The Gang Goes to Italy

The Gang Goes to Italy!

Do you want to know what the best thing about Italy is? It's not the:

• Food
• Culture
• History
• Weather
• Cheap cappuccinos

It's the people. I always got the feeling that people's top priority was to enjoy life first and make money second. Everybody was happy to talk to us, interact with us, and help us. It was really nice. Even in Rome, the people in the shops were super friendly to us.

Saying that, the people in that country drive with no safety concerns. I'd hate to know what the death rate is on roads in that country. I'm so used to the German autobahn, that I found myself in awe sometimes at the risks they take. Especially on the motorway. People would not hesitate to overtake you on your right-hand side or cross over 3 lands just to make the turn-off in time.

Now, onto the trip.

The route we took more or less:

• South Tyrol
• Apennines
• Rome
• Campania
• Appenenines
• Liechtenstein
• Vorarlberg

Normally, on trips down to the alps, I tend to do a lot of hiking. On this trip though, I wanted to do a lot of road biking. And my god was I lacking fitness for this trip!!

On my second trip, I had to ask Frieda to come to rescue me from the nearest village as I was dying. I overdid it. She had to bring me water and some biscuits as I couldn't cycle up the last bit of the super steep hill to get to the van. I could see it but couldn't even walk to it. Still, I felt good once I took a shower.

By the end of the trip though, I was flying up mountains and loving it. Overall on this trip, I managed to cycle a total of 452km and accent a total of 9.66km. I honestly can't wait to get back down there and do some more cycling.

I found that road biking is just as enjoyable as hiking. The scenery is almost as good as hiking, but you see more of it and it takes less time to complete. You expend more energy and once you have finished up and showered, you have more time to sit around and rest.

I didn't do a lot of travelling through the alps this time. We did stop for a bit there but I had a good idea of what to expect and my expectations were met. Mostly full expensive campsites with a small mix of pretty good hidden stellplatzs mixed in. Pro tip, keep an eye peeled for a good stellplatz. To be honest, the only area on our trip where the campsites were not super expensive was in the Apennines.

Anyway, the plan was to keep heading south but go to our own pace. Don't rush it.

As such, we didn't spend too long in the alps but spent a bit in the Apennines. It was my first time there and so didn't know what to expect. I couldn't get over how nice the Apennines were. The place was buzzing with locals and mountainous as hell. Perfect for some road biking and hiking. To be honest, most of Italy is pretty mountainous. I was not expecting that. Don't ask me why.

Some tips if you ever do come down here in a van. Don't expect to have a nice cheap time at the coast. I didn't get a nice feeling anywhere near the coast. Maybe I'm just too cheap. I'm from the countryside in Ireland, close to many beaches beaches. I find it rather disgusting that people stick plastic swimming pool seats on the sand, taking up the whole beach, then charging you for sitting down. When did we ever get to a point in time where that is acceptable? Overall, I'm not a fan of the Italian coast.

Moving onto another horrible place... Switzerland. Yes, Switzerland. We forgot to turn off our data while driving through and got a massive mobile bill. Also, it was crazy expensive. I've made up my mind never to stop in that country again.

I won't finish on a negative comment though. Liechtenstein and Vorarlberg were breathtaking. Both campsites that we stayed at, were super clean, super organised (especially after spending 3 weeks driving on Italian roads), and super expensive, but I didn't mind it. that area of the world is perfect for some road hill climbing or hiking. I am running out of ways to describe the alps.

Overall, a great trip.

My next trip down in the alps will be an all road bike affair. That's for sure.