The planning for this segment has taken quite a while. I considered many alternatives. I've settled on traveling through Italy into Slovenia, back into Italy and then finally to Croatia.
Almost 20km of vertical climbing and 1,753km makes this a biggie. The most obvious route to traverse Italy from Genoa would have been straight across to Venice via maybe Parma.
I have opted for something a little different - needless to say. Leaving Genoa, I will head north through Tortona and Voghera on my way to Milano - and then head north east to Bergamo. After Bergamo, I head in an easterly direction towards Slovenia, passing through Brescia, and Verona and finally reaching Udine before leaving Italy.
It is from Udine where the really serious climbing starts as I travel to Ljubjana in Slovenia.
From Ljubjana, I head back into Italy where I reach the coast near Trieste and before crossing the border into Croatia.
I head south to Pula before travelling north east again to Rijeka.
I leave the mainland at Prizna, taking a short ferry to cycle through Pag - before getting to Zadar and Split. The last bit of this segment takes me on one other short ferry before I reach Dubrovnik.
Whilst this segment may be a bit difficult, there are some sections where I may have to change my directions en-route to cut down on hazardous road traffic. I need to be flexible for the sake of safety.
The elevation profile shows clearly the steep climb initially after leaving Genoa and then the climbing as I travel into and out of Slovenia. Whilst travelling through Slovenia, I take some very small roads through national park
The road surfaces are mainly asphalt but there is a little bit of gravel and cobblestones too.
I am still doing a little work on finalizing this segment based on feedback I have received from other cyclists that have recently traveled through Croatia.
All in all, this should be a most interesting and quite challenging part of the world to cycle.
Comments