2016 - 2022
Maastricht to Rome
End 2015, we sold our Koga Travellers and bought brand new Santos 2.9 Travelmasters, with a Pinion gearbox and gates belt. We were ready for some decent climbing and decided that our first trip would be to Rome, via the 2115m high Splugen pass between Switzerland and Italy.
We started from Basel and also planned to cycle back from Rome to Sienna where Dirk's son was on holiday and would pick up the bikes.
The original Benjaminse route starts in Maastricht and 6 years later, in 2022, we finally got this last part done.
For this trip, we have not included the full GPS track as these are available from the publishers website
https://www.cyclingeurope.nl/cycling/routes/rome/index.php
To support the publisher for their ongoing effort, please also buy the respective publications.
The entire route is around 2000 km and brings you in 9 countries. The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Austria and Italy.
Our starting point for Basel-Rome and afterwards, Basel-Maastricht (which we did in reverse direction) is easy to reach by train. Tickets of Deutsche Bahn can be ordered via their website and you can also immediately make reservations for the bicycle. Best use the German website and take as destination Basel BBF, which is the German trainstation just before the Swiss border. (we paid around 100 euro for 2 people and bikes from Cologne to Basel).
On this trip, there is an abundance of beautiful cities to visit before you reach your final destination.
As the route offers many alternatives, it's really all up to you which interesting places you want to visit.
When we were in Rome, one night we suddenly were awakened by a big shake. It was an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 in the Apennine region, some 100 km from Rome. Our cycle route back to Sienna was planned going through this disaster area so we skipped this part and took the train to Assisi, from where it was another 300 km back to Sienna.
2022 - Basel to Maastricht
Video on DILISTUFF YouTube channel
2016 - Basel to Rome
Video on DILISTUFF YouTube channel
Tips
Be aware that mobile phone and internet roaming in Switzerland is not covered by most European packages. The cost is very, very high so best to switch off your mobile data roaming.
Worth staying a little longer : Colmar, Bergamo, Modena, Firenze, Siena, Roma
(Photographic impressions and tips via Menu)