up ahead. He didn’t wait for you. I just can’t get to it because it’s so high. [Applause] Welcome here. Ciao. Moy right behind me. It’s not a perfect day for bike. No. Okay. Where what should we do here? Do you think? Let’s just check him first. For the bike. Yeah. For the bike. I show you. Okay. It’s possible. All to lock in this position. If you want to take at this uh this floor or there is all the parking of restaurant and uh this looks this looks a little safer here. Yes, in general is safer because we have come uh everybody. So to this well we made it to our hotel. It’s the rooftop room. It’s a grand room. It’s a room with a view. Here’s the view. The a little portal. Guess where we happen to be. So, after riding 48 kilometers today in the rain the whole time, Darren decided that we can camp more later when the weather’s good. So, we got the reward of a nice warm hotel after the long ride today and a nice hot shower. Good night. Welcome to Prone to Wander Europe Bike Tour. Susie’s a happy girl. She gets breakfast in bed and no dishes. Looks like it’s going to be another lovely day riding into Bologna. The rain. It’s raining. Guess where we happen to be. Look at that. Would you la town? I think we all right. Correct. Yeah. back there and we just went right around them. I think there was a landslide here. I think there’s a landslide, Susie. Wow. Recently cleared. Whoa. I’m going to look. I don’t know, Susie. But do you see the landslide way up there? [Music] Yep. Wow. Hey, let’s pray. Dear Father, please keep us safe on this road from the landslides and police and such. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen. [Music] You with me? Yeah. [Music] This is supposed to be a nice road, but there’s landslides everywhere. So, covered with mud. It’s been cleared, thank goodness. Still kind of scary about landslides in this area. Just cuz it happened a couple of days ago, does that mean they’re all done? I don’t know. So, kind of cracking the whip trying to get Susie to go fast. She doesn’t like it when I crack the whip. firsthand reporting on the flooding in the Amelia Roano Reana area of central Italy. It’s pretty crazy. [Music] Oh, it’s a one-way bridge. We have to wait for the cars to come across. [Music] Okay, so we’re going across this one lane bridge probably about five or six miles north of Bolognia. Take a look down at the river if we can see it. That’s exciting. Metal scares me. More than wood’s slippery, too. So, it is just massive. Wow, that’s amazing. Susie makes me a little nervous. Look at this. Wow. [Music] It’s a castle day somebody. Uhoh. Check the room. No. Well, love. It looks like we were supposed to turn back there. Oh, it does. Did yours reroute this way? Okay. Huh. Maybe this. Uh-oh. Susie, this might not be the best idea. I looked and looked and looked and it looked like a normal path. It did. It was a solid road the whole way. Oh no. I thought we passed the mud back in the mud. Another day, another puddle. She still hasn’t taken away my routing license. Routing privileges. That’s a good sign. [Applause] Some big luck right there. Is it just my imagination or does this feel a little bit like the planet of the apes? And is that the cycling path over to our left? See the path? [Music] What? There’s It’s between those two fences. That’s actually the path that I routed on. Was that was over there. I know. It’s not supposed to. Well, our cars are just Yeah. Thankful for the bridge, Susie. It’s like a bridge over troubled water. I’d keep going if I Uhoh. Uhoh. Oh, Susie. Susie. I don’t know what we did wrong. Now we’re definitely off track. Nicely done. Nicely done. We made it to Bologna. A little crazy trying to get here, but so far so good. Art everywhere. People out jogging. Yeah. [Music] B O L O G N A yummy lunch. [Music] Hey, there’s a little cafe. Looking for a sick. And there’s a there’s a box. Good eye. [Music] Here’s our place. I think we’ve got the right place. There are our two rooms right up there. Here’s our little place. Here’s our little bedroom. bathroom with glass shower curtains. Uh-oh. And with a little kitchen with nice space for our bikes. So, this is one of the porticos in Bologna. That’s what Bolognia is kind of famous for is the porticos the walkways all around and you can walk especially if it’s raining. Very comfortable. Hey, had a nice relaxing day after we got to Bologna. We’re in the Plaza Major and we’re just going to show you a quick little tour of a little picture around [Music] [Music] Fun night. I looked up on Trip Adviser where the best carbonara in Bolognia was. So, we ended up at this restaurant and it was amazing. [Music] How did I feel about the mud? It was a blast. Welcome to Prone to Wander Europe Bike Tour. Good morning. We are checking out of our Airbnb in Bologna and we have about 37 kilometers to ride today. We’re not exactly sure where we’re staying. Um but it’s a beautiful day. It’s not raining. We found the EV7 heading west out of town. Anybody would know this is obviously the ro the way, right? Well, somehow we got shot into a wormhole and shot right back to Texas. It’s flat with some great vines and uh a headwind. Feels just like Texas. [Music] Darren’s gone to ask some vineyard owner what these trees are. Lunch break in the shade on a wall at a vineyard. So, is this the forbidden fruit, Susie? I don’t know. It looks great. This whole field is cherry fields. They’re all cherries and they’re ripe. Sound here. Here we go again. What’ you say? Oh, here’s the lake we were supposed to stop at. Beautiful bridge heading into Modana. So, when I’m riding, this is what I’m looking at during the day. The red line is our route and the little blue thing is me and Suzie Q. That solar power I’ve gotten. I’ve gained an hour and 15 minutes on the solar on the Garmin. We’ve gone 38.2. Actually, I think it’s closer to 40 something cuz I had to reset it. We only have 13 more to go. [Music] Yeah. Camping Mana. And here’s our campground. Well, we’re kind of in the middle of nowhere camping at a little campground. There’s our neighbors over there. A little story about the power. Good morning. Breakfast at the campground. Breakfast in Emilio Reio in the bar. Photographio Europia. Hey Susie Millio Reio, I think in Italy. Where do you come from? From Star. Oh, where? Texas. Texas. Yeah. Last year um I had uh six guy but not from Texas from Iowa. Iowa. So we started in Pumachino Romano. Chimino Roman. Yes. Across the happenings and Bolognia floods landslides. And then we were going to Lra. Oh. You cross uh where? Sber Sanber. Yeah. Yeah. Be careful because there’s snow a lot. Uh last week I heard you know. No, we have one week, two weeks for till we get there. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. But we like our new Garmin. It’s doing better. Are you supported by Garmin? Yes. I give you my business card. I give you my B. Bye. Get at it. Except pretty puppies and no place to ride except right on the side of this here road. It’s a little bit scary. We’re doing okay. Once in a while a big bus comes by and a big truck like that. Here’s our spot for the night. Looks a lot nicer when the windows open. Hey, I can take me a big tub bath. should have been already. All right, good morning. Well, we’re checked out, loaded up, heading to the other side of Parma. Hopefully about 40 kilometers. One stupid argument about how do you say yave or key and Italian and breakfast and we’re ready to go. Bye. Okay, so we just learned that Parmesan cheese originated in this uh region, Parma Reiano, and in around 1254. Supposedly, some monks wanted to um make the shelf life of their dairy products, their milk last longer. So, they invented the cheese. And now, it’s supposed to only be called Parmesano Reiano if it’s from this region. Otherwise, you just call it Parmesano. Tell a little story about the power. Nothing. I’d love to tell you what name the town is right here, but I don’t recall. We’re just having a little quick picnic lunch. This beautiful little picnic area. We think this is the place. Actually, I travel a lot. Here’s the new room. Beautiful view. Roses and a little bit of rain. That is Yes. It’s made there. Some English war and some Italian war. And this is the parliament. It was broken. One bonus. Yes. And cross over all almost all. So we’ve been through all the footage. Take a picture, Susie. Did you get it? Yeah. Parma. Parma. Yeah. Yeah. Looks very good. [Music] Thank you so much. What a beautiful place. Thank you guys. Thank you. Good morning. Yes. I can’t believe it, but I think this is real. Didn’t know if you’d like to sort of see what our morning ride is like after leaving the bed and breakfast. Beautiful [Music] rail trail continues. Popular trees to our left. I think they use them for firewood as well as Oh, to the right as well. As well as building and such. And that has been pretty peaceful. We had a nice tailwind this morning. The Italians really love beauty. Flowers everywhere. Rarely any trash. Food Valley bike. This is a this valley. They call it the food valley because it produces so much food. In fact, the EU has a their food safety um headquarters and the distributing of food and organization of food resources is headquartered here in Parma. according to our host. We went by the headquarters. Um because this is the center of agriculture. [Music] I like your beaches. Nice. Uh see, of course. Yes. My friend is T10. Yes. Grande. Is that flood stage or close to it? It’s massive. It’s still inside the banks, but it’s high. [Music] Boy, this is fun. She likes the flat road and the tailwind like every other cyclist, especially when you have these big sails on the side of our bikes. This is the road out of the feed lots. And I’m pretty sure that’s not mud. [Music] You don’t know. He’s still praying. [Music] Joe, look at this sund dial. It’s just outside this small town. Pesi arito. Oh, the tropics cancer and such on the left. I think that’s the hours. Interesting. We are just south I think of Pammona. [Music] these beautiful fields around this maze. Take a right. We’ve taken only No, there’s a We are Look at this. It’s almost like crop circles. I mean, the It’s still there. The I don’t know if that’s oats or barley. I’m not smart enough. But it’s kind of smashed flat in long wide lines. I’m not sure about that. How how that happens. Interesting. 4K. It’s hard to know how that translates. You know, I think that’s sort of our destination to the right there. Um, I think there’s probably a piaza near there. I think that’s where our hotel without a without the reception is. That might be a an apartment. I’m not sure. We’ll see you when we get there. No. Ciao. Good talking to you. I think this is the place. One. Okay. Yeah, like for both bikes. Yeah. And then the the next trip will take one bike for the next trip. So, three tricks. Okay. There you go. See you later. Bye. [Music] Man, this is a nice room. Lots of glass [Applause] and a nice view. He who lives in glass bathrooms should not take shower. If you have any questions about what I mean by that, refer to the scenes from Sienna. I like any house that has a window in the bathroom. That’s gorgeous. And look at a cute man on a bike. And look, you can make kebabs. Here’s where they ended up getting locked up. [Music] [Applause] Look at all the cheese, Susie. Would you look at all the salami? This is from the placenta. Salami placenta. That’s the best. Look at all the queso. Do we want some queso? There’s our hotel right there. There’s the beach. So, we just bought breakfast right outside our door. M. You want to demonstrate our breakfast? Some chicken, mozzarella, and broccoli, mozzarella balls, and a bunch of fruits. We got cherries and a peach and some carrots. M. So good. Last night where all the music was. [Music] [Music] Welcome to prone to wander Europe bike tour. just a few things to put on the bikes. Land of bikes and flowers. [Music] Yeah, keeping those cars right on out of here. Just following the route. Not sure how we got here, but looks like I’m on the route. We are on the route. Like we’re in somebody’s backyard. Crazy. So today our route at least the last five miles has taken us along this small road with canals on either sides and they are really flowing kind of towards us and assume they’re coming from rains from upstream but there’s also occasional slleuth valves. Look at the corn over here. Those are peach trees. Gorgeous day. Oh, excuse it. Yeah. Those things are closed and we were trying to push through them. Mhm. But [Applause] We are at a bike shop, which is very unusual. Just to get our chains cleaned up. Bianke from 1960. Ah, beautiful. the first. [Music] Okay. It’s very nice. So, yeah. Yeah. Perfect. Perfect. Okay. This kitchen. Yes. Okay. I’ll say what Susie wants to say. Susie wants to say we’re leaving someplace and we’re going to go to Loi, but our host at the bed and breakfast suggested we go to KMA. He said this is a UNESCO route. [Music] Um, and it’s the last road with trees over it in all of Italy. And it’s like a mountain road, but it’s in the valley. And maybe seeing that little girl with her grandpa was worth it. It’s a beautiful ride so far. Beautiful sea. We’re looking for We’re looking for bread, but it’s a Sunday morning, so probably not much bread to be had. Grandma, it’s a busy day. And look at all the bicycles here. antique and really beautiful [Music] things are just scary but very much appreciated. I like the graffiti. It’s pretty [Music] [Music] planning on camping at I don’t know if it works. Camping with the Stegosauruses and Tyrannosauruses. Saw a movie about that once. Here’s a little pond back there. and possibly our camp spot for the night unless we get kicked out. All right, I think a successful night of stealth camping. We spent €9 yesterday, which is quite the boon. for the budget. Um, go this way. We’re heading halfway to Komo. I think we have our first climbs into the Alps today. And I lost my wife. Where’d she go? Says I don’t Oh, look. There’s a peacock right up there. Can you see it? H I think I guess we go this way. Susie, how does this look? That look good, Susie? This isn’t quite what I expected yesterday. Is this what you expected? I kind of thought we’d be on that road right there. Huh? Well, that’s where we’re supposed to be. Uh-oh. We see some mountains in the distance. What’s another wrong turn? just more exercise and such. Look how beautiful. So, I’ve seen a lot of rivers and I’m not sure I’ve seen many that flowed this fast. It’s pretty incredible. There’s a kid over there stopping to pet the pig. Hi little buddy. Hi. How are you? You want some treats? You’re cute. Yeah. The good news is we’re on the route. Bad news is we’re back on the gravel. [Music] Vaprio dea which means it’s right beside the Ada River. Every little town along this way is what are some other repalta de what’s the other revolt dea? [Music] Anyway Jordan something anyway beautiful area. Let’s not go that way. Oh, wait. There are the mountains we’re heading to. I guess the hills start today. Getting to the foothills of the Alps. We go under somebody’s house. And then to go down a massive trail B&B, the yellow one up there. All you got to do is 10 and 12% grade to get there. Maybe more, but it’ll be fun to relax for the afternoon. Where are we? Bisaglia. So, here’s the view of our Airbnb as you climb the very steep driveway and take the stairs up. Here’s our room. Here’s our new ambian. Look at that. It’s really pretty. Welcome to Prone to Wander Europe Bike Tour. We are almost out of Italy. Here is our route for today. And here are our ride stats of the day. How’s that? Ready to rock and roll. Wonder how we get out of here. Fly down the hill. Leaving the bed and breakfast in Maglia heading toward Ko. Looks like we have three rides today. Man, this is quite the downhill. Um, yeah, just got a call from the fellow at the campground we tried to reserve for and he said, “Thank you for not coming.” And I tried to do it for the first somehow. I reserved it for last night and anyway, he was very kind. Thank you, Kristoff. in the deep forest. Maybe we do. Uh-oh. Lupita. Yeah. The good news or the bad news? That’s our route. I think this is our route. And there’s some stairs on this end of it. Yeah, maybe we’ll try it for a little bit and then see what happens. Okay. Okay. Two. Uh, no bicycles this way. Wait. No bicycle. No bicycle track. Oh, Susie. Yeah, this might this may be an I think that’s our route right up there. I think we’re we’re done for here. That was fun. Three routes. Tight squeeze. We think we found the right Yeah. They usually open up into something different. They’re into weed eating, buddy. Let me tell you, they weed eat everything. She’s a great climber. Great sport. Great teammate. This rat’s a little crazy today. Let’s see if it turns into mountain biking again. Susie hasn’t been traveled in a long time. Ready to go for it? Can you go slow? I know you found you fancy yourself a mountain biker. I do. This morning I started sideways on the mud. mountain bike footage here. Oh yeah, that usually makes you look good. [Laughter] We’re not sure what the red circle with the white thing in the center goes, but I’m thinking we’ll figure it out about the time we leave Italy. These bushes keep reaching out to grab me. See these little vines with the thorns? Well, still says we’re on the route. I see some bicycle trails. That’s a good sign sometimes. Yep. Back to my old route planning techniques, rules, as Susie would say. Rest. [Music] you working on, Susie? I forgot. Um, keeping my shoulders relaxed. Yeah. And your arms? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I see some mountains behind those nice arches. Lunch. Water. Pringles. I’d love to tell you where we are. We’re only halfway to Komo. I think halfway to Komo is not good because I think we have a lot more dirt roads and gravel and mud and such. Bye. Look how fast it’s going in relation to the water. I stalled, pulled over, and she just blew past me and now I can’t catch her. this house. The roof made of grass and then another level down there with grass. And I think it goes below the ground. There’s some actually some glass down there on the bottom that I think goes underground. So, I’m not sure where Ko is. Hopefully it’s close. Now we ended up back here again. Another gravel road going into Lake Tomo or into Como. Hopefully not into the lake. Kind of hoping for no gravel for the bottom sake. It is what it is. I think I missed the rocks. Real time, not sped up, not a time lapse. [Music] again. Real time. Not sped up. Not sure where Susie is. Hope she’s coming. She’s following a bus down a massive hill. Wish she wasn’t there so I could just let her fly. Okay. [Laughter] Not bad. So, I guess this is what we came for. Mhm. Is it ever a good time, Susie? No. How about right here? That’s a good one. The base of the Alps. We made it to our Airbnb at Lake Ko. First floor, so it’s nice not having to bring the bikes upstairs. Kitchen, tiny little bedroom, bathroom. Hey, washing machine. I’m a greasy, bloody, muddy mess. Show me your legs. There’s two of them. There’s some blood. There’s some blood. And then there’s We’re in Como. Little storm is coming. Beautiful. Good morning. Here is our ride for the day from Lake Ko, Italy to Lagano, Switzerland. And here are our ride stats. Love to start the morning with the uphill climb. Susie already bugged up here. We’re heading from Lake Ko to Lagano, Switzerland. um 33 kilometers and oh five or six climbs. Thanks for joining. Hi, we are leaving Como this morning and uh we had a rest day yesterday and we seriously did almost nothing all day long. We took naps, we did laundry, got a little groceries, but we did go out for one fancy dinner over the lake. Put a clip in there. It was a beautiful, fancy, nice restaurant. We had ravioli and Darren said it was so good it uh almost made him cry. So, that was a 10 out of 10. I would still say the carbonara that we had in Rome is my top number one uh meal in Italy, but this was probably number two. It was so good. We met a lot of people from the states, like some college students from Texas Tech and uh a couple from Indianapolis that were really sweet at the restaurant and took pictures of us. But um we’re leaving. This is our last day in Italy and I don’t know how long it is till the border, but we’re camping tonight, but we have a camp spot already picked out, so that’ll be waiting for us. Thanks. See, I’m taking Yeah, I’m doing But we’ve ridden six out of seven days. And hey there. I don’t know if you can see me. Um, I got a little little irritation on my bottom, especially going over those trails that we’ve been on lately. So, it was just like shearing forces. So anyway, I talked to my professional bike cycle consultant, professional bike racing consultant and he said to get some just some Vaseline because I can’t find a bike shop close by. So stopped at a couple of grocery stores. No luck and didn’t want to put just a moisturizer. So, I found a pharmacy with a sweet pharmacist who gave me some Vaselina and hopefully that’ll solve that problem on the long ride today. Thanks. Is that too much information? Okay. That means move it. Welcome to Switzerland.