ITALY to UK | STAGE #1 – Sesto Calende – Airolo, Bike Packing Adventure, (EuroVelo 15 Rhine Rad Weg)

Stage #1 of my Bike Packing Ride from Italy to the UK in 8 stages, through 8 countries:
ITALY, SWITZERLAND, LIECHTENSTEIN, AUSTRIA, GERMANY, NETHERLANDS, UK.

Starting at Sesto Calende in Italy on the southern tip of Lake Maggiore, riding 145km to Airolo, Switzerland in the Alps.

This is the first stage routing to the start of the Rheine Rad Weg EuroVelo 15 starting at Andermatt to the Hook of Holland.

Total trip distance 1300km.

Bike:
FELT AR2

All i need are some better days yeah all i need are some better days cause all i want and i pray i believe in a better day Hi everybody i’m in italy and i’ve been coming to italy consistently over the last few years i normally catch a flight from stansted to malpensa it takes about two hours and it can cost as little as a tenner but since the pandemic has been crossing my mind more frequently about would it

Be possible to actually cycle back from italy to the uk so that’s exactly what i’ve decided to do am i mad absolutely i think you’ve got to be a little bit mad to attempt something like this so i’ve decided to route back to the uk a distance of 1

400 kilometers and i’m going to try to do it in eight stages i’m setting off from sister kalende which is a village just on the southern tip of lego majoria and then i’m going to be heading north up the eastern side of the lake up towards the alps and into switzerland i

Hope to then join the eurovelo 15 cycleway known as the rhine radbeg which starts at andama at the source of the rhine river and follows the river with the flow all the way to the hook of holland where hopefully i’ll then catch a ferry across to the uk

And ultimately in my epic bike trip in norwich so i’ve packed everything on my bike i’ve got my bike bags with me unfortunately i’ve also had to carry quite a large rucksack because i’ve got my drone and quite a lot of other electrical equipment which is weighing

Me down but it’s got to be done i’m hoping that the sacrifice will be worth it because i want to share this journey with you in a series of videos so stage one is sister kalende up to erolo which is halfway up the alps inside switzerland it’s approximately 140 kilometers

And there’s a real sting in the tail because the last 46 kilometers is a cat one climb tonight being the first night i decided to book a hotel i booked a bnb because uh tomorrow bright and early i want to get up and i’ve got a mega day

Tomorrow which i’ll tell you about later let’s go Today which is stage one i kind of considering a stage zero it’s positioning route from sister kalende northbound into the alps in order that i can start the route uh the rhine route proper from andermat in the high alps lots of concerns and worries have crossed my mind bike mechanics

Physical endurance having an accident food locations to stop you know i just um i didn’t don’t really know quite how this is all gonna pan out and that’s what makes this such an adventure for me so the idea really is to get back to the uk pretty sharpish

I’m not on a sightseeing holiday this is all about the journey all about getting back and and enjoying the ride [Applause] I’ve arrived at luino it’s approximately 40 kilometers from cestro colende it’s right on the eastern edge of lago majoria lake majoria and i’ve been riding into a stock headwind the wind is blowing southerly down the valley here over the lake just look at the waves and you can tell there by the

Flags just how strong that wind is look at the clouds over there up and over that ridge it all looks a bit ominous anyway it’s lunch so time for something to eat So So i’m in switzerland now i’ve just crossed the border today’s route in total is going to be about 150 kilometers i’m not far from the town of meccano and then from there i’m going to start my climb according to my ride which is how i planned this route

This will be a category one climb not less than three percent at any stage climbing for an incredible 46 kilometers oh my goodness me a total of 2 000 meters of ascent today i’m right at the northern tip of lake majoria about 75 kilometers into the ride

And the town of locano is just over there this is the river to chino so i’m in the toccino area of switzerland and this is what feeds into the top end of lake majoria it’s a helicopter i wonder what the heck that thing is massive crane here 62

This part of the route has been excellent from up the valley towards rolo there’s been lots of these cycle ways it’s quite difficult to navigate with the garmin it’s a little bit laggy so i keep missing the turnings but the actual root network of these cycleways is is really

Lovely because there’s a heck of a lot of busy roads around here and i’ve not felt particularly safe on them Okay so we are leaving the lowlands behind leaving lago majoria and entering the low alps mountains all the way around me very impressive very ominous actually when i look north and i can see all the cloud just shrouded over over the mountain tops and every so often when it breaks free i see

Snow topped snow-capped mountains very impressive Oh taking a little break kind of a coke some energy for the final 40 kilometers up to a roller beginning to feel a bit tired so i’ve traveled up here up the edge of ligma julia around the corner to there basically i’m about 40 kilometers short of a roller

I’ve just seen a sign that says 25 kilometers to arola very nice but the climb is biting now i’ve still got a few more gears in hand it’s not too steep but all this extra weight on the bike it’s hard work my goodness me look at that uh suspended motorway up there

An amazing road traffic up there look nearly going as slowly as i am that lorry yeah one of my worries has been the gearing on this bike it’s an aero bike me it’s meant to go fast on flat roads not the best gearing i’ve averaged 21k per hour so far but

I kept going wrong so i’m stopping of course so anyway i was aiming for 20k per hour overall i’ll update you when i get to a roller coaster Is [Applause] is [Applause] go i’ve just seen a sign for a roller 15 kilometers doesn’t sound far but at this current speed i think it’s looking like an hour fake it till been hard-going so a roller 10ks am i pleased to see that side the pain just continues

The temperature has dropped it’s quite a bit cooler but i’m generating a lot of my own heat uh clouds are coming down a little bit visibility’s dropped off ahead a little bit moisture in the air oh come on final push i’ve made it to my first sloppy the rolo bed and breakfast

And it’s looking really nice i’ll take you in and have a have a look but first just have a look at the view blossom coming out in the trees i am exhausted i’m so thankful to be here it’s a lovely little room warm and cozy and nice big double bed

But best of all proper coffee machine just like the one i’ve got at home so i’m gonna have a coffee have a shower get myself down to the restaurant in the village for some grub and i’ll see you tomorrow bye for now you