Fear, loathing and enlightenment on the Alta Via dei Monte Liguri AVML bikepacking route in Liguria, Italy
A brief history of brinkmanship
This bike packing trip really started for me back in 1995. My brother, my cousin and I loved mountains, biking and adventure.
We had just finished school in England and had saved up some precious money working mornings delivering newspapers and weekends in bike shops and fishmongers respectively.
So we wanted to come to the alps and take our mountain bikes touring, as we called it then.
What did we do? Well, we bought maps, we bought paniers, we bought p-clips to mount them. We bought a tent, sleeping bags and foam mats. We set off for the Maurienne valley in the heart of the French Alps – a hotspot of mapped bike trails back in the mid 90s.
The plan was simple: ride awesome trails on fully (but minimally) laden bikes. Within days of arriving , we had broken so many parts that we had to change plans drastically. It was still the best bike trip ever, but the singletrack-touring element was dead. We changed location two or three times, on the road.
Between times we stripped off the heavy kit and mountain biked to our hearts’ content. Technical, alpine mountain biking still ruled, so did touring. But never the twain did meet.
Since then I’ve made the Alps my home, mountain biking my job and sailed close to that fickle tech/baggage wind numerous times, always with disappointing results.
Like mixing your favourite main course with your favourite desert – no one wants to eat Pad-Thai Pavlova now, do they? How would the AVML bikepacking route taste then?
The AVML looms
But maps have always always been my downfall. The AVML bikepacking route on bikepacking.com has been teasing a good friend, and fellow masochist, for several years now. When we realised we had a free week in common, he quickly suggested the route and I eagerly hopped on board. Just looking at the route made my legs ache.
Nine out of ten for difficulty on bikepacking.com. Nearly 20 000 metres of climbing in just 480km. 15 days to ride. Those are some punchy numbers. We only had 7 days to throw at this. Punchier still.
Even so, traversing the Cinque Terre and Finale Ligure by bike sounded pretty awesome. Legendary beauty and legendary trails. A heady mix.
The promise of ‘proper’ singletrack AND bikepacking was too much to ignore. After all, bikes had changed so much , so had riding. Maybe we could have our cake and eat it now?
The aim was to flirt with the limit of what you could ride on a laden bike. To (re)discover how technical the trail could get and still be both possible and enjoyable on a bikepacking trip.
Work out how light you had to travel to make it work. Could you pack a stove? What about several days of food? Could you pack a sleep system that included a bivvy, a (comfortable) mat and a sleeping bag?
Six brutal days later, I think we had some answers. As ever in life they are not as clear cut as I had hoped. They’ll serve to inform future adventures though and that’s all I can ask.
SInce it was a 15 day route that we compressed into just over 7 planned sections, I have described the journey double-day by double-day. If you just want to know what we learned, maybe skip to the end.
Double Day 1 – La Spezia to Monte Alpe, the Cinque Terre.
Theme: The Enduro day – tough, pure singletrack bliss through the Cinque Terre
Tick count: 5-10
Resupply: Levanto (beautiful town)
Water: the odd café but using streams quite a lot
Up: about 3500m
Down: about 2500m – started at sea level, slept at 1000m
Across: about 85km
Bivvy spot: A slightly flatter patch of forest floor on the spur of a mountain. With a stream to wash in only 100m away, sunset filtering through the pine trees and the sound of deer barking in the forest, it was pretty cool. And pretty ticky.
Memories: This whole day is pure, technical AF mountain biking, but with bikepacking kit. Just what we’d come for on the AVML bikepacking route I guess. It was tough but effort was rewarded with progress and the trails were just the bomb. The descent into Levanto ranks alongside any I’ve had the pleasure of in my life. Then came a beer and some focaccia and cruising along the coastal bikepath before stopping for a swim in the Med, a kit dry and a beachside shower at Framura. Just perfect.
Of course this was followed by a roasting hot 3 hour climb up a tarmac drag that had, unfortunately, soaked up the sun even more than we had that day but hey, that’s why memory is selective.
Comedy moments: Wobbling around the first few singletrack turns and then trying the first few singetrack drops on the minimally but basically heavily laden bikes. Time to recalibrate all your gnar settings and chill.
Beware: Punctures! Drops, jumps, rocks, river beds – enduro stage racing meets bikepacking
DD 2 – Monte Alpe – Barbagelata, north inland into the mountains.
Theme: The Bikepacking day – more gravel than anything, covered lots of ground, very beautiful
Tick count: 5-10
Resupply: Santa Maria del Taro – small but incredible local shop, 2 restaurant/bars
Water: lots of streams
Up: 3000ish
Down: 2500ish
Across: 80km
Bivvy spot: Under the entrance to modern brutalist concrete church, with a working plug socket. Great sunset, lovely locals (we meet Anita and her dog Lapo, two of only 8 inhabitants)
Memories: DD2 felt like the opposite of DD1. Swap out tough singletrack for rolling gravel but keep the views and the infrequent but beautiful and welcome settlements. By this point we were thinking the AVML bikepacking route would be a route of two halves, either tech trails or smooth gravel.
Comedy moments: Finishing one totally overgrown trail to a village, only to find a missing bridge and a swollen river about 50m wide. Cue a 1km walking detour to the next bridge. Glad to find one at all tbh!
Beware: Optimism!! At this point we were 25km ahead of our 7 double-day schedule and having a ball. I was actually imagining maybe running the route as a (slower) commercial AlpPacker adventure one day.
DD 3 – Barbagelata – Passo della Bocchetta, passing behind Genoa
Theme: Ticks over clicks. The absolutely unrelentingly, hideously, awful day. 50km progress for 12 hours of really deep effort. Just awful.
Tick count: 30+
Resupply: Got any morphine? One memorable café at Sella early on then nothing.
Water: streams, plenty
Up: 2000m
Down: Ever seen that MC Escher painting of the stairs that just go up? That, with added ticks. Supposedly it was just 1800m climbing for 3000m descending. The numbers lie, and so does the AVML bikepacking route. Never trust it again.
Across: 50 measly, brutal km
Bivvy spot: A graffiti covered open chapel/shelter at the Passo della Bocchetta – bit of a sweep for hypodermic needles and litter and it was good to go.
Memories: I’m trying so hard to suppress them. Please don’t make me open that box.
Comedy moments: Give it another year or so and the whole day will be. Still too raw just now.
Beware: Of ever trying this day on a bike. There was one notable 1km stretch that took us 100 minutes of absolute savage effort. Like a sweaty, forest-bound Everest expedition, the terrain was so steep and overgrown that as we hauled our bikes up the ‘trail’ we had to try to count steps between each rest, rarely making it to the goal of 10 consecutive steps.
There’s an imaginary adversary we called ‘20 metres Tony’ who had strimmed the first and last 20 metres of many of the trails of the AVML bikepacking route. We’d ride in, full of optimism, once again only to find a wall of vegetation which would be hard to walk without a bike, impossible to ride at all and soooo very difficult to make any progress in. Imagine yourself in a narrow tunnel of thorny undergrowth. You’re walking backwards so you can pull your heavy bike through behind you as you go. You are actually trying to complete a long distance bikepacking route by walking backwards pulling your bike after you through a thorny jungle. That’s DD 3 in a nutshell.
C’mon be positive! Okay dokely. The first two hours were genuinely incredible. A beautiful singletrack descent from Barbagelata to the most perfect rural Italian café at Sella. Somehow 3 coffees, 3 cream croissants (the best croissants I’ve ever had outside France) and 2 focaccia came to under €10 and included a lot of banter with some locals. It all started SO well!
DD 4 – Passo della Bocchetta – Cima della Biscia
Theme: A phoenix rising, wobbly and exhausted, from the flames.
Vibe: Hard won progress but progress all the same. Today was for accepting the type 2 ‘fun’ nature of what lay ahead on the AVML bikepacking route and smashing on with it, 3-4 hours of hiking per day included. Once accepted, there was beauty to be had amongst the hurt. Narrow trails on broad ridge tops stretching into the hazy distance with the sea to my left, mountainous forest absolutely everywhere else beneath me and arid summits above me.
Tick count: 5ish, high alpine = less ticks
Resupply: Great – hostel at the Passo del Faiallo serving food, drink and encouragement. Then the town of Sassello with shops, bars and so on. Beer was consumed.
Water: At resupplies and various streams.
Up: 3000m
Down: 3500m
Across: 80km
Bivvy spot: below the gently whooshing blades of a wind turbine on a forested mountain top
Memories: The hostel host, a local and a mountain biker, had never heard of the AVML bikepacking route. When I explained where we’d come from he said ‘fun at the start, then awful behind Genoa. From here on, very hard but possible’. Yep. We’d been wondering how many people have ever actually completed the route – we found videos and accounts of folk having a stab at individual sections but only 1 person saying they’d done the whole thing. I’d love to compare notes with other veterans.
Dave had to stop during the morning as a heavy cold he’d been carrying all trip had moved to his chest and the death rattle was sounding terrible. A descent to the coast and a few days RnR in Finale were definitely a wise move. It’s certainly not a route worth getting pneumonia for.
Comedy moments: Looping out on a road climb!! The tarmac track up to the wind farm where I bivvied was soooo steep that it was nigh on impossible to keep the front wheel pinned to the floor. 32 (oval) – 51T on tarmac and unable to keep my nose down. Madness!
Beware: Your ankles. About 3-4 hours of walking today and most of it in very blocky limestone terrain where it’d be so easy to turn an ankle and ruin your trip it’s crazy.
DD 5 – Cima della Biscia – Colle di San Bernado – traversing behind Finale Ligure
Theme: Singletrack everywhere except under my wheels!
Vibe: Progress is progress, just crack on.
Tick count: 2 – result!
Resupply: Altare in the morning – town with shops, bars etc. Café at Melogno uplift drop-off with pimp Santa Cruz sleds to ogle at. If you’ve ridden at Finale Ligure, you’ve been there.
Water: Problematic – at resupplies but few streams. Lucked out with a farm’s water fountain about 45 mins before stopping for the night, having been out for a couple of hours.
Up: 3000
Down: 3000
Across: 80km
Bivvy spot: On some double track about 15 minutes above the Colle di San Bernado, facing east for the sunrise. I had planned to sleep at the col but upon arrival I realised the buildings on the map were less ‘welcome shelter from the predicted overnight showers’ I had hoped for and more ‘rat infested crack den’ in vibe, so I pushed on a bit longer.
Memories: Conflicted feelings – basically the whole DD5 AVML bikepacking route could be done on a gravel bike. This made for good progress, which I was craving by this point. But I had to ride past so many great trails!! Ingeniari passed right over the fire road I was on, so did several other Finale classics. At the café at Melogno I stopped to chat to riders as they readied to drop into amazing singletrack. That’s what I’d come looking for and yet here I was on my mission to Ventimiglia, smashing on on double track while all the fun stuff dropped away behind me.
To be honest the progress was so welcome it was a paradox that I thought about more than felt. Forward momentum was so good that I finished the DD5 route by about 16.00 and pushed into DD6, which starts with an absolute banger of a singletrack descent from Bric Pagliarina, totally saving the day, trail-wise.
Comedy moments: My Garmin telling me I was 400m from the end of the DD 5 route. It was yet another push/carry/haul-a-bike section up some steep, wet limestone and the 400 linear metres took me 45 minutes!! Oh AVML, you cheeky, cheeky monkey.
Beware: The temptation to just drop into a sweet trail, whoop all the way to the beach and sit drinking Aperol Spritz in the square at Finale and riding uplifts for the next 3 days. Like a holiday.
DD 6 – Colle di San Bernardo (unnamed on map but used road name) to Monte Colombin
Theme: the Alpine day, massive exposure whilst skirting around the Molini riding area along the Franco-Italian border on the AVML bikepacking route.
Tick count: 0. There’s a point in a trip where you become too disgusting for ticks I guess.
Resupply: Shop in Nava
Water: At resupplies and alpine streams
Up: 4500m
Down: 6000m
Across: 105km
Bivvy spot: On a rocky track at 10.20pm in a totally uninhabited valley as the last of the light died, 20km from the end.
Memories: This day was huge and probably, along with days 1 and 2, most how I had imagined the AVML bikepacking route might be. It started surprisingly dry given the rain that fell overnight – there was a warm wind to go with it which dried everything out. The first big climb led to a great descent down to a morning resupply at the town on Nava. The trail is called la Fattoria (the farm) and is on trail forks – the whole Nava area is pretty heavily uplifted it turns out. I actually deviated from the AVML bikepacking route out of Nava, eschewing the singletrack climb to the next col, the colle San Bernado di Mendatica at 1283m, for the road climb going to exactly the same place. I had done enough carrying my bike uphill so far to not feel even a twinge of guilt at this decision.
From here I could see dark clouds on the summits and the forecast was for localised but heavy rain in the afternoon. It was already 1pm and the next 30km or so would see me climb up to over 2000m for quite long periods as I skirted the border with France in a big anti-clockwise loop along the ridge overlooking Molini, another spot packed with trails that I love. It was a bit of a risk but there were 2 refuges on the map, just in case, so I got all my warm and dry kit ready in the top of my riding pack and went for it.
Luckily the gamble paid off. Visibility was poor, maybe 15m at times, and it was chilly, about 6 degrees, but the rain mostly held off and I stayed incident free so I could keep moving. Smashing through snow banks in the mist, probably the first rider through for 2025, felt a million miles from floating in the sea at Levanto on day 1. I wanted to get back to lower and warmer climes asap so I carried on. The first descent was effective if not so much fun – a mix of military and ski area double track that did its job and no more. A view would have no doubt added a lot but I was just happy not to be caught in a storm.
Starting a climb at 6pm and 12 hours into your 6th day of riding is always going to be a smidge heavy going and so it was. Had I known what was waiting for me I’d have had more energy I think. From Monte Toraggio (back up near 2000m) starts an absolutely stunning trail. It’s pretty savagely exposed (see below) but it’s totally worth it and getting to ride this section as the sun slowly dipped below a cloud inversion hundreds of metres below me is one of my stand-out memories of the trip.
Comedy moments: Rolling into an absolutely idyllic, perfect camping spot at the Sella di Gouta, unpacking my stuff and readying to dip into the cold stream for a much-needed wash before realising there was no hint of a phone signal anywhere.
I had been checking in with my riding partner and my kids each evening to share status and position; It’s not like anyone was going to call out the mountain rescue for me if I didn’t check in but then again it was me who hadn’t taken my InReach with me (bad decision) and doing fun stuff like this really shouldn’t be something that stresses out your loved ones so I packed back up, at 9.30 pm by this time, and rode on in the fast fading light. In the end that meant another 10km or so until line of sight with the coast got me a couple of bars of network.
Beware: The gaping void to your side. A good few hundred metres of exposure lie to one side of you for several km of gorgeous trail down from Mont Toraggio. Ride what you feel good riding, walk the bits you don’t. Absolutely do not come to the AVML bikepacking route if you have vertigo.
Mini-day 7 – Monte Colombin – Ventimiglia
Theme: Let’s finish this thing. Oh look, nice trails!
Tick count: 0
Resupply: No need
Water: likewise
Up: 250m
Down: 1000m
Across: 20km
Memories: The AVML goes out fighting! 20km with just 250m metres climbing for 1000m of descending, it’s a parade! Or, if you’re living in AVML world, then every single metre of the 250 can be hiking and hauling your bike. By this point I would have been disappointed with anything less.
The real kick came from the most brutal double track descent I have ever ridden, down the historical old salt road. So, so rough! I was having to stop for breaks to shake out my hands and pause the beating for a moment. The final few kms to the coast did have some great little sections of trail though. I was glad I didn’t try it in the dark the night before, that’s for sure!
Comedy moments: Pressing ‘save ride’ on my Garmin at Ventimiglia train station and seeing a nearly 4000m discrepancy between metres climbed and metres descended on the route. The Garmin auto-pauses below 3 km/h so missed the slowest hike-a-bike. That means there was just under 4000m of hiking on the AVML bikepacking route, which felt about right.
Beware: Your own smell.
What did I learn?
Kit essentials/tips
Don’t cut your finger nails – they’re the best in-situ tick tweezers (before they’ve latched on properly) and it’s like sewing repairs – a tick in time saves 9 😉
Enduro tyres are a total must have on the AVML. Seriously, any tyre under about 1100g will just pick up sidewall cuts on the rocky singletrack.
Full Suspension would be best. We rode hardtails and it was fine but a short travel trail bike would be better if you have one.
First aid supplies and a satellite messenger – you will end up carrying an injury, quite possibly from the walking. I managed to sub-lux a shoulder whilst manhandling my bike under a tree. Ankles are a big risk. Cuts and scratches are inevitable and bike crashes are very, very probable. There are dead spots in phone signal that can last 20km.
Who is the AVML bikepacking route for?
In the words of my riding partner “I wouldn’t wish this route on my worst enemy”. We’re very different people though – I absolutely would wish the route on several people I can think of and gladly watch the footage. There’s even a couple of politicians I’d like to see try it on gravel bikes 😉
Which actual friends would I recommend it to?
That’s a tricky one and honestly, almost no-one. The nature of the route and the terrain probably auto-eliminates about 99% of riders from either finishing or at least deriving a good experience from it.
What are the eliminating filters?
You must be a technically very competent mountain biker. Ideally, you should have raced an enduro or two. Why? Because most of the singletrack is rocky and technical as all sh*t and you’ll be riding it on a heavy-arsed bike when you’re pretty tired. You have to be well, well within your comfort zone in brutal technical terrain.
But you can’t be demanding about trail quality. This is an A-B bikepacking route, not a commercial trip (you could not pay me enough to guide this route with clients, for all its beauty). Some Days there’s almost no singletrack at all. Some days there is, but only uphill… If pushing, pulling and hauling your 25kg bike up 500 vertical metres of overgrown trail, struggling every step of the way, only to reach the top and find a wide, concrete farmers’ track or a totally washed out river bed down the other side is going to piss you off, well you’re out.
You must be fit and strong. Even if you take more time than we did over the route it is incredibly physically demanding. You need to be bike fit and builder fit, because you’ll be pushing that bike more than you ride it some days.
Re-supply was a big issue. There weren’t many resupply points. We passed quite a few closed shops, restaurants and hotels but frustratingly little open, for late May. At one point I was carrying 3 full days of food just to be sure. When an emergency resupply means dropping several hundred metres in height to fuel up before climbing an hour or more back up to the route, just to resume your 20000m climbing marathon, you try to avoid it.
You have to go fast and light(ish). Technical trails get less fun the heavier your bike is. Same for pushing uphill and double same for carrying your bike. You really need to hit this one in superfly mode, be totally ruthless with what you take and forgo any item you might possibly be able to do without. In short, you’re going to have to go full red-neck.
You have to not mind ticks. No one likes them, that’s for sure. But if the idea of daily tick checks and removal sessions is a deal breaker, consider the deal broken.
Can you enjoy bikepacking on technical singletrack like the AVML bikepacking route?
Yes, but something has to give. Pick a spot on the sliding scale below and accept that there is no perfect place to be on it:
- Ruin the riding – take a tent, a proper stove and some campfire luxuries for better eating and sleeping. Honestly, don’t even bother – this ain’t the route for that. Pick a more gravelly trip and have a blast. Try the AVML like that and you will experience misery in abundance without reward.
- Compromise the riding – if you want to carry a sleep system, a superlight stove and minimal spare clothes and maybe a powerbank, toothbrush, some spares, some water and food then you can definitely do this route, but the technical singletrack and hiking will be a very different experience. This is how we did it this time I’d say.
- A sweet spot? I’m really not sure it exists. If I had to do it again (please don’t make me) then I’d go ultra, like ULTRA light. Think of an FKT attempt race set-up and you’re about there. A sleeping pad with an emergency bivvy to protect it and a 400g quilt. No spare clothes, no ultralight stove, no nothing. It still ain’t fast and light, just because the food and water alone weighs quite a bit. But it’d make the techier trails that bit more fun and the horrendous hikes that bit less farcical.
- Compromise the Bikepacking – With some more MTB-leaning routes it’s sometimes better just to pack a credit card and assume you’ll be staying in accommodation. With a light enough bike to actually enjoy the technical trails it can seem a good choice, even if the adventure side of things suffers for it. However I don’t think this would really work on the AVML either – the route is pretty remote so finding accommodation off the route each day would end up adding thousands and thousands of metres of climbing to the trip as you endlessly dropped to a town in the evening and then climbed back up to rejoin the route the next day.
How did I feel at the end of it?
Pretty broken but pretty proud I guess. There had been beauty, plenty of it. The suffering had been next level. The satisfaction at finishing was more one of triumph over absurdity (we were well beyond mere adversity by DD3) rather than the resolution of a week of fun on bikes. Then again, that’s kind of what I went out for so it’s not a complaint, just how it is.
Am I glad I did it? Yes.
Would I do it again? No.
Is that a bad sign? Yes and no. I think this might be the most niche route I’ve ever done. I just can’t think who I would recommend it to except someone who meets all the criteria above AND is looking for an insanely tough week of their life.
Is it for you? If you’re still reading this and not yet put off, well by all means give me a shout for all the trail beta I can remember. Good luck!!