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After finishing their studies in Oban, two UHI Masters students saddled up for an epic cycle across southern Europe to get to their first lecture of the new semester in Crete.

Federico Di Buccio and Trevor Eakes planned the 1,300-kilometre cycle across mountainous terrain after meeting on their aquaculture course (ACES-STAR) at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).

ACES-STAR is a two-year course across three partner institutes: SAMS, the University of Crete and the University of Nantes, with the new semester having recently begun in Crete.

In order to arrive in time for induction week on 25th of February, the two adventurers had just 20 days to cycle from Federico’s home town of Alife in Italy to Crete, camping along the way.

Trevor, who is from Seattle, USA explained: “The idea was formed on our first week of the course, during a trip to the Isle of Kerrera. Federico had cycled from Stirling to Turin in Italy last summer, so the first part of the journey had kind of been done and we talked about doing Italy to Crete. We shook on it there and then.

“It was a way for us to travel in a more sustainable way, but the decision to do it was taken on a bit of a whim. It was just a vision we wanted to make real, to do a big bike-packing adventure.

“We enjoyed exploring the cultural links between southern Italy and Greece. Every city we went to was culturally significant, if not a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

From the Roman stronghold of Alife, across the Apennine Mountains, to the UNESCO site of Castel de Monte, Federico and Trevor went on to explore southern Italy, including Sannio, Salento region and one of Europe’s oldest cities, Matera, where the pair slept in a cave.

After crossing to Greece, the students negotiated mountain ranges in their cycle to Athens, passing by the city of Corinth, famed in Greek mythology as the birthplace of Pegasus, the name now given to Federico’s bike.

Federico said: “It was physically demanding, but we were exploring incredible places and seeing wonderful things, so tiredness was only ever in the background – until it came time to sleep; we regularly slept 10 hours a night!”

The pair said the ACES-STAR aquaculture course has given them the opportunity to build strong friendships, explore Europe and work at leading marine science institutes across the continent.