Daryl Collis, and Michiel Vaal invited Anne Bridgstock and Judith Rout to join them on a cycling trip to Italy this year. Thank you to Anne for this report about how it went.
How to write about a cycling trip? So difficult as we all know that putting into words the miles, fun, tricky bits and laughter is hard to share on paper. We were so lucky to have the opportunity to do this trip and grateful now to have had this experience.
In our case, we set off by car for Pisa in Italy. The logistics of getting 4 people with 4 bikes there by train proving exceptionally difficult and we had chosen not to fly. In many ways having the car journey really set us up well for the holiday.
So, the cycling – we set off from Pisa, carrying all we needed with us but bikes loaded as minimally as possible. We had an end aim of Florence and then a straight line back to Pisa, taking in both roads from the Strada Bianche and Eroica. This took us across Tuscany and sections of Umbria. A few
alterations were made along the way and the mileage on some days cut a little – not through lack of stamina I’d like to add……. , some of the off road sections were more a case of push, carry and drag the bikes as opposed to ride, unbelievable fun but very time consuming.
The white gravel was remarkable and whilst steep in sections was a joy to ride, the views simply stunning, food – well it was Italy so I will say no more and the company, of course, outstanding.
Off road through grassy fields with tracks was handled beautifully by the gravel bikes. On both gravel and dirt a few tips on ‘how too’ from Daryl were highly beneficial. As for the roads, the days where these were essential they were an absolute joy with wide sweeping bends, good surfaces and views to knock you out on the way. I may have forgotten to
mention the hills – well there were a few – long, sometimes with double figure gradients and sometimes on gravel. Somehow, when you are there that turns out to be ok.
To summarise, Judith and I we were both very nervous before going, grateful for the opportunity but worried we had bitten off more than we could chew. With support from Daryl and Michiel, we both achieved more than we thought we could and loved every moment.
Learning to adapt to shared accommodation, having the occasional washing machine, good food and good company means everything else just flows.
This is written from the perspective of the female section of the trip, we were grateful for all the support. I hope we provided enough laughs and good company along
the way to make it worth dragging us up those hills!
PS from Judith. Anne didn’t have any trouble getting up those hills, it was me who did!
PPS And here’s the link to Daryl’s blog about the trip which is well worth reading The White roads, Italy, April/May 2026 – Tales from the Saddle
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