Part One
The lads travel from Rotterdam – 1,100 miles via the Black Forest, Lake Konstanz, the Alps and the Dolomite, reaching the Austro-Italian border on day 6.
Part Two
The lads meet up with Steve the Pilot for a 6-day romp around Slovenia and Croatia, travelling down the beautiful Istrian coast, visiting Zadar, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Lake Bled and the amazing Vrsic pass … oh, and a secret cold-war airbase en route.
Part Three
The lads continue valiantly across Italy and France, visiting San Remo, Florence, Pisa, Seborga, Nimes and Carcassonne along the way, and passing through the Gorges du Verdon, the Route des Cretes and Mont Ventoux … amongst others.
Part Four
The final leg of our odessy takes the lads through Andorra to the Pyrenees, crossing between France and Spain and visiting Pamplona on the way to the wonderful Picos mountains, before heading back to the UK and the Isle of Man by ferry.
The BigUn – A bucket-list tour across Europe. 20 nations and 5,000 miles in a month. This is part three. Join Mike and I for a romp through Italy and France, on our way to Spain ….
Music Attributions, with thanks to ….
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Powerful by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/
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“Riviera Walk” – https://www.fesliyanstudios.com
“Italian Fun” – https://www.fesliyanstudios.com
“Italian Opera” – https://www.fesliyanstudios.com
Flageolet Guitar Motivation by LesFM | https://lesfm.net/
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Anna’s Theme by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au
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[Music] [Music] welcome to part three of the bigan so far in the first 12 days Mike and I have covered a little over 2,000 miles and have rid through 10 European countries ending up in Venice which is where we parted W with our good friend Steve whove been with us throughout Slovenia and Croatia we still got a lot of miles to cover though through Italy France and Spain before making our way to the ferry back home which was praying on my mind a little so now as we’re headed deeper into Italy uh we’re going into Florence we’ll see Peter on the way past San Ramo and then we’re headed west across France but not just the co deser we’ll be bouncing through various Mountain areas and so on stopping off in San Marino on the way over to Florence in the morning of course yeah yeah um have a cup of coffee and to say hi knock off another country why would you not yeah and then it’s um Spain the Peres bit of posos and home which sounds really easy but we got there’s a hell of a lot to do between now and then yeah but we’ve got three weeks to do it and we’ve got plenty of time to do it yeah so hopefully not quite so tired I don’t know about you but right now I’m feeling a little bit careworn Yeah well yeah little bit homesick too as well to be fair you know yeah yeah yeah um don’t tell don’t tell the wife uh missing my dog oh I’m a wife yeah but uh and and being at home but but no I another three weeks of this I could coope with yeah quite happily we’re kind of going to have to yeah yeah well absolutely yeah yeah today day 13 we put in a lot of hot boring Motorway miles on our way to a pilgrimage we were off to Tavola home of a certain motorbike racer if you haven’t guessed who yet it’ll be pretty obvious fairly soon yep we’re in the birthplace of one Valentino Rossi once we navigated past this rather confusing signpost it was obvious that we were in the right place the clues were literally all around us we decided to check out the vr46 international fan club which turned out to be a sparely populated and very expensive T-shirt shop time them for a walk into the village which had a nice bar and at least some cycling action I was beginning to think they’ve got the wrong place after all and today after we’ve seen Ste Steven off yeah uh we are now in Valentino Town yeah tavul yeah which in some ways bit of disappointment yeah it’s it’s not quite what we’ perhaps built it up in our minds to be it’s a lovely place and we found a a fantastic bar with a lovely lady who really looked after us yeah um but in terms of the spectacle of Tula well there isn’t one no not really no the next morning the locals did their best though with the wheelie show and the grand Exodus of a moped tour not anxious to get caught up in the melee Mike and I did our own bit of sightseeing before setting off for past is new our long awaited personal invitation from Valentino seemed to have got lost in the mail so we had to make do with a little oldfashioned ski we’d have only shown him up anyway I run out of Tulia to us head for Florence Via San Marino this of course added another Nation to our tally taking us to a total of 13 arriving at San Marino for one horrible moment I thought we’d been overtaken by the gang of mopeds that we left inia thankfully these were scooters so we were let off the hook a [Music] little San Marino is essentially a quiet Hilltop town with a population of around 35,000 the hillside View views over the surrounding landscape are simply fantastic and you can’t help forgive those who live up top from having a sense of maybe superiority over those living down [Music] below the inhabitants of samarino don’t have the place entirely to themselves though as each year they have some 2 million visitors which makes for a lively and dynamic city center [Music] [Applause] [Music] um heading towards Florence yeah we we found our way to San Marino first lovely climb up the G Hillside yeah uh San Marino what were your thoughts it was um very interesting historical uh a place that you’d have to visit but extremely busy if whenever you go into anywhere that’s going to be attractive to tourists there are going to be plenty of people who want to sell tacky stuff aren’t there so it’s just part and parcel of the whole thing and something you have to expect but it was nice having a wand up the town the views were great and let’s face it you could buy any type of armor you want that was quite a surprise yeah abely I forgot about that so you go into a shop and there’s every kind of weapon firearm that you could wish to buy yeah I thought only in America but yeah I guess that I don’t know maybe we need to Google it but I guess that the the the rules in uh sarino being an independent state they can choose what the rules are with regard to firearms and things like that yeah the question is raised what can you do with them once you take them out of Submarina yeah I would think you’d struggle wouldn’t you if you try to cross any borders with with one of those yeah yeah so feel free to go and let loose in some not not the safest place if that is the case maybe time then for a quick exit Benny Hill style in Italy once you’re off the auto Strada the roads are generally pretty flowing and great fun not necessarily the best quality T but you can forgive that in return for an entertaining ride we calm down a little though by stopping at a popular bike spot on the way into Florida [Music] and now for a marked change of pace it was time for a little soral elegance and culture after two weeks of solid riding without a break Mike and I decided to hang up our boots for a day and go and explore the town there were of course numerous relaxing ways to take in the sights Mike had other ideas we bought ourselves some day tickets and while we were waiting for the main event we took a look around the [Music] cathedral and then Mike’s devious plan became clear I climb up the 400 or so steps of the campanil tower in 35° sweltering heat made all the more challenging by hordes of sweaty tourists crammed into tight spaces and very narrow [Music] stairwells a fleet of sadistic ambulance drivers waited at the bottom for those who succumbed to the heat after we’ completed the walk and we were clear of the bell tower my heartbeat was still well over 140 so I was very nearly a customer luckily St Michael of the beers was ready with a Rescue Remedy and it seemed to do the [Music] trick rest of the day we spent at a more gentle Pace trying to avoid buying anything in the shops and just taking in the great sights of fenza that of course and a visit to the laundromat so we were properly prepared for the next phase of the tour taking us across France and [Music] Spain pza um the leaning tower has to be visited what I wasn’t quite ready for was the kind of shanty town of of sellers of just about anything that you had to go through to get to even see the the tower yeah um kind of like going through the perfume stuff at at an airport yes you just had to make your way past yeah um so terribly sorry to the history bus out there we made our way past we put our helmets down we took minimum pictures and Bug it off out yeah the next day we spent mostly on hot motorways but we took a break to pop in and see the Leaning Tower of Pizza parking wasn’t easy and we had to fight our way through HS of Street sellers to get there no to self if you’re going to visit a major tourist attraction allow a bit of time and trying not to do it on quite such a hot day way thing a really hard day we were totally utterly bushed and we found our way to Bobby’s Executive Hotel what a terrible title but actually not a bad place not a bad place quite a little bit tired in in places it could have done with a bit of an update but very welcoming yeah um made us feel very much at home until of two coach loads yeah my heart died a little when the the two coachloads of people even more senior than than you and I turn up um having said that the the reception staff said that’s okay here’s a secret service lift used by the staff so we can get to our room and that was great and they organized as a beer yeah and then we found our way to a restaurant just out of the way because we wanted to be a bit quieter on a campsite I think yeah absolutely um and we should have realized that you know a campsite restaurant might be caping for kids there [Music] and uh then the following morning we decided was it about that time we decided we needed to be traveling early uh in order to avoid the really Fierce heat of the day as we made our way along the south of France Mad Dogs an Englishman right in the midday sun and we were trying to avoid a bit of that so you’re right we we got ourselves up fairly early and headed off to onti Y the easy route Westward from onti is by the coast road so naturally mik I took to the mountains headed uphill away from the coast we went in search of the nation that well nobody knows about and the reason is quite simple it came about by accident when the Kingdom of Italy was formed in 1861 sorga was simply left out and they’ve claimed Independence ever since as a micronation with a population of just 350 I don’t suppose Italy is too bothered about the threat of invasion Mike and I slowed down for immigration control but realized it was totally unbanded so he continued Into the Heart Of The Nation you parked up in the Central Square and took a good look around however it soon became apparent that the entire nation was closed perched on a Hilltop with lovely views this was a great place to stop we had never mistake it for a hive of Industry of course we went to a new country we turned off oh 5 km away uh heading north from the from the co and we found ourselves inor um unfortunately we got there quite early in the morning Andor had not woken up yet no um but that was okay because that just meant that we’ll know people about yes to bother us so we could we could just have a wander around and Tak some photographs and yeah take the Mickey in the um Sentry Tower without getting arrested um that was fine and so sorer was was was a short brief visit kind of hoped to get a cup of coffee but next time sorga Get Up by like 9:00 that’ be good feeling somewhat cheated in our ambition to have coffee with a aoran government Mike and I carried on anyway we had a lot of miles to cover and we’ headed up to the cold de brow high up in the mountains as we had arrived down south VI the Alps the dolomites and the mountains of Slovenia it would be easy to regard the CER brow as a little of a disappointment however that would be to deny the Fantastic sights given by the balcony roads and the many Rock covered tunnels on the route which of course gave me the opportunity to test my new bike horn at around 1,000 M the cter Brows not particularly high in terms of mountain passes however to add a certain Frant to the Expedition my bike started running low on fuel and I wasn’t too keen on free wheeling all the way down to Monaco we were saved by Google Maps that located a small petrol station in a tiny village up the mountains this left us with a clear run down to Monaco and the cap die and of course a clear view of those lovely terra cotta roofs as we came down towards the coast our grand plan was to visit a car museum in Monaco but we were hot and bothered by this stage so we niled at the signpost and just carried on to onti we checked into our hotel had a quick shower and only then realized just how far out of town we were and we we had to call a taxi to get into the center of the town which cost us the Earth yes um to go to a very nice fish restaurant yeah um but because we hadn’t made a reservation the guy placed us right there to the road kind of on a zebra outside of the demarcation lines which for the people who have booked yeah so we were sort of outside of the Border if you like humans others that that that kind of thing yes but the food was okay food was fantastic the service however was not and I had to resort to my best Marcel marel impression just to get the attention of the waiters whilst the food was lovely the cost was truly eye watering added to our taxi cost it made for a very expensive evening I guess that’s only to be expected though if you stay on the coke D now we’re on our way to a real highlight of the trip we’re on the route to Napoleon headed for the gorge Deon and in particular the root de cret the straight roads of the lower slopes soon give way to a narrow cut through the mountainous rocks a fun ride but you do have to be very careful about your sight lines speaking of which we nearly missed the turnoff to the circular rout decet which turn turned out to be a real highlight of the trip the route’s quite narrow and there are no barriers so it’s made a oneway road for safety and a fall from this side would definitely scratch your paint workor so leaving on team we then set off right up into the into the mountains again the G on which was just yeah I’ve always wanted to do that and it was jawdropping yeah um you know the views to the side of that uh and the route we chose was to go up towards the gorge of Veron and then almost back in us to a loop called the root DEET yeah which is lots of views over the side of Shear drops great fun and one of the highlights there was to see a bird which we think was a vter yes flying somewhat below us and using The Thermals to to wander around some good video footage of that yeah yeah Ju Just A A Fab memory stop [Music] there [Music] Road surface a little bit little bit quarrelsome at times uh and given the fact that a big drop off some bugger or barriers yeah it did make you concentrate on your braking markers and all that kind of stuff [Music] [Music] there aren’t too many hotels up in the mountains so Mike and I found ourselves staying at a working farm so this was a a very um rural Barn yes on a farm I guess a working farm they they got a swimming pool they got a restaurant B and B indeed um and we settled in and said that’s marvelous can we have a beer served as a beer can we book ourselves in for dinner tonight no no you’re too late we’ve sold out go away oh they did it very nicely but they been told to go away even nicely not overly helpful so we found ourselves in the next Village along yes called foral I’m glad you can remember all these names CU I can’t remember all of them and I can’t remember all of them in the right order but I can remember some of that one nice Church yeah lovely uh restaurant yes in the middle of a back street somewhere in the mid of a festival going on I think there was some music being played in the Square yes of a kind of a Eastern origin I guess yeah yeah type thing yeah it was good to find to just s and watch that for a while while our Taxi Driver patiently came back and collected [Music] [Music] us the next day saw my and I headed on the recommendations of a mate up to the heights of mon Von 2 on Route we had to pass through suedes of Lavender Fields or as microG graphically call it purple with bees after riding over so much mountainous terrain over the past few weeks I thought I’d seen it all but Mom V 2 The Windy Mountain was a total surprise in most of the mountain ranges that would written so far you could see as far as the nearest Peak but with monant 2 the Earth just seemed to drop away and the view was Limitless it was definitely time to pull over and take in the full impact of this fantastic natural spectacle there’s a point I can’t think of any other Mountain that I’ve seen that looks like mon Von 2 with its Stark appearance and lack of vegetation it’s like something from a rocky lunar landscape or perhaps a James Bond film set as we came over the top we were met by an evil Bond villain flying with you know in formation of a couple of helicopters two helicopters did you see the cat there um I just imagine the cat in the helicopter that just that did it for me I’d Le on the way up so it was only fair that Mike took a turn anyway who can get lost going down the mountain well me obviously you checked out our earlier [Music] Adventures [Music] as we headed down the mountain Mike and I were looking forward to our visit to neem dubbed the French Rome they would of course be plenty to see but just as importantly we had been riding for a week without a break and it was an opportunity for us to hang up our boots once again and take in a few of the SES as walking tourists NE had a warm welcome for us but not necessarily in the way we’d expected when we ordered a beer with our evening meal well this is what turned up Mike was distinctly unimpressed and I had to call back the waiter and get a replacement that looked well more regular at the time we simply put it down to to a language miscommunication but the reason we were served these pink drinks became abundantly clear later on more of that later right now it’s time to visit neem it was another scorching hot day and I could have planned our visit a little better the learning point for me and this is you if you if you’re touring in very very hot towns this is something to bear in mind start at the highest point and get the taxi driver to drop you off there and then amble down to a bar where you can drink beer and eat ice cream until you’re rescued by said Taxi Driver our day in NE started with a visit to the sizable and very impressive Amphitheater where we learned rather too much about the practices of the time not far away was the Maison carare an amazingly preserved Roman Temple the French Department of Antiquities spent over 44,000 hours restoring the temple I guess that explains why it’s in such good condition Mike and I then spent a little while wandering around the town and taking in the sight the Roman era waterways in particular gave a relaxing vibe to the city center experience after a coffee stop though it was time for the final item on our agenda the tour Magna anyway it was a tower a Roman Tower fairly well preserved and one that you could walk up and and and the clue might been this was a watchtower that was built in order for the Defenders to be able to see if anybody was coming to attack the town and you’re suggesting that I missed the in my planning well it just seems logical that if you got to build the Watchtower you’d build it on the highest point this was of course Michael’s not so subtle way of telling me that he didn’t appreciate walking up to the tower from the center of neem it was a hot day and we were in need of refreshment so I offered to get some bottles of water Michael here is telling me that he only wants one finding our way back down to the town we settled for a bit here at a cafe overlooked by the Amazon Caray that we’d seen earlier the street scene got decidedly Lively and we realized with a bump that we’d arrived in gay pride [Music] week whilst I was enjoying the parade it suddenly occurred to me why that waiter had given us the pink monos the day before he suggest yest didn’t he said Monaco and we and we yeah be Monaco Monaco wherever he comes from yeah and two pink beers turned up so tast disgusting yes Two Fellas traveling on their own gay pride week yeah yeah had we known we might have be able to guess it but um we’d have put on our deeper voices one is I’d have just gone with it but for the fact that these mono drinks were properly disgusting yeah I mean I dried a bit you dried a bit yeah your fa as it all yeah um couldn’t be done called the guy over who apologized profusely and got us some actual beers yes day 21 3 weeks into our big European tour and the last day of this stage we’re on our way from neim to the historic city of kassan riding through the national park of oat long do the weather’s fine the views are Scenic and the roads are simply excellent however I’m really feeling the effects of this long road trip it seems that I’ve built up a kind of accumulated tiredness in the past few weeks that even a day off the bikes in neem hasn’t been able to reset Mike and I seem to arrive a bit more tired at the end of each touring day still we got a great location to end up in and I’m looking forward to a mutual round in the meanwhile I’ll have to console myself with finally getting to ride along one of those long treelined avenues that typify riding in France Mike and I arrived hot and bothered but were warm welcome in carcasson after a quick shower and a beer we went exploring the ancient city the Fortified inner area that sits proudly above the more modern town [Music] over the past 2 and a half thousand years the city has endured a checked history of Defense occupation abandonment and finally rebuilding it was restored in the 19th century by vet luk and joined the UNESCO world heritage list in [Music] 1997 it’s a truly captivating spectacle and a worthy sight to top off the Third Leg of our [Music] tour join us in part four when Mike and I travel through Andor to Spain the Pyrenees and finally to the beautiful Picos to [Music] Europa [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]