Via Francigena
You’ll have to negotiate Switzerland’s Gotthard Pass on your way to Rome. Joseph Branston / Our Media
Via Francigena: Canterbury to Rome
Distance: 1,300 miles
Follow in the footsteps of Sigeric the Serious, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was a notable early exponent and proto-blogger of the great pilgrimage to Rome in 990.
The formal route goes from Calais down northeastern France and western Switzerland before the fabulous final stretch from the Gran San Bernardo pass into Italy, down the Po Valley to Siena and Rome.
Most cyclists, though, follow the signed (mostly) Eurovelo 5 through Lille, Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg and Basel, before the final well-signed (mostly) Italian legs.
All-tarmac versions are possible, so you can take your road bike. But decent gravel stretches, especially in Italy, can avoid some nasty main roads where ponderings on mortality may be more urgent than expected.
Thanks to pilgrim facilities, you can set the budget and comfort dials flexibly to your accommodation requirements, and trains and ferries mean you don’t have to fly.
However you do it, it’s an intense cultural and scenic epic, an odyssey through Europe’s history. No wonder it’s topping many cyclists’ bucket lists.