Biking along the Po from Milano to Venezia was something that Scott and I dreamed about for about 15 years. The girls were old enough and it was our 25th wedding anniversary.

We couldn’t think of a better reason so we went for it. I think we were all a little nervous before we left. There were lots of “ifs” that could go wrong. But that was also part of the excitement. We were very fortunate that our problems were mainly minor. The few larger problems were solved with the kindness of strangers and ingenuity!

There are a few things that stand out as special to me about our bike trek along the Po. The first is all the time we had together. I loved singing with the girls and Scott on the bikes, listening to their stories and just talking for hours and hours as we biked.

On the tandem bikes, we also had to constantly work together as a team, which meant communicating, being patient, and using each other’s ideas to problem solve different situations.

I liked the fact we had to face some fears along the way. Neither Bee nor I were too excited to ride along “the wall” (the sea wall on Pellestrina island). It really just seemed a bit too scary — what if we fell over and into the water? But we did ride along the wall and it was beautiful!

The changing scenery and terrain and the accessibility and quality of bike trails was spectacular (if you like dirt and gravel). Outside of riding in the cities we really were spared riding with much traffic. In the places we did have traffic, there were certainly other bicycles!

I did not expect to ride through brush or over so much gravel but I loved it. It was scenic and peaceful and a really good workout! We rode past rice and corn farms, towns dating back more than 500 years, and shells of homes and buildings bombed in the Second World War. We rode along one of the main pilgrim paths to Rome from the Middle Ages (via Francigena) for part of our ride between Pavia and Piacenza.

We also stayed primarily in airbnb’s. This gave the trip a more personal feel as we interacted with different families along the way. We were able to learn more about the towns we were staying in and felt that we had a connection we could rely on for tips, ideas and help. The family in Cremona was fantastic — with the Mom baking the girls a pizza — she wanted to make sure they ate enough after a long ride. And the huge bowl of fresh fruit and juices they had waiting was so welcomed. The owner of the home we stayed in Ostiglia was particularly wonderful with her generosity in helping.

And then there is the food. But that one deserves a post of its own!