slow starts

due to some heavy rainfalls and in general pretty nasty weather in the beginning of march we postponed the start to mid march. on the 17th we then finally packed our bags, had a last breakfast in our beloved flat and hit the road at around 1 pm. the sun was shining, the air still pretty chilly. starting felt unreal, the bikes seemed impossible to handle, the weight of the bags making them so heavy, especially in the front. we made only about 21 km on the first day, the hills made us very slow and we decided to find a campspot before dawn would set in.

in the beginning everything was new, exciting and sometimes overwhelming. packing up the panniers again every morning took a lot of time. we needed to find our rhythm, needed to figure out at what time it was best for us to have a break and eat, and what to eat. we camped wild in the first months, took cold baths in rivers and lakes, felt dirty in the morning when we didn't find a place with water to camp at.

we rode from Germany, where we made some stops to visit friends and family to say goodbye, to the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg (only for one night though), France and Switzerland. this took us around 3 months. we were slow, took the time to rest when our bodies told us to, to eat when we were hungry, to sleep in when we were tired. multiple times we spend a week at one place, to settle a bit, go on walks, cook in a real kitchen. spring was coming slowly this year and we had our first few days with really warm weather when we crossed the Swiss border in the beginning of may.

for us, crossing the alps with our heavy bikes was an important milestone. we planned on doing that from the start but were not entirely sure about what we had to expect. in the end we had great company from my cousin and uncle. my cousin was always on my side, super fit herself and without any luggage. the views fascinated us, those raw stones, still covered in snow sometimes. when we were on top, cycling the very last few km, i was getting pretty emotional, happy and proud about what I was capable of, cycling on such steep roads for such a long time, just up, all the way. again, the sun was with us, we had beautiful warm weather and the roads were not too busy. crossing this mountain range means a lot to us. it gave us the assurance that we were capable of doing anything, crossing mountains (literally and metaphorically) and also kind of marked the “real” start of the trip. now we were really able to understand what we were doing. after the alps, the landscape differed a lot. mediteranian flair with palm trees, agaves and the beautiful Italian language. Tessin already felt like Italy and not swiss anymore. when we then soon entered the actual Italy a few days later, we reconned how not true that was. Italy differed a lot from Switzerland. poorer, louder, stinkier. not made for bicyclists but for cars. the roads were in terrible conditions compared to the ones in Switzerland and the traffic was nothing but stressful and sometimes even seriously dangerous. many cardrivers were not paying attention, used their phones while driving and overtook us in very risky situations.

the flipped image