So the last week contained some quite fun things, I did three countries in one day, and chalking up another 440km I have now passed 2,500km in total. So I’m now over half way to Istanbul, and done roughly 1/10 of the total distance to Japan :O

(Editor’s note — Sorry that it’s taken a while to get this post out, and that the last one may have seemed a little gloomy… Ruth is OK and having fun, and says thanks for the support and concern to everyone who got in touch)

Monday 24/02/2020 — Day 40

So the plan for today was to cycle in France, Monaco, France again, and then Italy! But I was taking it chilled, so breakfast of a crepe and tea in my favourite bakery in Nice before heading off on the road.

The road to Monaco was stunning with sandy beaches, sea cliffs and some easy climbs to make it variable. Looking at my photos I can’t believe some of them and I was doing the riding! I changed into my vest top to try and break up my tan lines a little… sun cream was also used you’ll be pleased to hear :p

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Reached Monaco, which was really fun to ride in. A little daunting, but fun. Twisty, full of tunnels and compact… I loved it. I might have got a little carried away checking out the ships and yachts in the marina, but it was good fun to look and you could get close to all of them. I then settled down to have some lunch overlooking the harbour.

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While I was eating my lunch an older lady approached me and asked if I spoke German I said no (despite 5 years at school trying). She kept trying to talk to me and seemed really annoyed/upset about something. All I could kinda gather from my poor German and her bits of English was that she had missed her bus and was stuck, and something about the police not helping. I finished lunch and had a moment of trying to decide what to do… I decided to try and help.

I started to try and find a way to get internet so I could use google translate to talk to her… (Monaco is not part of free roaming on Three). There was a McD’s which always have free wifi but it was to far away. Next there was a library so I thought we should try there. The Frau seemed happy that I was trying to help. With my English and the help of the librarians (thank you thank you thank you) we managed to get set up with google translate and understand a bit better. We managed to get her sons number from her phone and call him. Turns out she had missed her TOUR bus and couldn’t get in touch with them. The son was sorting out a pick up with the tour company. At this point I decided to go (the librarians had it covered) and I still hoped to still make it to Italy… fingers crossed it all worked out, but I had done as much as I could.

Before I left Monaco I went to see the famous Fairmont hairpin. Walked up the hill took some photos then couldn’t resist riding down it 😀

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Finally got on my way again… Italy here we come 🙂 Riding was fine, and there was an actual border guard at the border!

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So because of the delay in Monaco I didn’t make it as far as I would have liked to in Italy. After a good day things went a little downhill… the campsite I thought was open turned out not to be. The wild camping spot I had sussed out as a backup option unfortunately already had someone there, and I wasn’t 100% comfortable with it/them. Cue some controlled panic as I tried to find a hostel or hotel…

The first one I tried had no-one there, and no-one answered the phone either. More luck at the second one, someone there and got myself sorted with a room and everything. What annoyed me was for some explicable reason I then started crying when everything was fine! Why do I do this? It was a bit expensive but I can manage. Cold dinner and sleeps for me, hopefully more sleep will help.

Tuesday 25/02/2020 — Day 41

I took some time in the morning to shower and write up some of blog, I know I can’t let it build up to much or I won’t get on top of it… I had breakfast at the hotel and got on the road not too late. I heard back from the warmshowers host at about the right distance, unfortunately no joy so the end point was somewhat up in the air.

Route was awesome, mostly right along the coast with some converted rail tracks and loads of cycling stuff. I was taking a more leisurely pace so stopped to have some tea at a rest point and enjoy the view.

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There were some problems with closed bits of the route which meant I had to backtrack and then detour inland and climb… beautiful, but hard work. This meant I didn’t make it as far as I hoped that day…

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I had another hunt for a campsite and took a chance on one not far away that seemed like it would be open. And so glad I did! Got an amazing pitch with a view of the sea and practically on the beach. Chatting with the owner about what I was doing (cycling to Japan) he insisted that I didn’t pay for the stay :O So generous and very grateful to him.

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As it was pancake day I decide to make some pancakes on the Trangia with bananas and chocolate spread as desert after my pasta. They came out really well… very happy Ruth. I followed the recipe from Tara Alan’s “Bike. Camp. Cook.” book — something I cannot recommend enough for adventurous people.

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The only down side of the campsite was the really bright LED lights (as obviously tents don’t have blinds like caravans) but even there the campsite was awesome and unplugged one for me. Still rather bright, but I appreciated the effort.

Wednesday 26/02/2020 — Day 42

Slept well and was toasty warm for once. I had a long day ahead of me — 95km to reach Genoa — and to meet some generous warmshowers hosts. Made myself a good breakfast with scrambled eggs and cheese on bread, and of course a mug of tea.

On the road by 09:30 and zooming through the miles. Route was a combination of road and rail tracks all day, which made for very good riding. The wind was building through the day so it got more interesting to ride, but a mix of behind and ahead so not a constant battle.

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By Genoa the traffic was icky and there wasn’t really a nice way to ride through it all. I think it might have been around rush hour as well. I survived that but there was a 120m climb to my warmshowers host’s place :O and the very last was bit up steps. But Marco kindly came to help… and oh boy it was sooooo worth it. Marco and Namoi were lovely hosts, their house was beautiful the room had the most amazing views and a lovely hot shower. Namoi treated me to a lovely dinner with them and it was such a good evening.

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Thursday 27/02/2020 — Day 43

So this was the point were I had to think hard about Coronavirus and what was going on in Italy. The south side of the mountains in general didn’t seem that bothered other then shutting the schools. But I was due to go north and my original planned route was taking me close to the quarantined towns in Lombardy and later right through Vo’ in Veneto… :/

So I talked it through with Marco and contacted a few people on warmshowers to get a feel for what was going on, on the road ahead of me. From those discussions and some route advice I have changed my route to come over the mountains a different way and keep a little more distance from the hot spots. Some of my logic for staying in the north rather then going south and round was:

• Technically I am already in the North of Italy and not much I can do to stay out
• By the nature of cycling all day on my own I minimise my contact with people
• I am in a low risk group – young, fit and healthy
• The virus is all over Europe and seems to be spreading… who’s to say if I did reroute completely that I wouldn’t end up somewhere with an outbreak happening on top of me anyway?

A precaution I did take was to stock up on some extra food before setting off to ensure I had supplies for about a week (though this does mean more lentils 🙁 ) as there have been some reports of supermarket shelves being cleared in panic buying. Other than that the plan was full steam ahead, get across the mountains and into the flat lands of the Po valley.

I had a relaxed start to the morning enjoying the sunrise with the view and a cup of tea. I had a light breakfast and then Marco and Namoi showed me the view from the roof, and I was gob smacked! The view stretched right across Genoa and the mountains, so lovely. When I could finally drag myself away from the view I had to find a map of Italy to keep track of my travels (and as a backup).

Unfortunately I got struck with really bad belly ache while sorting this all out. From previous experience I guessed I needed to eat some more, so grabbed myself some cheap pizza and ate it in the square. The change of route meant I had 800m of climb over the first 30km of the day! So really needed to do some pedal pedal pedals….

The incline on the climbs was not too bad so I just plodded my way up enjoying the change from coast to mountain scenery. I was following a main road which was not busy. The weather was good at the start but chillier than it had been. Sadly some of my nice route was closed as they were doing major road works, so had to deviate and climb, and to add to that I could see the weather blowing in as well, cue SNOW (well more icy rain). Onward I went, not too bothered as I had not been rained on a while, and I had reached the highest point so it was to be downhill from there.

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The chicken in me did want to retreat into somewhere to stay but the adventurer wanted to keep going and camp/wild camp. I had a campsite marked on the map but wasn’t sure if it was open. I did pop into a hotel to ask the price of a room, but it was to much for my budget really, especially with food on top. The guy there was amazing though and suggested a cheaper place down the road and checked if the campsite was open too (nope, of course!). So I set off to the other hostel, with a plan to look for wild camping spots a long the way.

Zooom off on my way I go… only to get about 5km further on down the road before I realised I had left my glasses behind… d’oh!!!! Not something I can really leave behind… so back it is to go get them, kicking myself all the while for forgetting them. Luckily it was a easy incline section so I made it back without too much of a problem. When I got there the person must have felt sorry for me because he so generously cut the price of a room to the point where I could afford it :O I was so grateful as I was not looking forward to hunting for somewhere to stay. I also had dinner there and it was soooo yummy!

Turns out it was a very good thing I was in a hotel for the night as (TMI moment possibly) I got a bad case of diarrhoea in the night, up every two hours 🙁 So I was very grateful to have a toilet and bed. I am not surprised I got some form of upset as I have been drinking water from every source available (marked drinking water or not) and eating from anywhere outside. I am not being completely insane with it, but just trying to toughen up my systems a little before I get to the worse areas of the world where I will have to be careful. I ended up taking some of the tablets I had with me which seemed to help, and managed to get some longer sleep, though definitely not my best night of the trip so far!

Friday 28/02/2020 — Day 44

Given the very poor night’s sleep , I wanted more rest but needed to get moving… I had a shower and breakfast before getting on the road around 10. It was such a lovely day of riding, I am so glad I was doing it today and in the nice weather I had, and not rushing in the rain. The mountains were beautiful and the river made the landscape really interesting.

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I stopped in a random layby to enjoy the view and have some tea. Before continuing onwards there were two significant climbs (nothing bad just definitely going up for a while) which broke the ride up. I had lunch in a town called Bobbi which was really pretty and had the most amazing medieval bridge, awesome backdrop while eating.

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The plan was to ride to a town called Rivera which had a campsite and again could have been open… no such luck when I got there, and there where lots of signs around about no free camping in the area, so that put me in a pickle. Luckily I managed to spot someone in their garden and asked if there was anywhere nearby I could camp, and he offered his own garden! He pointed me to a corner away from his bees.

I made pasta and veg for dinner, I am going to need to find fuel for the stove soon… might be all the tea I am drinking… the night felt a little chilly and windy but got all snuggled up in the sleeping bag.

Saturday 29/02/2020 — Day 45

Leap day… should have arranged a prank for Ian…. :p

With the roads around the garden it was not the quietest night, but slept well despite this (several poor nights sleep adding up). I was actually really warm in the morning! I had some tea and my oats while packing away the tent. Riccardo (who’s lawn I had been staying on) came to wish me well and gave me a pot of his chestnut honey, I was so touched. Also good timing as I had been thinking about getting honey next once I finished the chocolate spread!

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The day was grey and chilly, ended up wearing my waterproofs as an extra layer. The rides were really nice down the river, but maybe not the most direct route to Parma and my next day off. Lots of flat riding today and maybe feeling the influence of those old Roman roads, very straight. I stopped for a hot chocolate, which reminded me of warm angel delight, to absorb some warms and use the loo. I couldn’t find anywhere to get out of sight… I think I also saw some otters in a field which is amazing, but couldn’t get a photo and can’t be sure as they were quite far away.

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I made Parma in good time and managed to avoid any rain 🙂 I am staying with another warmshowers family, who are actually from Brazil but staying in Italy for three years. It is lively and fun and I can’t wait to hang out with everyone. The plan tomorrow is to explore Parma and of course to try some Parma ham in Parma! The weather forecast is for heavy rain most of the day, so will probably end up spending some time hiding in a cafe and writing up the blog posts I am behind on (including this one!)

And after my day off, the next goal will be Venice!