This time we return to the plan that we had to give up last year when our knees abandoned us right at the beginning of the journey. In March we will leave for Sicily, passing through the Amalfi Coast and Cilento. 

We plan to be in Sicily by mid-May, stay for about a month, and then escape the extreme heat towards the Pyrenees (the French part was recommended to us, and that's what we plan to do also to practice some French!).

In August we should arrive in Spain and, if we have time, we would like to also visit Portugal. In October we will begin to descend towards Tarifa or Gibraltar and then go to Morocco at the beginning of November, where we plan to stay for a few months waiting for the end of European winter (to bypass the cold!). 

This is the plan…we'll see how it develops!

Preparation

First of all, we disassembled all the components, regreased, changed some cables, housing and the chains, so that we don’t have to worry much for the first couple of months! 

We also checked the tensions of our wheels and discovered that one of the spokes on Annie’s bike was completely loosen - yet it didn’t break and the wheel was decently centered…so we did a pretty good job with the wheels!

For Germain’s bike, we changed the front derailleur as it didn't fit well the chainrings - this was causing the chain to get stuck frequently between the chainring and the derailleur.

We also decided to get rid of the front bike touring bag as it was bulky and not very easy to access because of the handlebars we mount - it has been replaced with a bikepacking handlebar bag mounted towards the driver, we will see how this goes!

Having had various problems with the mattresses we had, we decided to invest in better performing and lighter mattresses (which we hope will last for long considering how much they cost us!). 

We also reviewed the tools and spare parts, managing to lose around 4 kg compared to last time (our knees thank us)!

Route Planning

It took us about 8 hours to plan the initial route spread over a couple of days. We used Komoot maps and some cycle itineraries (Francigena and Eurovelo).

The initial outline is often modified along the way because the people we meet often suggest better places or routes and/or because sometimes we have to fall back on other routes due to bad weather!

Itinerary - Initial Draft

The first stretch of this journey involves starting from Senigallia, crossing the Apennines, taking a part of the Francigena and then traveling along part of the Eurovelo 7. 

Not knowing what changes we will make to the Komoot track we have developed, at the moment we are only posting an approximate image of the route we plan to take!