By Bike

Une Grande Traversée des Alpes à Vélo

By bike from Trieste to Nice via the Julian, Austrian, Italian, Bavarian, Swiss and French Alps

I had long contemplated riding the Grande Traversée des Alpes in France. It’s a well-worn route for cycling adventurists along the Swiss and Italian borders between Lake Geneva and the Mediterranean.

The more I looked into it though, the more I wondered about traversing the whole of the Alps – so many beautiful places that I had previously thought of as separate sojourns. Surely Grande Traversée meant the full length? And so, a plan was hatched. 

Initially, I thought to bike pack the journey alone. Then my friend Sam said ‘I’d like to come along.’ Then his partner Liz said, ‘well if he’s going I’m going too!’ And then my partner Sue said, ‘well that sounds fun, I’ll join you!’

And so, the plan became a supported ride with Sue and Liz driving a campervan, and for Sam and I to ride @4,000km from Trieste to Nice via a circuitous route, taking in as many iconic climbs as possible.

I hope to regularly chronicle our odyssey here in my blog, and I invite you to follow us. We leave Trieste on the 4th August and hope to arrive in Nice on the 28th September. As well as snippets of our adventures, I will post our route and Garmin data for those that like data!

Allez, allez!