A wee note. Back in August 2020, I went on a 2-week cycle tour from Venezia, Italia to Wien, Austria. I was planning to go cycling on my own somewhere in Europe, when one day out of the blue I got a message from someone who I had never met, but briefly had chatted with via Couchsurfing about a year ago. Daniel, a Czech guy living in Scotland, was offering to go on a cycle tour in Scotland around the same time I was thinking to do my tour in Europe. I proposed my idea to him, and was on board almost immediately. It somehow seemed as a bit crazy idea to agree to go cycling abroad with a person you have never met, but the life is short, and it was time for adventure. However, we did meet approximately 2 weeks before the trip to go on a mini adventure in Scotland. We ended up going for a hike and a bivvying on the top of Suilven. This short weekend trip worked out just fine and we were ready to get our tickets to somewhere in Europe. I noted that on my other bike tours my friend and I did not take any smartphones and I would like to carry on this tradition. Daniel was a bit vary about it but quickly agreed to it. Two weeks free of phones sounded great. By not being connected virtually, you become more physically and emotionally connected to your surroundings. Originally, we wanted to go to Coratia, however, 2 days before the departure we had to change our route. Suddenly, Croatia was "blacklisted" by its bordering countries due to the increased Covid cases, and since we did not want to get stuck in this beautiful country, we had to look for an alternative. Late on Friday night we found fairly cheap tickets to Venice, Italy and decided to go for it. The next day I received a message from Daniel "Are we going to cycle through Alps?" I had not checked where we would cycle through to get to our planned destination - Vienna, Austria, thus I was not aware of this. I checked the map and could confirm that we will be cycling through the Italian Alps. I had never been to Alps before, and now I will be cycling through them. Adventure here we come!
DAY 1
The clock struck half past six in the afternoon when we arrived. As the plane touched the ground, there was nice blue sky with some innocent white clouds on one side of the aircraft. However, on the other side of the plane my eyes met black canvas pulled over the clear sky. As I stared into the dark clouds, a bright lightning strike flashed in a distance. Within a few minutes there was anther flash. We hoped that the storm clouds are sliding away from Venice. Once I stepped out of the plane, I looked up at the sky and could see that the heavy clouds were slowly rolling our way. By the time we put our bikes together and sorted out the layout of the luggage, the lightning strikes became more frequent and it started to drizzle. With back lights flashing and the headtorches lit, we headed into the increasing rain. The raindrops were whizzing in the dim light of my torch; the day was fading, and so was the visibility.
I pulled over to put on some waterproofs. After wrapped up nice and cosy in our waterproof jackets we carried on towards the big city of Venezia. As I was staring at the sky in amazement waiting for the next great lightning strike, I thought to myself that I have not seen a decent thunderstorm in ages. I exclaimed in awe whenever I saw a bolt of white, hot lightning breaking the sheer blackness. In vain search for a shelter for the night, we slowly rolled closer and closer to Venezia. As it started tipping down, we decided to stop and hide under a roof of a small wooden building squeezed between the cycle path and the busy road. Not the best, or even the safest place, but a dry option for sure. There was a slight aroma of piss, but, oh well, beggars can’t be choosers. We had a wee glimpse of the bright lights of Venice luminating into the dark night sky across the bridge. It was so close, yet so far. It wouldn’t be the best idea to cross the bridge whilst the thundering clouds were still all around us. As the night closed in, we thought this will be the place we will spend the first night in Italy.
After about half an hour the rain eased. The clouds overhead cleared. Now a few stars shyly were shining in the black sky, whilst lightning was still lighting up the distant horizon. It would have been a shame not to try to reach the beautiful city of Venezia. We were back in our saddles cycling towards Venice. This is only when I realised that the bridge which connects Venezia to the mainland is about 3.8 km long. We had to cycle fast and hope for the thunderstorm not to return whilst we were on the long and exposed bridge. The barriers were so low, that in high winds one could be easily pushed over the barrier and find themselves down into the cold dark sea below. As we reached the city, the police officers informed us that it is not allowed to take bicycles into the town centre. The idea of leaving Al and Charlie (our beloved bicycles) somewhere in the dark to walk around the town, did not appeal to either one of us. We turned back and cycled back into the night. Just before we left Venezia and returned to the long bridge, we met and briefly chatted to some Czech families who were here on a short holiday travelling by a boat. As we were heading back towards the airport, we struggled to get across back onto the right side of the busy road. Soon enough we found ourselves amongst hostels and hotels of Mestre rising skywards. After we managed to do an unintentional loop and got back into the maze of hotels and hostels of Mestre once again, we decided to give in, call it a night and book into one of the cheaper hostels for the first night.
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