Picos Original Riders

Picos Original Riders
Highlights of 2010

Last of the Picos Riders - to Rome Alone!

Our first two charity rides were a huge success - raising over £20,000 for the South East Cancer Help Centre.

The Centre does a fantastic job of supporting patients and carers at the most difficult times of their lives. They make a real difference and you could help them in their work by contributing to our fundraising. Donations can be made via JustGiving.comhttps://www.justgiving.com/Tom-Vaz/ or directly into the Centre. For more details of the Centre and their work see their website at http://www.sechc.org.uk/

After 3 years of rest it seemed time to dust off the old muscles, bones and sinews and do one more spectacular ride in aid of this fabulous charity.

This time I will travel alone for 25 days, mainly following the ancient pilgrimage route to Rome, the Via Francigene, covering a distance of around 1,400 miles.

The route travels through Newhaven - Dieppe - Paris before I eventually reach the Via Francigene in Eastern France. From then on it is pretty simple apart from having to cross the Alps without an elephant!

Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Day 16 Alessandria to Pavia

I was warned that the River Po valley is very flat and boring and yes I agree that is. The roads were very flat and very straight but badly maintained. So much do that 1 meter width on the edge of the road was unusable.

I had planned a longer day's cycling but heat and the after effects of tummy troubles made me choose to stop in Pavia in South West Lombardy.


I had an interesting encounter with a pastry for lunch. I was about to bite into it when I realised that the thing was still in the pastry tin! 

Well let me assure you that Pavia it is a real jewel of a City. Full of glamourous people and medieval buildings; the whole place is vibrant. After checking into my b&b I went for a walk and visited the Duomo di Pavia (a Cathedral) and the Ponte Coperto (a covered bridge).

Both beautiful examples in their own way. Firstly a Cathedral with an early example of a massive dome. Reportedly worked on by Mr Da Vinci.


And secondly the covered bridge is a replica because the Americans bombed the original medieval one during WWII
I am especially proud of the scooter shot - not bad for a mobile phone camera! 
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1 comment:

  1. Unknown29 July 2015 at 23:56

    Well done Tom, keep up the excellent cycling and photography.
    Keep well and strong,
    God bless you!!!

    ReplyDelete

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