If you were tasked with creating a cycling route fit for a former Conservative minister, what would it include? Perhaps a former railway line, a European border and a handful of abandoned post-industrial villages? Well, since Michael Portillo wasn’t available to throw his red-trousered legs over the bike, Cyclist has stepped in to visit a corner of northeastern Italy that comfortably ticks all these boxes in one afternoon.
Joining me for our own Great Railway Journey is Polish-born cycling tour guide Ewa, who I meet at Chiusaforte station, once served by the Ferrovia Pontebbana, a railway line that spanned the pocket of Italy squashed between Austria and Slovenia.