Climbed back into the high mountains today. Over 4,000 ft of climbing took us from Albenga, up through Villanova, Garlenda, Casanova Lerrone, Degna, Vellego and on up to the pass at Ginestro, from which the views in all directions were stunning. Plenty of free food to be had en route, in the form of wild fig trees. At the pass we met a couple of Germans. They advised us on a place to stay tonight. That place was Taggia - so to Taggia we pedalled. Posters in Tag...

A flat day today. From Genoa, we headed west and along the Italian Riviera, passing through such places as Arenzano and Savona. We were heading for the coastal town of Finale Ligure which is where we have now stopped for the night. From Finale Ligure, we can, tomorrow, climb up the valley of the Torrente Aquila river which will take us into a range of the high Ligurian mountains. Alternatively, we can carry on along the coast for a bit further, and turn up one o...

Chiavari was a pleasant surprise. Behind the (very Italian populated) resort front was an interesting old town, characterised by a grid of arched Roman walkways and cobbled alleyways. We left Chiavari and cycled back up into the hills. The first couple of kilometres was about a 10% gradient and was very tough, especially before getting warmed up properly. Thereafter the 'cycle path' we followed took us through various woods on tracks that were, for the most par...

Not the best night's sleep. The street disco under our balcony was pumping out music until the early hours (with hindsight, it might have been best to get back up). ----------------------------------- An excellent and totally unplanned day. We ditched the overnight idea of heading south and decided to head SW towards Sestri Lavante, via Varese Ligure, but, in practice, the road was a bit bigger than we wanted so when we saw a small road, heading up towards a p...

Our first impression of the mountains are good... In the event, it was another long hot day in the saddle. This time much more scenic though. We followed a river valley up into the foothills of the Apennines and stopped cycling for the day when we reached the village of Borgo Val Di Taro. As luck would have it, we appear to have arrived on the day of the Borgo Val Di Taro's annual music and wine festival. The streets are a-throng with people listening and danci...