Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

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MrsHJ
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Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by MrsHJ »

Has anyone done the eurovelo 8 from say Turin to Trieste.

I don’t know if this is an idle thought or a serious tour prospect so interested to know experiences. My cycle tour friends toured Italy when my kids were too small to be left and found it a little busy for their taste. I think I can sneak in a fortnight the last week of April and first week of May before junior starts her exams (I’m lucky that work will let me buy extra holiday/take unpaid leave). Whilst I’ll probably stick to France I suspect it could be really nice in Italy around that time.

The route is outlined here. https://cycle.travel/map/journey/185304

Found some good info here: https://italy-cycling-guide.info/intern ... urovelo-8/
Bike friendly hotels etc https://www.albergabici.it/it/ricerca?keywords=Turin
Last edited by MrsHJ on 13 Feb 2022, 9:54pm, edited 1 time in total.
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic

Post by MrsHJ »

I wanted to give a quick update. I was suggested an alternate route called the AIDA across northern Italy which is marked in maps as the BI20.

Here is the link. https://www.aidainbici.it/

It looks looks roughly like this on cycle.travel. https://cycle.travel/map/journey/287478

I’m going to add it onto the thread title.

Funnily enough having decided Italy or possibly EV6 was a go for the first 2 weeks in May him indoors has suggested tagging along with junior which may mean a reversion to the Velo Francette so they can do various school related stuff in Normandy and on the Loire and spend some time with me. So this one might be deferred to next spring.
MarcusT
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by MarcusT »

Just taking a quick look at the route, it seems that they take a lot of detours to avoid traffic. The route is probably twice as long. There are a number of roads that are quite busy, some with truck traffic, though only for a few kilometres. Unfortunately, many of the Eurovelo routes must follow roads for such an undertaking.
There area number of cycling paths and more opening up everyday.
A convenient path is the: https://www.alpe-adria-radweg.com/. If this interests you. it also has an alternate route through Slovenia..
For other bike routes, sorrily most of the websites are in Italian only, but this is a helpful site: https://www.bikeitalia.it/
I wish it were as easy as riding a bike
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by MrsHJ »

That’s ok, I speak a little Italian, nothing amazing but enough for websites and restaurants etc.

This route doesn’t quite hit the criteria I’m looking for - either for a spring cycle or for gentle in case I’m unfit when I go but good to know it’s there- I thought it might be another name for the via Augusta but I see it’s an entirely different route. Agreed on the need to audit any of the routes to see how they suit me though- certainly a lot of routes are designed for day cyclists having a good time rather than tourers trying to get somewhere.

More links:
Overview from cycle.travel https://cycle.travel/route/summary/185304
Refined route https://cycle.travel/map/journey/287740
Accommodation https://www.albergabici.it/it/
Bikitalia route 2 Po valley http://www.bicitalia.org/it/bicitalia/g ... via-del-po
Route 6 (Adriatic) http://www.bicitalia.org/it/bicitalia/g ... -adriatica
Eurovelo 8 links (including for guides) https://en.eurovelo.com/ev8/italy
Bikeline book for the Po: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/produ ... LUEALw_wcB
Italian guidebook (check for updated version) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ciclovia-Secon ... 8865490136
https://italy-cycling-guide.info/traffi ... eway-fe20/
Trains Turin or Milan stations https://italy-cycling-guide.info/gettin ... -services/
Last edited by MrsHJ on 5 Mar 2022, 10:50am, edited 1 time in total.
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by MrsHJ »

After a lot of debate and sorting out my schedule to tie into work, kids and home I am now doing this trip in the last week of April and first week of May.

It’s an unusual time for a cycle trip for me and ties into the last weekend that flights go from Heathrow to Turin (presumably for skiing) so it seems serendipitous plus I suspect timing wise early May will be a good time to be in Italy.
That means I can get as far as I want along the Adriatic coast before picking up a train to Venice and flying back into Heathrow from there.

In terms of the route I am leaning heavily towards EV8. Very much looking forward to it and fingers crossed it comes together. Flights are booked. I scored business tickets for similar price to economy plus baggage as business includes all my luggage and bike. I may look a little scruffy for the lounge.

I think I’m now locked in to broadly this route- for example I’ve chosen to visit a couple of smaller cities instead of Parma but I’ve built them in (as otherwise I know I’ll go straight past- anything to make the route straighter!). I’ve booked a few difficult pieces of accommodation in the areas where it’s few and far between. I’ll sort out the bigger towns and cities later on- fitness wise this is something I could get off the sofa and do tomorrow so it’s aimed to be a spring build up trip with plenty of sightseeing at my mostly stunning evening stops rather than anything serious. https://cycle.travel/map/journey/288970

Looking forward to Turin, Pavia, Piacenza, Cremona, Mantua/Mantova, Ferrara, Chioggia, Venice, Udine, Grado, Monfalcone- then train back to Venice Mestre and fly home.
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Navrig
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by Navrig »

Good thread, it is useful for me.

viewtopic.php?t=149910
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Sweep
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by Sweep »

Please report back Mrs HJ.
Sweep
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ConRAD
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by ConRAD »

MrsHJ wrote: 18 Feb 2022, 7:19pm... after a lot of debate ...
... maybe it's not exactly in your plans but, please, consider THIS PART as the final part of your trip.

APRIL 2018 : http://prendoillargo.blogspot.com/searc ... -results=1
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by MrsHJ »

ConRAD wrote: 23 Feb 2022, 8:53pm
MrsHJ wrote: 18 Feb 2022, 7:19pm... after a lot of debate ...
... maybe it's not exactly in your plans but, please, consider THIS PART as the final part of your trip.

APRIL 2018 : http://prendoillargo.blogspot.com/searc ... -results=1
Hmmm, noted and I’m pretty sure my bike line book covers that part. Need to think. I have Adria to Chioggia in my plan at the moment which does miss out that section you’re recommending. Thank you. ps great job with your you tube video.
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by MrsHJ »

So I am a go for Friday subject to any final calamities (I’m convinced this trip is jinxed after our Xmas trip to Norway was cancelled).

Anyway daughter had Covid last week and my crank was borked at the weekend but crank is fixed and no one else has caught Covid so this trip might actually happen. I actually bought insurance today (everything is cancellable and the insurance doesn’t cover catching Covid before you travel). I am wildly unfit but not planning any major days and it is totally flat (famous last words).

If this goes well next spring is Padua to Brindisi on the Adriatic route. That one will include @Conrads section in the delta. https://cycle.travel/map/journey/297455
Last edited by MrsHJ on 19 Apr 2022, 9:49pm, edited 2 times in total.
Jdsk
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by Jdsk »

Have fun.

Jonathan
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ConRAD
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by ConRAD »

MrsHJ wrote: 19 Apr 2022, 8:38pm... if this goes well next spring is Padua to Brindisi on the Adriatic route. That one will include @Conrads section in the delta...
... well, it sounds good so far but ... but if you can of course ... please move your starting point a little bit upwards and make it in Treviso ... i'll tell you why!!
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by MrsHJ »

A few initial thoughts.

I’m riding from Turin to Venice and on towards Trieste- I think I may finish slightly off route at Udine.

The first couple of days into Pavia were both very sketchy and very rough- no signage at all, somewhat challenging to get a route to work and in places for plenty of km at a time the cycle path was deep gravel which was very rough and not easy to ride. A lot of the quiet country roads were also either unmade or in such bad condition they should be assumed to be unmade. I was by myself quite a lot on random paths in the middle of nowhere (ok- there was usually a farmer pretty close)- on one occasion I found an unfordable stream (too deep) so had to do a fair diversion. I found myself cycling long days and diverting to busy roads to get to the planned stop. All in all a bit :wow:

The next couple of days from Pavia to Piacenza were significantly better. Still no or virtually no signage, some
very random bits of bike route- of the under gates, through industrial farmyards, drop offs from the levee onto rocky paths to get a route round a motorway. But the unpaved was all cyclable albeit a bit crazy in places. Some really nice cycling.

The last couple of days have featured signage and actually properly useful signage in a link route from the main path into Mantua where I’m staying tonight. No randomness for the last couple of days -actually joined up cycle route even though Piacenza was a horror to get out of. I have just seen signs for EV7 which meets EV8 just to the sough of here. Some very good routes.

Will post more later- strongly recommend taking the bike line guide and studying it carefully before travelling.
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 8 Italy Po valley and Adriatic and AIDA BI20

Post by MrsHJ »

I’ve now completed this route. If you want to see some photos I’ve put them on the eurovelo Facebook group as I no longer have access to my Flickr account. Big thank you to Richard for sharing the cycle.travel app with me to test out.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2291565 ... ?ref=share

I’ve now finished my trip mostly along EV8 in Italy from Torino/Turin to Udine and wanted to provide some information. I’ll probably come back to this a few times as I remember various aspects I wanted to share on the route, signage, road quality, accommodation etc. the route I did (and I mostly stuck to it) is higher up the thread- I need to check the exact distances but I did around 750km in the end.
I was looking for a spring warm up tour knowing I would probably be unfit (I was) so something easy but a bit more of a challenge than EV17 via Rhona that I did in September. Timing wise this was the only 2 week slot that worked so going south was appealing and I think a good choice. I haven’t toured in Italy before (and if you have you can probably stop reading now!) So I was interested to try it. I had the bike line guide to the Po with me which I would highly recommend. Bike line often shows 3 routes- the main route and a secondary route on the other side of the river and sometimes a variant so lots of choice. I focused my route around seeing some smaller cities as I knew most of the scenery would be flat farmland rather than dramatic mountains etc. the cities were truly stunning by the way and well worth the trip.
SIgnage - don’t expect any although there are some sections eg Mantua to Ferrara where it is pretty good but you will definitely need to be able to self navigate. I’d also recommend a gps route either in garmin or your phone- I had to use mine a lot to check routes.
Road quality - pretty poor from Turin to Pavia. A lot of unpaved deep gravel or busy roads, almost no bike infrastructure. I was north of the river for this section- maybe South is better. There were some nice parts along canals but the levees (which form the backbone of the route along the Po) were mostly not rideable by road bike I should think. I had a trail bike and struggled in places. I had to turn round once as there was a “Ford” so deep I think the bike would have sunk. Pavia to Piacenza was a lot better in terms of the surface although no sIgnage as such. One or two bizarre diversions eg through a very busy farm. After Piacenza it was a lot better- the route was joined up instead of in sections and there were far fewer surprises of the - “surely not through there” variety. From Mantua I saw EV8 signs. After Venice there was good signage still to Portoguaro ( not necessarily EV8) where I went off route to finish in Udine. I used hotels and B&Bs- there was camping but not lots of camping so you’d need to plan ahead. It’s not that heavily cycled a route by cyclotourists although I saw a few. I wouldn’t recommend it for kids or for first time tourists. Many hotels preferred to store the bike in there external car park on a bike rack which I didn’t love- you may want to bring a bigger lock than I did.
On the weather it was comfortable temperatures for me -mostly high teens and low to mid twenties in the afternoon but cool (still comfortable) in the morning. There could be quite a strong head wind (I actually reminded me of the Netherlands -lots of exposed routes and windy). Very little tree cover- suspect it would be too hot in July.

A word on levees which as I mentioned form the backbone of the route - they are raised surfaces and can be a way inland from the Po. They are mostly no or light traffic. The surface varies- after the first couple of days where they were poor I would say they were consistently rideable and quite often paved. They have no tree cover and can pick up quite lot of wind. Lots of local cyclists used the paved ones which is nice - the unpaved ones are less used. They generally skirt round the edge of towns and villages but it’s easy to drop off the levee - plenty of access roads - and go into the village. They largely don’t have benches or any facilities so if you want a sit down/water/emergency pastry/see some variety you should expect to go into some of the villages etc. Overall I spent maybe 75% or more of my time on paved routes- but some days more than others.
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