...Hannibal Barca that is. Not that crazed murderous loony Hannibal Lecter made infamous by Hollywood.
Hannibal Barca was born into a military family in 247 BC when the Carthaginian empire was already 500 years old. Growing up, he developed a huge chip on his shoulder over the Roman empire meddling in Carthage's affairs. One war after another, unfair taxes. That sort of thing. Eventually he was so pissed off he decided to settle things once and for all time by slipping over there and decimating their bloody Empire.
How to get from North Africa to Rome via the Pyrenees and the Alps was something of a conundrum as there were no established routes. "If I cannot find a way then I will make one" is apparently one of his famous quotes. "We should ditch these pachyderms and get us some bicycles" was another.
Despite his reputation as one of the greatest military leaders in history, you can't win 'em all. He made it as far as Italy, giving the Roman Empire some serious grief along the way, but he never did get to the eternal city. Numerous bloody battles along the way took their toll. Freezing Alpine winters in the pre-Ugg boot era didn't help his men's tootsies either. To cap it all off, they ran out of baguettes and beaujolais. Finally, there was a bit of trouble back home and he was forced to return, eventually running into his nemesis in the form of Scipio Africanus, a clever Roman general who had studied Hannibal's strategies and beat him at his own game.
Sadly, I will not be accompanied by my darling wife Sue on this trip. I will be joining up with a dozen or so other riders, whom I have yet to meet, as we take part in a tour organised by a couple of guys who have put together a bike tour company known as "Ride & Seek". I will be joined by a couple of mates from Nowra. Mick Crutch will accompany me the whole way to Rome and Rob Rix will join Mick and the rest of us for the first week of the journey as we tackle the Pyrenees and, of course, the Mont Ventoux on the first, ahem, rest day.
So join us as we proceed from Barcelona to Rome in this ride cum homage to Hannibal and his elephants.
Hannibal Barca was born into a military family in 247 BC when the Carthaginian empire was already 500 years old. Growing up, he developed a huge chip on his shoulder over the Roman empire meddling in Carthage's affairs. One war after another, unfair taxes. That sort of thing. Eventually he was so pissed off he decided to settle things once and for all time by slipping over there and decimating their bloody Empire.
How to get from North Africa to Rome via the Pyrenees and the Alps was something of a conundrum as there were no established routes. "If I cannot find a way then I will make one" is apparently one of his famous quotes. "We should ditch these pachyderms and get us some bicycles" was another.
Despite his reputation as one of the greatest military leaders in history, you can't win 'em all. He made it as far as Italy, giving the Roman Empire some serious grief along the way, but he never did get to the eternal city. Numerous bloody battles along the way took their toll. Freezing Alpine winters in the pre-Ugg boot era didn't help his men's tootsies either. To cap it all off, they ran out of baguettes and beaujolais. Finally, there was a bit of trouble back home and he was forced to return, eventually running into his nemesis in the form of Scipio Africanus, a clever Roman general who had studied Hannibal's strategies and beat him at his own game.
Sadly, I will not be accompanied by my darling wife Sue on this trip. I will be joining up with a dozen or so other riders, whom I have yet to meet, as we take part in a tour organised by a couple of guys who have put together a bike tour company known as "Ride & Seek". I will be joined by a couple of mates from Nowra. Mick Crutch will accompany me the whole way to Rome and Rob Rix will join Mick and the rest of us for the first week of the journey as we tackle the Pyrenees and, of course, the Mont Ventoux on the first, ahem, rest day.
So join us as we proceed from Barcelona to Rome in this ride cum homage to Hannibal and his elephants.
