Yes, you definitely should consider Greece and Albania. If you’ve never been to Greece and can only go once, I’d probably start with western Crete.

I reread the whole thread, and saw that you were interested in the Big Island. I’d say you missed your chance on that one for awhile, unless you avoid the southeast. I can’t believe our luck on the timing of that ride - I recognized some of those lava-split roads in the news reportage.

Hi Scott,
Indeed we did - you and I have even had a short email conversation about it but I can no longer find it. It must be attached to another page in this journal. In short, it was great! We did a truncated version of your route, riding for just 20 days. It was unseasonably wet and cool but warmed up for the last week or so. We were so grateful for your route advice (those maps!!) and found ourselves in agreement with so many of your observations.
Now, of course, we have dreams of Greece and Albania. Thanks to you we have an even longer list of objectives to meet in a shrinking window.
Looking forward to following your next adventure!
Cheers
John

Hey, John. Did you make it to Sicily? How did it go?

Cheers,
Scott

Fantastic, Scott! We won’t have quite the time you had (and quite possibly not the legs) but these routes will be really useful! We’ll let you know how things transpire; in the meantime, good luck with your next cycle/life adventures.
Wishing you nothing but tailwinds,
John
PS We spent a bit of time touring S Italy off season - “Three weeks in Italy” on CGOAB if you’re interested

Done! Burn viaggio!

Ciao,
Scott

That’s brilliant, Scott - I hope it isn’t an epic task. It will be a huge help to us to have this beta; maybe we can stay off the autostrada for once! I feel a little less guilty thinking that it will be helpful to others, too.
Grazie mille,
John

So I’ve started, and l8nked in the first 5. I suspect it will take about a week to complete, I imagine. It doesn’t take long, but I’m spacing it out. Let me know if you see any obvious errors, such as linking in the wrong map. Also, be forewarned - these aren’t tracks - they’re routes drawn from memory. They’re pretty accurate though, I think.

Thanks, Scott!

Seems like you should be fine that early, as long as you know what to expect. We’ll be anxious to see how it goes for you, because it’s in our plans also - next Spring. We’re thinking we’ll head there about the first of March, bike east through Basilicata and Puglia, and then head north through the Balkans.

I’ll start working on the maps when I can find the time over the next week or two, so just keep track on the journal to see how it’s progressing. I’ll do it from memory because it will be faster than funding and opening up the download, but it should be pretty accurate.

Scott

Hi Scott,
We leave for Sicily on March 12 for 4 weeks. We’re probably pushing the season, but living in the PNW means one has good rain gear!
If you had a chance to post links to the maps we’d be grateful - albeit a bit guilty for not doing the extensive research ourselves. I don’t like our chances of finding those little roads in your photos on our own (at least not intentionally).

We enjoyed your Big Island journal a lot. It’s been on our short list for a while, but we were encouraged to see that there were accommodation options for every night. And, of course, your latest adventure takes the cake.

Anyway, thanks for your kind help and keep posting great journals. As you say, we’re effectively neighbours and I hope our paths cross before too long.
Cheers,
John

Oh - if only I could read! I see you are planning on going to Sicily. Lucky you! How soon are you going? I’ll start posting the maps into the journal, as links from ridewithgps.

I miss the maps myself, John. I think they’re an important component of the journal. They didn’t come across when the older journals were ported over from Crazy Guy, although I have them in the unloads I made before dropping my account there. CycleBlaze doesn’t support maps yet, although I understand plans are in the works for it. I’m waiting for that before doing anything with my older tours.

On the only tour I’ve blogged from scratch here (Around a Pretty Big Island), I included links to maps on RideWithGPS. I’ll probably continue with that solution until Jeff implements map support as part of the app.

And thanks for the kind words! And why did this comment come up on the Sicily journal - are you thinking of going there? If you aren’t, you should be! It’s an amazing place. Let me know if you’re wanting to see them for your own planning purposes, and I’ll post them somewhere.

And Campbell River! We’re neighbors - we should pop in sometime.

Cheers,
Scott

Hi Scott and Rachael
I thought I had posted a question on your site but I can’t see it now - the usual techno incompetence!
Briefly, I was alarmed to see your Sicily account disappear from CGOAB just as we were planning to emulate it; a little research in the forums there and I think I understand your migration to Cycle Blaze. Your journal looks great here - but I miss the maps. Any chance they’re lurking in ridewithgps or somewhere like that?
Regardless, thanks for approximately a life time of cycling inspiration for us and our little Bike Friday’s!
Cheers
John and Chris
Campbell River
Vancouver Island