Hitting the road again
It was a big day. THE big day to be rather precise! The first day of two years on the road. Sounds easy enough, yet in practice, it felt scary and overwhelming. The motorbikes loaded with what seemed way too much luggage. Clothing for summer, gear for winter, camping equipmen, and everything to prepare food along the way. We felt overpacked, but at least prepared for everything that might come our way.
The first riding day started with a withering sun overhead, but it didn’t take long before the clouds started crying marble tears. Little balls of ice descretley ticking on our helmets, reminding us that we indeed had to be prepared for everything.
The first night of camping, we pitched our tent during a thunderstorm and gloomily ate our canned food with ice-cold hands, silently questioning our life choices. Luckily, on the road, emotions change quickly. Breakfast the next day was below a misty sun with a smile on our faces. We had survived the first night. Given, it had been a freakingly cold night with temperatures dropping to 0°C, but it could only get better from here, or so we thought. Once on the motorbikes, the rain started pouring down again with a regular amount of hail hitting our helmets. Riding along Langres, Raza and Vaison-La-Romain towards the south of France, the weather remained icy and cold. Determined to find the sun, we continued to the Mediterranean coast, but in Castellane, about 100km from Nice, we were met by snowflakes dancing towards us. With dignity, they greeted the mountain slopes, trees, and rooftops, which had just earlier been buzzing with the liveliness of spring. Slowly, the world went silent, waiting for what might come next. For the first time this week, we had booked a hotel room, and we couldn’t have been happier to have done so. After reaching the hotel, the snow grew thicker, covering roads with a white and slippery blanket. We weren’t sure whether we would be able to hit the road again the next morning, but sitting indoors with such wild beauty surrounding us, we didn’t care. It was th end of April, and we were experiencing the winter we never got this year in Belgium. The next day swept in with sunshine greeting us through the window. The snow had not departed, but the roads had been cleared. Leaving late enough to give the sun time to work her magic, we hit the road once again. From the snowy mountain tops, we made our way towards the Italian coastline. For the first time this trip, we felt overwhelmed by the staggering beauty surrounding us. We felt lucky and privileged to be exactly where we were. On the road, with nowhere to go apart from the ferry from Genova to Palermo in two days. The sun to warm our bones was coming our way and we were ready for the next adventure!
