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Chris and Kathi met Dave Nicoll on the Adriatic Riviera Tour in 2022. That trip created a WhatsApp channel that has remained active where participents have posted some of their follow-on adventures. Dave and Chris were some of the most active contributors to that channel. Dave especially was always quick to respond. Kathi noticed that and kept telling Chris, "You and Dave should get together for a ride sometime." One day, Dave was drooling over Chris's list of bikes and Chris suggested jokingly to Dave "It's going to take you more than a couple of hours to ride them all". Dave responded, "That's an offer that's extremely difficult to refuse!". Then, with Kathi urging him on, Chris started thinking seriously about how to include Dave on a trip. Kathi wanted to go back to Italy. Chris wanted to go to Sicily in March to get away from Washington winter weather, so he suggested that he and Dave join forces to explore southern Italy in March. Kathi wanted to wait until a bit later when she could go and take some Italian lessons. Well, the proposal morphed over time to include Kathi doing three weeks of Italian study in Napoli while Chris and Dave ferried to Greece to do something inspired by Adriatic Moto Tour's 14-day Greece Tour. Thanks to Kathi, another epic dream tour became a reality while Chris and Dave became fast friends.
6,653 km, 23 riding days, 4 ferries, 9 flights, total vacation: 32 days.
| 0) Apr 23 Tue | Dave flys 8:50pm YYZ - ZRH 10:25am |
| 1) Apr 24 Wed | Dave arrives ZRH 10:25am rents a car, then he rents a car to drive around Switzerland |
| 2) Apr 25 Thu | Chris&Kathi fly PDX→SEA→FRA→ZHR |
| 3) Apr 26 Fri | train ZHR→Zürich→Zug meet Joe&Bridget |
| 4) Apr 27 Sat | visit with Joe&Bridget |
| 5) Apr 28 Sun | Chris rides Ducati to Milan, Kathi flies to Naples, Dave arrives Milan Centrale 17:40 from Geneva, stay at Agape hotel |
| 6) Apr 29 Mon | pick up scooter, bleed brakes, pack bikes, ride →Bologna |
| 7) Apr 30 Tue | see Museo Ducati and ride →Urbino |
| 8) May 1 Wed | ride →L'Aquila |
| 9) May 2 Thu | ride →Avigliano near Potenza |
| 10) May 3 Fri | ride →Brindisi, then Ferry overnight ⇒Igoumenista Greece |
| 11) May 4 Sat | ride →Lefkada |
| 12) May 5 Sun | ride →Olympia |
| 13) May 6 Mon | ride →Monemvasia |
| 14) May 7 Tue | ride →Athens |
| 15) May 8 Wed | have a rest day in Athens, see historic sites |
| 16) May 9 Thu | ride →Delphi |
| 17) May 10 Fri | ride →Karpenissi |
| 18) May 11 Sat | ride →Meteora / Kalamapaka |
| 19) May 12 Sun | ride →Vikos Gorge/Monodendri |
| 20) May 13 Mon | ride →Igoumenista, ferry to Corfu, ride →south end of Corfu |
| 21) May 14 Tue | explore Corfu, ferry back to Igoumenista, ferry overnight to Brinidisi Italy |
| 22) May 15 Wed | 1am-9am ferry to Brindisi, Dave heads north to Viale Vittorio, Chris heads south to Crotone |
| 23) May 16 Thu | Chris rides to Maratea, Dave rides to Borghi just short of Milan |
| 24) May 17 Fri | Dave drops Ducati in Milan, flys to ZHR; Chris meets Kathi after class in Napoli |
| 25) May 18 Sat | Dave flys home; KB&CU hang out in in Naples, see the MANN museum |
| 26) May 19 Sun | KB&CU scooter from Naples to Salerno (flat tire) |
| 27) May 20 Mon | KB&CU scooter along the Amalfi coast, Sorento, Pompei, Vesuvio, and back to Napoli |
| 28) May 21 Tue | Kathi Naples; Chris rides Naples past Florence to Pistoia |
| 29) May 22 Wed | Kathi train Naples->Milan; Chris rides Pistoia to Milan (4h), return scooter, dinner with Joseph and Chloe |
| 30) May 23 Thu | Fly MXP→JFK→IND |
| 31) May 24 Fri | visit with Joci |
| 32) May 25 Sat | Joci's graduation |
| 33) May 26 Sun | fly IND→DFW→PDX (Happy Birthday Chris!) |
This is a quick slideshow of about 100 of my favorite pics from the trip.
It's a lot shorter than going through all 3820 pictures of the full site.
Please enjoy!
| Date Start→End | Actual Distance actual |
Actual Distance |
Elapsed time |
Moving time |
Google predicted time |
Moving vs Google |
Break time |
%Break time |
Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | Apr 28 Zug→Milano | 260 km | 260 km | 4h51m | 3h24m | 3h16m | +4.1% | 1h27m | 30% | Massive Gottard Tunnel construction delays |
| Mon | Apr 29 Milano→Bologna | 268 km | 268 km | 5h46m | 4h06m | 3h55m | +4.7% | 1h40m | 29% | Fix Ducati, late start, injured calf muscle |
| Tue | Apr 30 Bologna→Urbino | 287 km | 259 km | 9h19m | 5h40m | 5h09m | -0.7% | 3h39m | 39% | 1h18m at the Ducati Museum |
| Wed | May 01 Urbino→L'Aquila | 348 km | 327 km | 7h39m | 5h19m | 5h26m | -8.1% | 2h20m | 31% | ride log went long after arrival |
| Thu | May 02 L'Aquila→Avigliano | 409 km | 395 km | 8h52m | 6h54m | 6h23m | +4.4% | 1h58m | 22% | LONG RAINY DAY with a crash :( |
| Fri | May 03 Avigliano→Brindisi→Igoumenista | 342 km | 325 km | 8h35m | 6h19m | 5h47m | +3.8% | 2h16m | 26% | Night on the Ferry to Greece |
| Sat | May 04 Igoumenista→Lefkada | 325 km | 324 km | 9h05m | 5h54m | 6h17m | -6.4% | 3h11m | 35% | |
| Sun | May 05 Lefkada→Olympia | 334 km | 311 km | 8h09m | 5h40m | 5h32m | -4.6% | 2h29m | 30% | |
| Mon | May 06 Olympia→Monemvasia | 312 km | 302 km | 9h09m | 5h54m | 5h00m | +14.2% | 3h15m | 36% | Visiting in Mani |
| Tue | May 07 Monemvasia→Athens | 361 km | 344 km | 9h38m | 5h25m | 6h31m | -20.8% | 4h13m | 44% | |
| Wed | May 08 Athens | 32 km | 32 km | 5h00m | 0h59m | 0h59m | 4h01m | 80% | rest day in Athens, visiting Acropolis | |
| Thu | May 09 Athens→Delphi | 281 km | 275 km | 8h02m | 5h28m | 5h42m | -6.1% | 2h34m | 32% | heavy rain, missed Delphi |
| Fri | May 10 Delphi→Karpenissi | 157 km | 157 km | 4h15m | 2h48m | 2h37m | +7.0% | 1h27m | 34% | |
| Sat | May 11 Karpenissi→Meteora | 173 km | 165 km | 7h22m | 3h36m | 3h23m | +1.5% | 3h46m | 51% | |
| Sun | May 12 Meteora→Vikos/Monodendri | 253 km | 267 km | 8h56m | 4h25m | 5h49m | -19.9% | 4h31m | 51% | |
| Mon | May 13 Monodendri→Igourmenista→Corfu | 227 km | 217 km | 11h54m | 6h07m | 5h00m | +16.9% | 5h47m | 49% | Includes ferry distance |
| Tue | May 14 Corfu→Igourmenista→Brindisi | 183 km | 177 km | 8h02m | 5h26m | 4h50m | +8.7% | 2h36m | 32% | |
| Wed | May 15 Brindisi→Crotone | 412 km | 388 km | 8h36m | 6h42m | 6h01m | +4.9% | 1h54m | 22% | Overnight on the ferry back to Italy |
| Thu | May 16 Crotone→Maratea | 337 km | 325 km | 9h44m | 7h16m | 7h46m | -9.8% | 2h28m | 25% | Longest day |
| Fri | May 17 Maratea→Napoli | 293 km | 285 km | 7h10m | 6h28m | 6h11m | +1.7% | 0h42m | 10% | |
| Sat | May 18 Napoli | ---------------- Rest day in Napoli ------------------- | ||||||||
| Sun | May 19 Napoli→Solerno | 87 km | 76 km | 4h26m | 2h02m | 2h06m | -15.0% | 2h25m | 54% | |
| Mon | May 20 →Amalfi→Sorento→Napoli | 139 km | 138 km | 8h33m | 4h17m | 4h01m | +5.9% | 4h16m | 50% | A long day for Kathi |
| Tue | May 21 Napoli→Pistoi | 535 km | 525 km | 7h33m | 5h44m | 5h08m | +9.6% | 1h49m | 24% | All Freeway |
| Wed | May 22 Pistoia→Milano | 298 km | 299 km | 4h47m | 4h21m | 4h24m | -0.8% | 0h26m | 9% | about half Freeway |
| Total | Greece | 2,638 km | 89h32m | 51h40m | ||||||
| Total | Italy | 4,015 km | 95h51m | 68h30m | ||||||
| GPS | Total | 6,653 km | 185h23m | 120h12m | ||||||
| Scooter | Total | 6,391 km | ||||||||
| Ducati | Total | 5,645 km | ||||||||
| Median | 290 km/day | 8h6m | 5h27m | 5h9m | +1.6% | 2h30m | 32% | |||
My goal was to keep every day under 7hrs of Google Maps time and ideally in the 5—6 hrs range. Indeed, my median Google Maps time was 5h9m and worst case was 7h46m.
My pace while moving matches very closely to Google Maps predicted time, usually within ±5%.
To estimate elapsed time, add 50% to the Google Maps estimated time (break time is 33% of total time) if pushing hard, and double Google's estimate to be more relaxed (50% break time).
By the GPS recording, I travelled 6,653 km and by scooter odometer it was 6,391 km. I think the difference is two recorded ferry rides between Ingoumenista and Corfu.
The Ducati, mostly riden by Dave, travelled 5,645 km (25,425 - 19,780). Dave calculated 6,381 km, not sure where that came from.
Dave and Chris will share gas costs as we'll be swapping bikes back and forth. Shared meals, hotel rooms, ferry tickets, etc will be entered into this Google Spreadsheet and we'll settle up at the end. The spreadsheet shows a total of about €2,035 per person for lodging, meals, fuel, and ferry passages.
Gas was about €23/person/day
Food was about €31/person/day
Rooms were about €33/person/day
Ferries/transport totaled €427/person
Entry tickets to sights totaled €33/person
My flights to Europe and back were $2,004/person
Someday, I want to go back to Greece and do a sailing charter like this.