Day 426 19th September
11 miles (Pula to Venice /Mestre) Average speed 11.5 mph Top speed 92?!!!
I got up at 5.30 after a restless night which included watching a Jason Statham film called Hummingbird. I had brekkie of beans on toast and tea, showered, packed and left at 6.45. It stopped raining for long enough for me to get to the port, where I checked in only to find there was no boat today due to the weather. Instead seven of us were taken by minibus with the bikes on a trailer behind. It pretty much rained from the minute I checked in til gone midnight.
Rain, rain and more rain
We arrived in Venice at the port and unloaded, I changed shoes and removed trousers as I knew I was about to get very wet! The rain was very heavy as I loaded my bags onto my bike and I took shelter in some garages and had a drink while preparing for the rain. I crossed the bridge and followed the cycle path alongside the main road, I stopped for a cappuccino in a cafe where the waiters didn’t look too impressed by my dripping all over their floor. I used their toilet and got back on the path but it soon ran out and became a rutted uneven mass of roadworks. It also took me too far away from town, but there was no way to cross the railway tracks and main road. Eventually I went the wrong way up a slip road and took the main road over a bridge which took me into town.
I found the B&B easily and checked in, putting my bike in the garden. Giuseppe carried my bags in for me and showed me to a lovely room where I hung everything wet on the balcony and joined him and Lucy and Anna his daughter for a delicious pasta lunch. I rested and then walked into town using a brolly they offered me. I found the next apartment we are due to stay in and walked around looking for a bar, but it was a quiet Tuesday evening so I headed back. On the way I popped into Bar Novo for a few glasses of vino bianco at 1 euro a glass and went to the pizza restaurant next to the B&B for tuna pizza and another vino bianco.
Vino Bianco
In bed by 11 and had a good nights sleep in a kingsize bed.
B&B Venice Tre Rose