I’ve just received an email from a couple who are about to embark on a similar journey to ours.
They are walking from Bath to Venice and are leaving in just a couple of days. They are in their 50’s and they are walking in support of RUH Bath Breast Care Unit. I don’t know the detail of how they are doing it, but they asked for a few tips.

Here are a few tips from France and Italy.

• During August, nearly every campsite, hotel and bed is booked up in France and Italy. So you will have to be flexible about where you sleep.

• Sundays need to be planned; shops are closed, restaurants are shut and accommodation is hard to come by.

• The first two weeks are amazing, then the reality of what you are doing will hit. The distance will start to feel huge, the days will start getting noticeably shorter, blisters will be in full swing, and basically life will get hard. So, make your targets shorter. Don’t worry about Venice yet, aim for Paris or similar. When you get to your ‘short’ target, stop, relax, and celebrate. Then set another one. You will then end up celebrating right across Europe!!

• Even if you are feeling good, make sure you rest regularly. You can’t walk all day every day. Take hours off during the day, and days off during the week. Again use targets. We stopped in Amiens for three nights. It was the end of one of our sections, we needed to rest and it is a fabulous city!

• This reminds me, make sure you enjoy the places you pass through. This might sound strange but unless you actually stop and look around you won’t take advantage of the speed you are travelling. So, again stop regularly and be flexible, if there is a festival, fair or any other event going on, check it out, the distraction are always the best.

• We kept in touch using French ‘pay-as-you-go’ SIM cards in our mobile phones. You will have to get your mobiles unlocked first. You can get a SIM card from any French network mobile shop. Get the shop assistant to make sure the phone is topped up with some credit and that the SIM card works.

• The French GR long distance footpath system is as brilliant as the Italian footpaths are awful. To get to Venice you have to cross the Padua plain; there are no footpaths and the traffic is horrendous even on some minor roads, Italian drivers have no time for walkers on roads. So please be very careful.

• It is a similar story with maps. The French IGN maps are very good; the Italian maps are poor and inconsistent, other than in the Alps, which are covered by Kompass maps.

• Everywhere we went, we met amazing people who either helped or entertained us. We especially found that French butchers were brilliant.

• The most important thing to do is to have fun and to keep smiling!!

If you have any advice you would like to add then please comment on this post.

And, if anybody else has any questions, on anything really, please don’t hesitate to contact me via the contact page.

So, best wishes to you both in your adventure and we would love to hear how you are getting on, if you get the chance.