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The initial situation
Imagine you're just about to graduate and you don't know exactly what's coming after that....
You don't know yet whether you should start working directly to earn money first, or whether a master's degree directly afterwards would make more sense.
Actually, you have much more desire to just get out of the daily grind, desire to travel or just do exactly what you enjoy for a while.
The plan was clear pretty early on: I want to do something unusual for my bachelor's thesis in my graphic design studies. For this I want to bring my hobbies, such as cycling or traveling, into the work. Little by little, the plan of a bikepacking trip developed.
The bicycle has long played a central role in my life. I also like to ride longer tours to switch off a bit and enjoy the nature around me. However, I had never done a longer bike trip before. Just that has irritated me to realize this adventure
I want the writing of the bachelor thesis to be fun for me and thus all the more pleasant to work on. I also think that you can take a risk for such a big project in your studies to make it unique.
That was probably the most difficult part of the planning: to find someone who has time and desire to experience this adventure together with me. That's why I started the trip alone, but of course I wasn't always alone. More about this in the following sections of the website...
As the destination of the trip I have chosen the island of Corsica. To get there by bike was for me an optimistic goal for a first bikepacking trip. In addition, the landscape there should be particularly beautiful and not too extremely besieged by tourists compared to other islands.
After the plan was then final, it went almost directly. Through a small website I was able to borrow some equipment before the start and then carry out the trip between June 22 and July 10, 2022.
Here we go! The first stage goes first through the Taunus. Here the first climbs are waiting for me and I can get used to the load of the bike with luggage.
On my first stage, the weather mostly cooperates. Only shortly before Heidelberg it begins to rain again. Fortunately, only very light and the appropriate rain gear I can now also already test.
On the route there are always beautiful landscapes. The route leads me again and again along beautiful vineyards or through small villages.
The start of the tour worked great! I didn't have to set up the tent on the first night because I was allowed to crash at a colleague's in Heidelberg. After the first stage, my body slowly got used to the strain and now it's time to continue across Germany.
The next stops are Stuttgart and Ravensburg before I leave Germany. The weather is also playing along better again on these routes, which also positively enhances the mood.
In the meantime, I have arrived in Ravensburg near Lake Constance. On the next stage, it goes first briefly to Austria and then into Switzerland. I'm curious what else awaits me there and how I can master the increasingly mountainous elevation profile.
From this point on, however, I am also on my own. From now on, I'll spend every night in the tent and as soon as I do, I won't meet any more friends. Nevertheless, I'm still motivated and looking forward to the challenge (though not quite as much to the rising prices in Switzerland).
After my first mostly flat stage in Switzerland, it's now high out. The first part of the crossing of the Alps lies ahead of me. Thanks to some drinking water sources and increasingly cloudy weather, the first 1200 meters in altitude are not as difficult as I thought.
But slowly the weather gets worse and worse and I take another break in Splügen to hopefully escape the thunderstorm. But unfortunately that doesn't really work out...
Therefore, I do not lose much time at the sign of the pass and immediately put on all my clothes that I have with me. I prepare myself for a long, cold and wet descent and hope to be able to shelter in the next village.
Up to the highest point of the entire trip, it is steeply uphill. But the pace is so slow when going up the San Bernadino Pass that you can pleasantly perceive the nature around you. But besides birds and mountain streams, one sound becomes louder and louder: the thunder of the thunderstorm...
The thunderstorm has unfortunately not rained out overnight and should come down during today's second part of the crossing of the Alps. But I hope inwardly that it can not be so bad and drive further and further into the cloud cover.
On the descent it quickly becomes cold, very cold. Since the outside temperature at 2000m altitude is only 6 degrees and I am very wet from the rain, I start to freeze more and more.
But that was not all. Suddenly it begins to hail on the half of the descent also still strongly. I decide as soon as possible to put me somewhere. Far and wide, however, there are only abandoned farmhouses and animal barns. But I'm lucky: The door of a barn is open and I can protect myself from the hailstones.
For me, there was always only one option: keep going! But I notice how my body urgently needs a break. With the last reserves I make it after 117 wet kilometers on this day still to my intermediate destination: Lake Maggiore.
I enjoy the time in the sun on my first break day. But little by little I start to think. I think about who I'm actually doing the trip for, whether the whole thing wouldn't be nicer with another person and, despite perfect weather, I'm kind of sad.
The feeling of loneliness accompanies me also on the following days, which I spend also at the Lago Maggiore and at the neighboring Lago d'Orta.
By talking to friends and family on the phone, I can at least cheer myself up a bit, and besides, there's another positive outlook:
After my break days I have to continue! The last 250KM are still ahead of me. The weather is again very sunny and with 35 degrees already quite hot. Fortunately, it goes first flat inland from Italy.
There was less shade on this day. But fortunately there is drinking water or a small kiosk with cool drinks and ice in almost every village through which I drive.
A campsite I find in the vicinity of Monferrato unfortunately not. That means forced wild camping in nature. After a rather restless night in the tent it goes the next day on the last stage to Savona.
Almost done! Even the last steep climbs to Savona I could still master. Relieved I roll the next day in the direction of the ferry.
But there are still a few kilometers missing until I reach Corsica. Unfortunately, I can't cross the sea by bike, so I have to let my legs rest for now.
So the last hurdle is the crossing by ferry from Savona (Italy) to Bastia (Corsica). That the trip overnight without a reserved cabin will probably not be quite so cozy, I was of course already known in advance.
Of course, my trip does not just end on Corsica. I want to explore the island in my 4 days on site still something by bike. My plan was to circumnavigate the Cape Corse, the tip of the island. For this I drive first over the Col de Tighme on the western side of the island.
Along the coastal road it then goes with a stopover back to the eastern side and from there back to the ferry. The small tours are particularly nice in the days on the island, because I can now approach everything quite relaxed. During the trip I already start to reflect a bit on the journey.
This trip has taught me one thing: I need everyday life. A fixed routine. Whether it's my job or my daily bike ride. I need an occupation that I enjoy so that I don't get stuck.
And sure, a trip with other people is nice, but sometimes it's also the time alone that you need to appreciate just that. How important other people are in life and how happy you can be to have them.
I was particularly surprised how quickly the body gets used to such a strain. The trip also showed me how much of it is actually just a matter of the head and how you can block out physical exertion through distraction.
