Greater freedom inevitably comes with greater responsibility and hardship. This also applies to travel. If you don’t want to go in organized excursion groups, where everything is taken care of for you, but there is almost no freedom, then you have to expect that the trip can turn into almost constant solving of problems and overcoming challenges. However, along with adversity, there are always also beautiful moments, which make the whole thing stick in the memory as an Adventure with a capital letter.
BIKE + BUS
Previously, I went on longer trips around Europe by car. However, since I am passionate about cycling, this time I decided: why not take a bicycle on the bus to cross the expanses of Central Europe and then live in “dream places” in France and Italy?
Listening to the news about heat records in the south of Europe, “battlegrounds” of hot and cold air masses in the north of Italy, Austria and Switzerland, where hailstones the size of a human head are falling, studying the forecasts of meteorologists, I choose what seems to be the most reasonable route – the one where there should be no to extreme heat, nor to rain, nor to the elements of insane storms. Namely, the road will lead with two bus routes from Riga to Lyon (Riga-Prague and Prague-Lyon). This will be followed by a nine-day bike ride from Lyon to Florence (around 1,200 km in total), first through the Rhone Valley, then along the French Riviera and then along the Mediterranean coast in Italy all the way to Florence. Finally, back to Latvia via Prague again by bus.
On paper it looked relatively easy to do. It seemed that if once in Latvia, cycling 150-200 kilometers a day is quite common for me, then who doesn’t ride an average of 100-130 km a day? It seemed that I had planned the route in such a way that you would not have to fight with yourself, and you could simply enjoy the trip. Yes, how about that!
Read the entire conversation in the magazine On Saturday In the November 3 – 9 issue! You can subscribe to the magazine’s content in both print and digital format on our new website HERE!
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2023-11-05 09:00:25
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