Half way round already
Well, not only do I already appear to be in Italy but I’ve crossed the 2,500 mile mark meaning I’m now halfway. I can’t quite believe how quickly that’s gone. Everything is going really well so far, I’m running almost exactly on schedule and the bike has proved to be a tank, it is finding a place close to my heart. Some pretty epic tan lines going on too now. I’ve also just posted a whole backlog of videos, check them out here.
I started off on the Croatian coast this week which is pretty spectacular but ultimately I found it to be hot, hilly and windy. So whilst I’m glad to have seen it, Im also glad to see the back of it if I’m honest. The big bonus was all the campsites lurking about on the coast meaning that I got a shower every day this week. This was needed as most days it was hitting between 35 and 40 degrees, leading me to be one sweaty mess by the end of the day. I got myself into a bit of a sticky situation on Pag island where I ran out of cash and instead of heading into a town off-route to replenish supplies, I decided I would probably be able to pay for my ferry ticket by card. Bad assumption. I either had to ride back to the nearest town for cash, 6km of uphill, or beg. I chose the latter, targetting Slovenian cars as they’re fairly well off and speak good English. After asking several people, feeling a bit of a fool, and being flatly refused I met Dennis. He agreed to pay for the tickets I needed for me and the bike, which I was extremely grateful for. Cheers Dennis wherever you are.
It was then a brief ride through Solvenia to Italy, so I rode in 3 countries during that day which felt quite good. Coming down onto the Italian coast I rode through Trieste which was a cool city and I would have really liked to have stuck around to see it. Unfortunately it was late evening and I had to crack on for a while to try and continue my lucky streak of campsites.
Due to the campsites, it’s been the first week where I’ve bumped into other cyclists and spent some time with them. First, there were 3 French chaps who I shared some pasta with and we exchanged stories and experiences. Then I met Richard from the Netherlands the other night and we went out for Pizza and some beers. Nice change to not be camping by myself and have some folks to talk to, although they were all taking it a bit easier than me and thought I was a bit of a mentalist.
The week culminated in a beast of a day yesterday, where I cycled 225km (140 miles) putting in over 10 hours of saddle time. I had left myself with a long last day anyway, around 180km, but this part of Italy is very flat and I thought it would be fine. Then I found the main coast road to Venice was closed. I followed the diversion signs for a while until they inevitably dissappeared and I found myself a bit lost. I chose a new route to get to Padova, my final destination. The route turned out to be bad judgement on my part as it added 30-40km to the day. Once I finally got to the outskirts of Padova, it took me 30 minutes of cycling around to find the hotel, only to then discover that the hotel was closed and all reservations made for that hotel had been moved to a different one. Another 10 minutes of cycling around to find that next hotel and once I eventually got there at 10pm, the slightly inept receptionist couldn’t find my flipping reservation, so I had to wait half an hour for her to figure it all out. I was close to breaking point at that stage. But never mind, I finally got my room, ran over to the only pizzaria open before it shut for a pizza and a pint, had an amazing shower and collapsed into bed at 12.30am.
I am staying in a small town just outside of Padova so there’s not much to see but I’ve done my washing, finished my book and spent the whole afternoon in an air-conditioned cafe with coffees and an internet connection. Setting off tomorrow again, destination France where I meet my parents for two days off near Toulon. Should be great and something to look forward to. Off for another pizza now. Adios.
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