Today I head 1,000m up the hill to a small village called Anzere, where I will be spending the next two months working as a camp counsellor at a spring outdoor education residential camp run by Village Camps. Internet access is limited, as is time off during the camp. Updates […]
Monthly Archives: April 2007
They don’t do things by halves when it comes to holiday homes in the mountains here in Switzerland. Many of these mountain ‘cribs’ as they are called in southern New Zealand, are renovated places. Today I had the pleasure of visiting my host Dominique’s sister’s crib up past a little village […]
Day 277 – SWITZERLAND: Mountain crib in Daillon
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 72.95km Average speed / 平均速度: 12.9km/h Time on bike / 走行時間: 5h 37m Total distance to date / 今日までの積算距離: 2177.7km (plus 9700km) Ascent / 上り: +1935m Descent / 下り: -1880m You’d think that with all the cycling I do, I’d be sick of it now. But […]
Day 276 – SWITZERLAND: A jaunt up to Col du ...
Right, so yesterday I was innocently eating lunch in a small park in a small village called Saint Leonard. This kid wanders over, watching me and my strange looking bike from a distance. He looked cautious, as if at any moment the tramp might pounce and devour him along with […]
Day 275 – SWITZERLAND: In Saint Leonard
Surprise surprise. I am here. This is the region in which I will be spending the next two months or more. I was always under the impression that I would be closer to Lake Geneva. But I took another look at the map, and Anzere, the place where I will […]
Day 274 – SWITZERLAND: From Brigabad to Saint Leonard
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 89.25km Average speed / 平均速度: 11.0km/h Time on bike / 走行時間: 8h 05m Total distance to date / 今日までの積算距離: 2061.1km (plus 9700km) Ascent / 上り: +1780m Descent / 下り: -1365m By the vertical meters I climbed today, you’d almost think I was cycling in the Swiss […]
Day 273 – ITALY and SWITZERLAND: From Villadossola to Brigabad ...
I slept in a small shed last night along side the canal that runs from the Ticino River to Milano. As I was packing up preparing to leave, the apparent owner wandered by to check the water channels in the adjacent fields and seemed none too perturbed when I indicated […]
Day 272 – ITALY: From Castano Primo to warehouse in ...
I left Shirley and Yuri’s wonderful abode at about 2pm with a nice little 10 minute powerpoint presentation nestled safely in my USB memory stick. Thank you again to Shirley and Yuri for letting me take over their computer for a day! Oh, and Shirley makes some mean Japanese cuisine. […]
Day 271 – ITALY: From Seregno to just past Castano ...
I have spent today sitting inside using Yuri and Shirley’s internet that they have kindly let me use. I have updated the last few days of cycling through Italy, with a few decent shots of churches… There is something that I would really like some help on however. I am […]
Day 270 – ITALY: Serengo
I left early again from my sleep spot in the field after a very good deep sleep. And then the joys of not having a guide book struck again. I had no idea that this existed until I rounded the corner. I let out an “ooof” kind of sound as […]
Day 269 – ITALY: From Milano to Serengo
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 110.23km Average speed / 平均速度: 15.5km/h Time on bike / 走行時間: 7h 05m Total distance to date / 今日までの積算距離: 1751.9km (plus 9700km) I got up early. Just after daybreak. My bike had left tracks in the freshly planted field. It was dark last night when I […]
Day 268 – ITALY: Piacenza to Milano
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 68.62km Average speed / 平均速度: 15.0km/h Time on bike / 走行時間: 4h 33m Total distance to date / 今日までの積算距離: 1641.6km (plus 9700km) Was it the bad sleep last night near a small row of batches on the banks of the Po River? Or perhaps I had […]
Day 267 – ITALY: Cremona to Piecenza
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 112.26km Average speed / 平均速度: 19.0km/h Time on bike / 走行時間: 5h 54m Total distance to date / 今日までの積算距離: 1573.0km (plus 9700km) Ascent / 上り: +105m Descent / 下り: -110m Smooth riding with a good tailwind today. More of the same great architecture.
Day 266 – ITALY: From Torre de Oglio to Cremona
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 76.40km Average speed / 平均速度: 16.2km/h Time on bike / 走行時間: 4h 42m Total distance to date / 今日までの積算距離: 1460.7km (plus 9700km) It was kinda tough to leave Steve and Jutta’s. What a wonderful couple. I headed back to the Mincio River where Rhiner and I […]
Day 265 – ITALY: Peschiera to Torre de Oglio
After Pa Pa Yaw and I went out separate ways, I continued on around the lake on the narrow cycle path. It was a great day. A fresh breeze was blowing, and the sun was shining. I rounded a corner and saw that the cycle path finished up ahead. I […]
Days 261 to Day 264 – ITALY: Verona to Peschiera ...
I got woken up on the cycle path on the morning of Day 261 by the sound of bicycles rolling past. What the rider must have been thinking, I can’t imagine. He would have seen a guy wrapped up in a sleeping bag, curled up beside his strange looking bike. […]
Days 261 to Day 264 – ITALY: Verona to Peschiera ...
Fair Verona. Fairly crowded. I got up early this morning. By 6:30am I was on the road. I figured it was less hassle not to be found sleeping in the big tunnel house that I had bedded in last night. It was still cold. I oculdn’t be bothered to get […]
Day 260 – ITALY: Belfiore to fair Verona
I spent a lazy day in Vicenza, sitting for almost four hours in the central square, watching Italians. They’re a funny bunch, these Italians. Wonderfully friendly, and oh so stylish. They wear well cut clothing, and ride classy, often single-speed city bikes. I felt out of place in my dirty, […]
Day 259 – ITALY: Vicenza to a tunnel-house near Belfiore
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 105.95km Average speed / 平均速度: 15.4km/h Time on bike / 走行時間: 6h 52m Total distance to date / 今日までの積算距離: 1191.4km (plus 9700km) First things first. The 14degrees Off The Beaten Track website had the honour of being chosen by .citycycling online magazine as the website of […]
Day 258 – ITALY: Venice to Vicenza
Ended up sleeping near a small marina last night. I slept unusually well. Now you see, I never intended to go to a really famous place when I first set out from Japan 8 months ago. The name of the game was off the beaten track. Venice is about as […]
Day 257 – ITALY: Venice (Venezia)
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 140.03km Average speed / 平均速度: 18.0km/h Time on bike / 走行時間: 7h 46m Total distance to date / 今日までの積算距離: 1067.08km (plus 9700km) Ascent / 上り: +200m Descent / 下り: -200m Mmmmm. Tailwinds. Mmmmm. Flat roads. I felt the excitement growing in me as I neared Venice. […]
Day 256 – ITALY: Cervignano to Venice (Venezia)
I got an email from a Couchsurfing member today, and ended up in Cervignano in a house full of avid soccer fans. My host for the night was Filippo, and what’s more, I was his first ever guest. Big thanks to Filippo and the Cervignano Amateur Football Club for taking […]
Day 255 – ITALY: Udine to Cervignano
Spent the good part of a whole day in the internet cafe updating. The excitement came when I was looking for somewhere to sleep. It was raining, and I found a cemetery with high walls and big bushy fur pine trees to shelter under. The rain kept on raining, so […]
Day 254 – ITALY: Cormons to Udine
A somewhat suitable end to Peter and I’s trek across the karst region of Slovenia, was a day of visiting cemeteries. We found many along our route, two of which were the resting places of more than 10,000 soldiers who died on the Socho (Isonzo) Front in Slovenia during the […]
Day 253 – SLOVENIA and ITALY: Pliskovica to near Cormons
The karst region of Slovenia on a misty morning has a mysterious mood to it. It speaks of trolls and midgets with axes. Cold and calm and quiet. Little hamlets nestled in gorges, waiting for the heat of spring to come. The unwary could stumble and fall to his death […]