I’ve done a few cycling trips over the years with Exodus and loved them all, but this one left me just a little flat. It started well enough, Matera is beautiful and as we cycled out of Matera the scenery was lovely and the sun was shining. But the days that followed were just a little frustrating really. We stayed in a farmhouse for two nights (not the one advertised) and both were lovely, but we arrived each day at around 3:30 and then you have nothing to do for the rest of the day because you’re literally in the middle of nowhere. I wish we had stayed in Ostuni for one of these nights. This also meant we were limited to eating from a basic set menu each night we were in the farmhouses, which was a bit disappointing as the food in this part of Italy can be amazing.
On the plus side we did cycle every day but lots of it felt like it was on busy roads, I wish we could have spent more time on the coast. I also felt we often cycled through a lovely village or town but then stopped for lunch in some very random and not great places. Would have been nice to have a bit more information on some of the towns we stopped in, on previous trips there’s been a little walking tour but not on this one. This could have been so much better, but it just wasn’t. For the first time if someone asked me if they should go on this trip I would say no…..