I opened my eyes it was pitch black. I check the time, it was only 3:30. I gazed at the shimmering stars sprinkled over the dark vastness above me. There was a chill in the air, I had fallen asleep only wrapped in my bivvy bag. I pulled out my beloved old sleeping bag and squeezed it in between me and the cold bivvy. It kept me cosy and soon I fell back to sleep.
The sky above the horizon was tinged in a mild strawberry tone with no clouds in sight. We sat up wrapped in our sleeping bags to watch the sun slowly clambering up into the pristine sky. The steel blue sky soon gained some warmer tones. Keen swimmers and beach bums started to arrive and it was time for us to get up and pack away our gear. Before we left, we took the last chance to dip ourselves into the mighty sea before we would leave the coast behind us. The water was warm but murky. We refreshed ourselves in the cold showers. I had problems with my knee that I supposedly overstretched about 2 years ago during a 24-hour bike race back home, thus I was using the tapes from time to time to prevent me overstretching and locking my knee. I had put on a fresh tape just before the trip, they normally last about a week if I am careful. However, I was concerned I would get hideous tan lines (I know, it would have been the least of my worries..), thus I removed them after one full day cycling in the blasting sun. It was an obvious X on the back of my knee, that I could not get to blend in with the tan on the rest of my leg. It looked hilarious.
Today we followed quieter and beautiful cycle paths meandering through the flat countryside and following the dusky green canals. The path took us through a small coastal town Caorle. The town had plenty of lovely gelato shops, but there was nowhere that sold decent postcards to send back home to our loved ones. We grabbed a gelato each, spent a wee while along this bustling coastline, which felt too crowded for my liking, thus it was time to head inland away from it all.
The cycle route we followed again took us away from the narrow and busy public roads where car drivers wouldn’t give you much space, to quiet, sometimes overgrown bendy trails. Scotland used to be on the top of my list for the worst countries to cycle on the roads, but Italy now took the cake. However, I have to give brownie points to Italy because there were so many off-the-road cycling options that you rarely had to share the road with non-courteous drivers.
Some cycle routes crossed seemingly endless plains with rugged peaks standing tall in a great distance, other times they weaved through small islands of woodlands that were isolated but teeming with wildlife. A small stream rushed through the dense woods with a cream path following it. Trees were tightly interlaced along the shores had occasional glinting poplars breaking up otherwise the continuous dull green foliage. The vegetation was lacking that lushness in the colour due to the strong midday sun beating down hard. However, the glistening grey leaves of poplars were trembling in the light breeze creating an illusion as if somebody had hung and lit up their white Christmas lights in these trees.
Soon we found this nice viewing tower hidden in the pale green trees. It was time to stop for a break to refuel ourselves and rest our bodies. We both felt like this would be a great hammocking spot for the night, however, it was still early in the day and thus plenty of time to cover a lot more miles. In times of uncertainty, what is the best choice, let the coin decide for you. We flipped the coin, and guess what... It told us to keep cycling. We looked at each other and shook our heads. Neither one of us was willing to risk another late-night cycle like the last 2 days. We were all set for the night. After a nice lunch and a few card games, we went for a quick exploration of the surroundings. There were birds fishing and bathing in the nearby wetlands; constant cries of herons, egrets and ducks and chirps of crickets filled the woodland and swamp around us. The swallows were swooping above the tower in swarms making a sound similar to that of tropical rain. The sun was slowly setting over the rugged outline of the Alps and turning the sky from dull blue to soft pink and fiery red. The air temperature dropped slightly as the night grew darker.
After a quick game of Monopoly, we hung up our hammocks. Daniel hadn’t checked his new hammock that he bought just before the trip. He came to a bitter realisation that the hammock he bought did not have any straps. We had to come up with another solution and used spare bungee cords. They seemed to hold his hammock well enough. It was time to let the light breeze to cradle us to sleep whilst nature played its music and the cold moonlight was creeping through the wooden slats and casted crooked shadows on the reed walls.
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