I’m never really alone, you know. As I started my climb out of Cesana, I heard a plaintive cry, “Wait! I’m coming with you!” After turning the first bend my shadow caught up to me and took the lead. “Is it going to be steep?” Giving a pointed look towards Grandma...
Tomorrow I climb up to the pass at Monginevro and say good bye to Italy as we cross into France. I do want to point out that although the Tour de France also climbs up and over the same pass, the cyclists take the less steep direction and let their sag wagons carry...
Not long after Turin everything begins to change as we wind up and into the Susa valley. The riding is only a gentle climb at the entrance to the valley, but we have clearly arrived in the Alps. The mountains rise up on either side of the valley, jagged and majestic....
We arrived in Torino early yesterday afternoon after a 30 km walk in pleasantly cooler temperatures. Following a nap I pulled out my electronic map to have a look at the Wikipedia points in the city. “Damn,” I thought, “We screwed up, we need several days to see the...
For a few days, from Piacenza to Vercelli, we were on a functioning pilgrimage route, though we were moving counter to the flow. The Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome has become more active than when we walked and cycled it in 2012 and 2013. Years ago...
