Umbria ( Italy ) tour

[da_perama]

I plan a cycle tour in Umbria. I travel alone because  it is difficult to find a partner for  100 km per day tour in Corfu where  I live. I wonder is it safe to travel alone in Italy ?

[jags]

why would you think you would have a problem,all your doing is rideing you bike,don't get lost and enjoy yourself.

[da_perama]

That 's positive thinking, what I probably  miss. Thank you.

[jags]

your more than welcome,are you going to be camping along the way,what kind of our have you planned.ah you'll have a great time im sure.

[da_perama]

Camping is to hard for me after 100 km. My plan is to visit many small villages around Perugia and taste the local cu?sine and the famous wines. I will take the ship from Corfu to Ancona with my beloved Raven tour and then Assisi, Perugia, Montepulciano ... This is my first tour out of Greece ( my country ). Till now I have visit, with my bike, all the wonderful mountains of central Greece. I am now looking forward to cycle in Europe. This tour will be my first step.

[lewis noble]

Good luck!! 

Lewis - Sheffield

[jags]

say da-perama what is greece like for a cycling touring holiday,weather wise im sure it's great ,what about campsites are there plenty to choose from,what about langauge is english spoken.
have you toured all over greece .

[da_perama]

I have made many cycle tours in Greece. I don't like the touristic places where the situation is like similar places all over the world. I prefer the mountains. The mountains in central Greece are great. There are hard for cycling because you should ride more than 1 km high in 100 km distance, on difficult roads . The sun is strong if you know what I mean and the temperature is high ( more than 30 Celsius even 40 ). I have to drink about 8 liters of water every day. But the places are wonderful. Wild but not really dangerous. Friendly people in small villages, forests, rivers with stone made bridges, shepherds ... my english can't help me describe the whole thing. In many places it is hard to find someone to speak english but this is not a problem, you can communicate if you really want. Free camping is not permitted in touristic places but in such places it is not a problem. Of course you should never   have an open fire there, it is very dangerous during the  summer. Another problem is the shepherds dogs. Some times they leave them alone with the sheep's  and you must persuade them that you don't want to hurt the sheep's.
If someone is interested I could give some routes and upload a few photos.     

[jags]

thanks for that sounds fantastic,hard cycling ,great if you could post some pic's.

[da_perama]

Some pic's in picasa

http://picasaweb.google.gr/skiado/CycleToursGreece#5328894680095423506

[jags]

ah fantastic pic's thanks for shareing look's like a beautyful place to ride your bike.

[da_perama]

Umbria is fantastic. The land, the friendly people, the cities and the vilages, the food and the wine. It was much more than I expected.
But it is not bike friendly. In many places, especialy in the Apenine mountains, the only road is a highway forbitten for bikes. There are lovely roads for cycling but not connected.
An evening when I stopped at the end of the road, a car stopped beside me and a friendly man show me a path throw the mountain. In another occasion where I coundn't find my way on multiple crossroads, I asked for information in a cafe and someone took me and my bike on his van for about 3 km, because as he told me, it was very difficult for him to explain.
On my way back, I found that it is better to take a local train to pass the difficult places.