# Rome to Home 2015



## wintonbina (23 Aug 2013)

I'm intending to do a ride from Rome to Home (Bournemouth via Le Havre or Cherbourg) in 2015 over 2 weeks starting at Rome Airport.
Has anyone done anything similar and if so could you give me any tips on the routes and any no no's please?
I'm expecting to do it supported & with a mixture of camping & B&B's.
Many thanks,
Tony


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## Chris Norton (23 Aug 2013)

Thought about warmshowers rather than B and B's?
Could meet up with some like minded continentals and get to know the route that way.


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## bof (23 Aug 2013)

Have you looked into the Via Francigena? This is the old pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome, so via the Calais Ferry I loosely followed it three years ago on a fast tour from London to Northern Italy, staying in hotels. Included the Grand St Bernard pass which was fine on the bike - some websites give the impression its cycling hell - that's the Col de Montgenevre which takes heavy lorry traffic. You could take it up to Burgundy and then go along the Seine (roughly) to Le Havre, going through, or avoiding Paris, to taste.


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## andym (24 Aug 2013)

I'm not sure where to start.

Most of Italy is either mountainous or very hilly. Going through Lazio and Toscana you can be easily doing 1000 metres of climbing for every 50 kms on the road. Don't underestimate what you might be taking on. Two weeks? Hmm..

There are two main routes you can do:

- follow the coast. Much less climbing and more places to camp;

- inland through Toscana and Lazio to Pisa and then through Liguria and Piemonte. This is much more interesting but more demanding. (From Pisa onward I'd recommend following the Moncenisio variant of the Bicitalia Ciclovia dei Pellegrini (Eurovelo 5).

One of the key things you need to decide is where to cross the Alps. Montgenèvre is a definite possibility but there are others - they all have their pluses and minuses.

The Via Francigena has lots of stretches on dirt roads. I think it's probably best done lightly-loaded with a pilgrm's credential and staying in pilgrims' hostels.

My website www.italy-cycling-guide.info has comprehensive information about campsites and hostels in Piemonte, Liguria, Toscana and Lazio. I'm also planning to include lots of information about routes to Rome over the Autumn/Winter (I'm posting this from a campsite high in the hills north of Lucca in Toscana).

I'd be happy to comment if you want to post details of your route when you have had the chance to do some planning.


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## wintonbina (28 Aug 2013)

Thank you for the replies. As stated it's early doors at the moment & we do know that there will be a few hills but it should be within our capabilities as long as we put the hard miles in over the coming year! (We did LeJoG & 3 Peaks challenge in 11days a while ago so want to up the ante!)
So onwards & upwards (especially upwards!)  and I will put some rough route ideas on here soon.
Thanks again, Tony


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## bof (4 Sep 2013)

andym said:


> The Via Francigena has lots of stretches on dirt roads. I think it's probably best done lightly-loaded with a pilgrm's credential and staying in pilgrims' hostels.
> .



Just to clarify, use it as a loose guide for a decent route. Some of the morden route is designed for horse riding, on some stages between the old pilgrim stops the original pilgrim route is now a motorway!


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## briantrumpet (14 Sep 2013)

I did Paris to Rome this year, if it's any help - you can work out most of the route from the blog p2r2013.blogspot.com - the route over the Alps we did (Col du Mont Cenis) was superb (we only went that way as the Galibier was still under 15ft of snow, in June). There were a few less pleasant bits (e.g. the roads in Lazio are in a shocking state, especially after the dreamy Tuscany roads) and watch out for Italian tunnels - some don't allow bikes, and some that do suddenly lose all their lighting. But overall a good route, even if the stretch of the Med we went along was mostly dull, dull, dull.


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## wintonbina (15 Sep 2013)

briantrumpet said:


> I did Paris to Rome this year, if it's any help - you can work out most of the route from the blog p2r2013.blogspot.com - the route over the Alps we did (Col du Mont Cenis) was superb (we only went that way as the Galibier was still under 15ft of snow, in June). There were a few less pleasant bits (e.g. the roads in Lazio are in a shocking state, especially after the dreamy Tuscany roads) and watch out for Italian tunnels - some don't allow bikes, and some that do suddenly lose all their lighting. But overall a good route, even if the stretch of the Med we went along was mostly dull, dull, dull.


 
Hi Brian, Thank you for your link to the blog (I will read it during this week). How do you find out which tunnels you can/cannot cycle through? 
Cheers,
Tony


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## briantrumpet (15 Sep 2013)

wintonbina said:


> How do you find out which tunnels you can/cannot cycle through?


We found out when we got to each one. There are signs telling you which you can't go through, and occasionally an initially signposted diversion for cyclists, though the signs might run out, so check your map.

One tunnel (alluded to above) was one of the scariest things any of us have ended up doing. Entered downhill tunnel, back lights flashing, didn't look very long, reasonably decent tunnel lights. Halfway though, it was as if someone had just switched out all the lights - in fact, of course, there was a section of the tunnel where the lights were out, but not one of the six of us saw it coming, and for about 10-15 seconds the ONLY thing any of us could see was the occasional headlight of a car coming in the opposite direction. We couldn't see the road, the tunnel wall, the kerb, the light at the end of the tunnel, just car lights coming towards us. So we just pointed our bikes slightly to the right of the car lights and hoped. We didn't dare slow down too much as there were cars behind, but their lights seemed not to illuminate our way. My knees were shaking by the time I reached daylight, and the first thing we all did was to count the others to make sure we'd all emerged.

So, in brief, be warned. You can't avoid tunnels in places, but take care - most of them are fine ... but....


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## andym (16 Sep 2013)

bof said:


> Just to clarify, use it as a loose guide for a decent route. Some of the morden route is designed for horse riding, on some stages between the old pilgrim stops the original pilgrim route is now a motorway!



I agree and in some ways it's the most scenic/interesting route. The main road from Empoli onwards is the Via Cassia and you can cycle on it - and probably if you use auto-routing software or route-planning software it's the one the software will suggest. It's the most direct option and at some points it's the most practical, but it's by a long way the dullest. My advice would be to avoid it where you can and in particular to climb to Radicofani (the traditional route) rather than taking the tunnel.

On the subject of tunnels, In case anyone gets the wrong impression from Brian's posts: the vast majority of tunnels in Italy (setting aside the open-sided ones and very short ones) are fully lit. I've cycled about 20,000 kms in northern, central and southern Italy and only come across one significant unlit tunnel (to the east of the Lago d'Iseo) which was pretty hellish but very much the exception. (Although I should say that I tend to avoid tunnels and roads with tunnels).

(Brian out of interest, where was this tunnel?).

Very few tunnels are off-limits to bikes (although a fair number of *roads* are off-limits).

Lights are of course a very very good idea.

If you take time to plan your route you should be able to cycle to/from Roma and encounter very, very few tunnels -if any. Indeed you could go from the border with Austria to almost Napoli without meeting a significant tunnel.

Coming through Liguria there's a tunnel in the coast (near a town whose name I can't remember for the moment) that you can't avoid, north of Lucca there's a tunnel that's off-limits to bikes, which you can avoid although there's no signposted alternative. If you're coming from the north-east there's a tunnel (possibly more than one) south of Bologna that you can avoid by going via the Lago di Suviana (following the Ciclopista del Sole bike route).

It's a good idea to get the Touring Club Italiano road maps (or Atlantide) and not rely on Google alone - the TCI maps have useful additional information - eg they show dual carriageways, which are often off-limits to bikes. They also show most tunnels. In particular, avoid if you can, any road with an E number. The OSM maps from velomaps.org are very useful (apart from anything else they show tunnels).


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## briantrumpet (16 Sep 2013)

andym said:


> On the subject of tunnels, Brian is being a little melodramatic: the vast majority of tunnels in Italy (setting aside the open-sided ones and very short ones) are fully lit. I've cycled about 20,000 kms in northern, central and southern Italy and only come across one significant unlit tunnel (to the east of the Lago d'Iseo) which was pretty hellish but very much the exception. (Although I should say that I tend to avoid tunnels and roads with tunnels).
> 
> (Brian out of interest, where was this tunnel?).
> 
> Very few tunnels are off-limits to bikes (although a fair number of *roads* are off-limits). Lights are of course a very very good idea.


The tunnel was coming down the hill into La Spezia. It's possible we missed a 'no bikes' sign, but all six of us missed it, if we did. Yes, agreed the other tunnels we went through were fine, but not surprisingly this was the one we remembered most vividly!


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## andym (16 Sep 2013)

briantrumpet said:


> The tunnel was coming down the hill into La Spezia. It's possible we missed a 'no bikes' sign, but all six of us missed it, if we did. Yes, agreed the other tunnels we went through were fine, but not surprisingly this was the one we remembered most vividly!



I don't know whether it's off-limits to bikes, but IIRC it's marked on my TCI map - as is the much nicer 'strada panoramica'. Decent maps are worth the price and the weight.

The Bicitalia Via dei Pellegrini (Moncenisio variant) provides you with an excellent route through Liguria and Piemonte and really is worth checking out.

More generally often tunnels are built as an alternative to an existing road, or as a bypass - so it's always worth asking 'where's the old road?'. This doesn't always work as the old road may have been swept away by a land slide, but it often does work.

Similar thing with 'superstrade' - often the old road is still there and makes for a bike-friendly alternative. Again a good map helps - or if you are using digital mapping then zoom in.


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## briantrumpet (16 Sep 2013)

andym said:


> I don't know whether it's off-limits to bikes, but IIRC it's marked on my TCI map - as is the much nicer 'strada panoramica'. Decent maps are worth the price and the weight.


100% agree. I wasn't in charge of the planning, so went with the flow. There was one day when I got very grumpy, when the group's GPS was in a strop and wouldn't work, the map we had was wholly inadequate, and the Italian road signs decided to play games with us. Just a quick look at googlemaps suggests that there are perfectly good alternatives to _that_ tunnel.


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## Mr Bunbury (18 Sep 2013)

Have I done Rome to Home? Yes, here's my crazyguyonabike journal. I took a slightly indirect route: across Italy to Ancona, across the Adriatic then up through Croatia, Slovenia and Austria to Munich, stop for a day to sample the Oktoberfest then across Germany and Holland to Rotterdam after 2 weeks. This was in the autumn last year, it was good fun but a bit chilly towards the end. Everything up to Salzburg was amazing but it got a bit boring after that.

Enjoy your trip!


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## Blue Hills (19 Sep 2013)

Mr Bunbury said:


> Have I done Rome to Home? Yes, here's my crazyguyonabike journal. I took a slightly indirect route: across Italy to Ancona, across the Adriatic then up through Croatia, Slovenia and Austria to Munich, stop for a day to sample the Oktoberfest then across Germany and Holland to Rotterdam after 2 weeks. This was in the autumn last year, it was good fun but a bit chilly towards the end. Everything up to Salzburg was amazing but it got a bit boring after that.
> 
> Enjoy your trip!


Looks great - looking forward to reading it in more detail later.

Is there a typo on the names of the Taiwanese folk you met? - one of the names different in text and pic caption.


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## wintonbina (20 Sep 2013)

Well, the first 4 days are loosely planned!
Day 1 Rome Airport to Grosseto 111miles.
Day 2 to Pisa 95miles
Day 3 to Genoa 110miles
Day 4 to Monaco 116miles.
We are going to try & stick to the coast roads and staying in small hotels.
Your thoughts please!
Tony


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## briantrumpet (20 Sep 2013)

wintonbina said:


> Your thoughts please!
> Tony


Genoa's really grim! I don't know if there's an alternative, but it's not a pleasant ride through there - busy, industrial and tatty.


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## psmiffy (20 Sep 2013)

briantrumpet said:


> Genoa's really grim! I don't know if there's an alternative, but it's not a pleasant ride through there - busy, industrial and tatty.



A bit harsh on Genoa - yes if you keep to the sea then the docks do seem to go on and on - however the old town is worth a look - world heritage site and all that - certainly not so repulsive on the occasions i've been there to high tail it into the hills.


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## briantrumpet (21 Sep 2013)

psmiffy said:


> A bit harsh on Genoa - yes if you keep to the sea then the docks do seem to go on and on - however the old town is worth a look - world heritage site and all that - certainly not so repulsive on the occasions i've been there to high tail it into the hills.


Fair enough - yes, we were on a tight schedule, so pedalled through the straight through grim bits as fast as we could. Sounds like there's a more scenic route, if you have time.


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## andym (21 Sep 2013)

It's about 11 kms from the centre of Genova to Voltri - which takes you well past the docks.

Tony can I ask what you are hoping to get out of this?

The route you've chosen isn't bad but definitely the least interesting and scenic alternative you could have chosen. (BTW don't assume that the coast road is flat - between La Spezia and Genova it definitely isn't, and some sections of the SS1 Via Aurelia are off-limits to bikes). But you seem to be basically only interested in getting in the maximum number of miles a day: what is the point If the experience is dull and boring? You might just as well save yourself some money and do the miles on a turbo trainer.



briantrumpet said:


> Sounds like there's a more scenic route, if you have time.



No there isn't a more scenic route - but you need to take the time to look around, or just be a little bit curious. The city psmiffy is talking about is a few metres off the main road.

And of course ultimately you determine how much time you have.


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## briantrumpet (21 Sep 2013)

andym said:


> The route you've chosen isn't bad but definitely the least interesting and scenic alternative you could have chosen. (BTW don't assume that the coast road is flat - between La Spezia and Genova it definitely isn't, and some sections of the SS1 Via Aurelia are off-limits to bikes). But you seem to be basically only interested in getting in the maximum number of miles a day: what is the point If the experience is dull and boring? You might just as well save yourself some money and do the miles on a turbo trainer.


Depends how you view these things - we did Paris to Rome in eleven days, and though we did have some tedious sections (in order to stick within the time we had available) it was worth it for the bits which weren't tedious/grim. A day on the turbo wouldn't have got us from Cuneo to Chiavari. And we wouldn't have found the restaurant where we had to eat 2kgs of steak before getting back on the bikes....


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## andym (22 Sep 2013)

To be more specific about the Via Aurelia. SFAIK this is a superstrada through most of Toscana. I've ridden parts of it near Montalto di Castro in northern Lazio - so at some point south of Grossetto it becomes a normal road (although still a dual carriageway) but I don't know exactly where. It also becomes a normal road north of Livorno (but you're better off sticking to the coast via Viareggio).

The old road the Vecchia Aurelia is still in place for much of the way - although not very interesting (with the exception of the section between Livorno and Castiglioncello). The most problematic spot is south of Grossetto where the best option is probably to go through Montiano, Magliano di Toscana, and Capalbio.

I'll be publishing a guide to the coast toute with the saner more attractive options.



briantrumpet said:


> Depends how you view these things - we did Paris to Rome in eleven days, and though we did have some tedious sections (in order to stick within the time we had available) it was worth it for the bits which weren't tedious/grim. A day on the turbo wouldn't have got us from Cuneo to Chiavari. And we wouldn't have found the restaurant where we had to eat 2kgs of steak before getting back on the bikes....



Hmm - you missed out on the scenic route into La Spezia and the old city of Genova and probably an awful lot else besides (eg the scenic road above Chiavari?). (I did this route earlier this summer mostly focusing on mapping the route to the border and I now realise how many interesting places I bypassed - so I'm going back next year).

No doubt you found things to enjoy, but would you have found more if you'd taken longer, or aimed to cover fewer miles? I'm absolutely certain you would have.

I can understand people not being interested in sightseeing but when arbitrary mileage targets mean bypassing the most challenging and interesting cycling and confining yourself to flat, boring, busy roads? I'm mystified.


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## briantrumpet (22 Sep 2013)

andym said:


> No doubt you found things to enjoy, but would you have found more if you'd taken longer, or aimed to cover fewer miles? I'm absolutely certain you would have.
> 
> I can understand people not being interested in sightseeing but when arbitrary mileage targets mean bypassing the most challenging and interesting cycling and confining yourself to flat, boring, busy roads? I'm mystified.


...though we certainly wouldn't have got from Paris to Rome in the time we had available, and probably wouldn't have raised £7400 for Hospiscare, if we'd gone on a more circuitous route. Another time, more of a sightseeing route would be nice. But this wasn't the time - I'll accept there was a price to be paid. But we still got to see plenty of interesting places, even though Genoa wasn't one of them for us. It's great that you've obviously got really good knowledge of what there is around there, then others can make informed choices.


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## wintonbina (22 Sep 2013)

andym said:


> It's about 11 kms from the centre of Genova to Voltri - which takes you well past the docks.
> 
> Tony can I ask what you are hoping to get out of this?
> 
> ...


 Hi AndyM,

The reason we are doing this bike ride challenge is to raise as much money as we can for my late son's foundation and also to raise our profile so that more people become aware of us and how we can possibly help them in their sporting dreams. The guys that do these 'challenges' only have limited time off from their work (we are all volunteers for the charitable stuff) and our contacts at the local TV companies & newspapers have said they will cover us if the events are newsworthy enough (ie extreme). But we do get time out to enjoy ourselves, the banter between the guys is immense but as I said previously its all about the fund raising for us.
And if the scenic route is only a few miles longer and less hillier  please let me know because we would prefer it!
Many thanks,
Tony


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## andym (27 Sep 2013)

Hi Tony (and Brian)

I should have realised we were talking about sponsored charity rides. D'Oh!

I guess getting people to sponsor you on the basis of a combination of the amount of climbing and the miles done, is probably too hard a sell.

Sadly I can't offer a scenic route that's *less* hilly, than the coast road, but if you wanted something that was a bit more interesting without a massive detour I'd suggest going via the Lago di Bracciano and the Lago di Bolsena (the north Lazio coast really isn't that great and you may also find the road quite slow). And in Toscana I'd suggest following the road through the hills a little way inland: Campiglia Marittima - Suvereto - Sassetta - Castagneto Carducci - Bolgheri - Guardistallo - Cecina. If you can find the time the road between Ameglia and Lerici (near La Spezia) is well worth it.

Campsites inland are IME much better than on the coast. If you are going out of the main season then bungalows on campsites can be an economical option. Booking.com has extremely good coverage, and is definitely the easiest way to find accommodation (and out-of-season, bargains).

Good luck.


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## wintonbina (15 Sep 2014)

Well......I think I have the route(ish) sorted. We, 21 of us + a physio & a driver are intending to fly out to Rome Airport on Friday September 18th and start the ride by 'visiting' Campiglia Marittima, Sassetta, Bolgheri, Cecina, Pisa, La Spezia, Genoa, Sanremo, Aix-en-Provence, by pass Avignon, then on to Clermont-Ferrand, Tours, Mayenne, Saint Lo and finally to Cherbourg where we will catch the ferry home to Poole/Bournemouth on Saturday 3rd October 16 days in total so I would appreciate any advice on improvements, better (flatter) roads, places to visit as long as it's not too far off the beaten track and accommodation tips please!
Many thanks,
Tony
I


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## Dave Davenport (16 Sep 2014)

wintonbina said:


> accommodation tips please
> I



We only stayed in one (which we thought was very good) as we camped most of the time between Genoa and Caen this August, but there seem to be loads of agritiuristica (farm guest houses) in northern Italy.


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## briantrumpet (16 Sep 2014)

wintonbina said:


> Well......I think I have the route(ish) sorted. We, 21 of us + a physio & a driver are intending to fly out to Rome Airport on Friday September 18th and start the ride by 'visiting' Campiglia Marittima, Sassetta, Bolgheri, Cecina, Pisa, La Spezia, Genoa, Sanremo, Aix-en-Provence, by pass Avignon, then on to Clermont-Ferrand, Tours, Mayenne, Saint Lo and finally to Cherbourg where we will catch the ferry home to Poole/Bournemouth on Saturday 3rd October 16 days in total so I would appreciate any advice on improvements, better (flatter) roads, places to visit as long as it's not too far off the beaten track and accommodation tips please!I


If it's any help, when I rode down to Die in 2012, I covered part of the route, from the Rhône to Tours, and all of that was an absolute delight. I stayed in B&Bs all the way, but as I was only me (and not 21), I suspect none of my recommendations would be helpful. Though the highlight accommodation was in Boën, at a place called Chez Gillou: http://www.chezgillou.com/ - stupidly cheap, clean and quirky. Might have enough space. Anyway, the route I took is here: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1441823 - if you want to ask about any of the places on that route, I'll see if I can remember!


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## wintonbina (17 Sep 2014)

andym said:


> Hi Tony (and Brian)
> 
> I should have realised we were talking about sponsored charity rides. D'Oh!
> 
> ...


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## andym (21 Sep 2014)

Hi Wintonbina

There's shedloads of information on my website (including a guides to riding the coasts of Liguria, Toscana and Lazio):

http://italy-cycling-guide.info

I have along list of places and routes that I still haven't written about, so if you can't find what you're looking for please do get in touch using the contact-form on the site.


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## briantrumpet (21 Sep 2014)

andym said:


> Hi Wintonbina
> 
> There's shedloads of information on my website (including a guides to riding the coasts of Liguria, Toscana and Lazio):
> 
> ...


Nice website.


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## andym (22 Sep 2014)

Thanks Brian.

I was about to amend my reply to Wintonbina to say that I've just published a couple of maps to help people avoid nasty surprises - one shows roads (other than motorways) that are off-limits to bikes, and the other shows road tunnels with information on how to avoid them, where you can.

http://italy-cycling-guide.info/planning-your-tour/routeplanning-which-roads/

PS just come back from a few days cycling in Devon and Cornwall - jeez was that hard!


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## wintonbina (22 Sep 2014)

andym said:


> Thanks Brian.
> 
> I was about to amend my reply to Wintonbina to say that I've just published a couple of maps to help people avoid nasty surprises - one shows roads (other than motorways) that are off-limits to bikes, and the other shows road tunnels with information on how to avoid them, where you can.
> 
> ...


Thank you Andy,
I will do my upmost to look at them this week...and yes Devon & Cornwall is quite hilly so how do their hills rank against the Rome to Home route? 
Cheers,
Tony


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## briantrumpet (22 Sep 2014)

wintonbina said:


> Devon & Cornwall is quite hilly so how do their hills rank against the Rome to Home route?


From memory, the legs found Tuscany not too dissimilar to Devon, as the roads are constantly going up and down, but no properly long hills. I find alpine hills generally less punishing, as they tend to be gentler gradients, and you can settle into a rhythm.


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## squemmy (22 Sep 2014)

hi we are doing the same thing to somerset in july 2015 but unsupported. we aim to get the ferry into Weymouth so if you wanted to come with us you could leave us at Weymouth ?


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## wintonbina (22 Sep 2014)

Thank you Brian, you've made me feel a bit better knowing that . I've/we've started our training now so only 360 days to go!
And thank you for your offer squemmy, but I think once will be enough for me!
Tony


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## andym (26 Sep 2014)

briantrumpet said:


> From memory, the legs found Tuscany not too dissimilar to Devon, as the roads are constantly going up and down, but no properly long hills. I find alpine hills generally less punishing, as they tend to be gentler gradients, and you can settle into a rhythm.



My GPS agrees with your legs. Riding in inland Toscana (in fact a lot of places in Italy) I was averaging 1000 metres of climbing for every 50kms on the road. (The climb over Exmoor came in at nearly 2000 metres which would be a good day in the Alps).

Psychologically I found Devon and Cornwall harder: if you're dealing with somewhere with really big hills you know that once you get to the top you can relax and cruise for a while, but in Devon/Cornwall you get to the top and there's always (or almost always) another one waiting for you.


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## wintonbina (28 Dec 2015)

Well, I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms but I can always watch our video of the trip 
View: https://www.facebook.com/sbfltd/videos/10153378370987983/?video_source=pages_finch_trailer&theater


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