cycletouring – Calum On Wheels

Why I’m not doing the Via Francigena, from Canterbury to Rome, and what I’m planning instead

overhead shot of Rome, specifically st peter's square

I’ve lost track of when I first heard of the Via Francigena. I think it was from a Reddit post a few years ago, on some kind of cycle touring community, where someone wrote up their account of doing a ‘mini Francigena’, riding from Milan to Rome. This when I first learned about the existence of this >1,000 year old pilgrimage route from Canterbury to the Eternal City, which really captured my imagination. I’ve felt like this would be the dream adventure and I’ve related how much I want to do it to a many people, but after some agonising, I’ve decided to put it on indefinite hold. This is a short write-up of why I wanted to do the Via Francigena, why I’ve decided not to, why that’s worth writing about, and what I’m thinking about doing instead.

What I learned from riding the Way of the Roses, from London

I’ve come back from Bridlington, the finish line of the ‘Way of the Roses,’ and have written up this short blog post I hope may be instructive to your future cycle trip plans, whether using this route or another. I’m doing my best to keep it helpful and concise. For your information, this trip was in mid-June 2025.