17 - 22 September 2017

Cycling in Italy is an interesting challenge. Sometimes it's easy, because you can follow a path along a canal, when at other times it just seems to be a nice path along a canal...

Sunday started fine, because I had accepted to lend my bike for a presentation about longterm travelling with a bicycle. The people just watched it and I waited, not that difficult :D. Then I said goodbye to Alberica and went to the Certosa di Pavia, a very beautiful monastery on my way to Milan. I followed a canal after that and in Milan I visited the square with the huge cathedral. Beautiful! I also went to the castle, but very soon I felt like it was to crowded and the streets were not that nice cycle, so I started following another canal. At Mick's place we had a nice dinner and a good conversation, after what I went to bed.

Whoops! Monday I almost cycled 100 km. That's more than the 70 km I had planned. In the morning I continued following the canal, until it took a turn and I decided to cycle East. Well, that ended in a little adventure with very small trails and a lot of mud. I followed the 'normal' road after that, but the signs and kilometers didn't make any sense. Strange. At Beatrice in Bréscia I felt very welcome after the 98,7 km.

The weather on Tuesday was sad, with a lot of drizzle, but also dry times. At the Garda lake the road went down a lot, what I really liked. It is a very beautiful lake, so now I understand why a lot of people go here for their holidays ;p. Paola welcomed me with a nice cup of tea and vegan chocolate cookies, which were very nice. Her English is way better than an average Italian, so we spoke about a lot of different things. I liked it!

Wednesdays breakfast was very nice. Two croissants, melon, tea and some leftover cookies of yesterday. Delicious! After I had put everything back in my bags and on my bike, Paola showed me the way to Verona, what was nice and quiet. I followed the route she had pointed out to me, along all the nice places. It's a beautiful city, but also very crowded. At the house of Giulietta it was so crowded, that I cycled away as fast as possible. The rest of the day was fine. Nice weather and some hills. At Andrea and Giulia's place, we ate a traditional dish for winter with potatoes, pasta and a vegetable of which I don't remember the name. Tasted good!

Tuesday was another long day, but I found a nice cycle path along a river, that lead almost all the way to Venice. I found the camping at Campalto, close to Mestre, fast. Pitched my tent, took a shower, made dinner and went early to bed.

At 6 o'clock on Friday my alarm went off, so I could visit Venice early in the morning, when it was not that warm and crowded yet. It was actually still quite cold. I walked to the city through the small streets of the Cannaregion, to San Marco square. Very old, but beautiful buildings. I strolled through the small streets again and avoided the big amounts of tourists. Very well suited for me. I liked this city of water and bridges. Back at the camping I relaxed and gave my body some time to rest and repair from the last days and to prepare for the days to come.