19/11/24
Our westerly tour of Veneto and its numerous V’s continued. We said goodbye to Verona following excellent and peaceful paths by the river. It was no more than twenty minutes before we were free of cars and the noise of the city. We actually didn’t realise what a relief it would be.
The route took us through endless countryside that wasn’t very exciting – apart from the infrastructure projects of course. Eventually we came across the walled town of Soave.
An imposing castle guarding the city. It was a nice place for a lunch stop, which we enjoyed at what we think was the city hall. An official approached us and we thought he was going to tell us we couldn’t picnic. Instead he asked us about our ride and was happy to have us stop. The concept that we’ve cycled from the UK causing surprising to anyone who asks now.
The vineyards were only interrupted by the hill we had to ascend into Vicenza. It was about 4km and 220m of elevation. We hadn’t had many interesting climbs for a while and this was to be a nice test of our lingering strength! It was a smooth and easy climb, punctuated by a beautiful hall of some kind that had been sadly left to deteriorate next to a car park. A puzzling waste of resources.
As we descended into Vicenza we were dappled with rain. The first rain we’d felt for a month, so we couldn’t and didn’t complain. There was a lovely(ish) view of the city from Piazzale della Vittoria. A church sits atop the hill but a car park is beneath it and although you can supposedly see the dolomites, there was no chance with the air so awfully polluted.
Vicenza could probably have benefited from another day to see the place in its entirety but we had our sights set on Venice for our next stop. Northern Italy is full of interest (and people and cars) it seems. We had tried to use warmshowers, and found a lovely place to stay too with an American guy called Mike and his family just outside the city. But after very quickly asking us for more information about our journey he ghosted us. Then 12 hours later he declined the request. Based on the number of reviews referring to eating we assumed he read we were vegan and couldn’t be dealing with it.
Instead we relented to an Airbnb again. We were starting to feel a bit guilty for staying in so many brick buildings, but camping in such populated places was disconcerting and the long nights meant it would be almost 14 hours in our tent. The only person to respond to our booking request had a flat on the other side of the city. Close by there was a hypermarket. It reminded us of the shops in Mexico, impossible to find the entrance in the long concourse.
We were having pizza, it was just the best thing to have in Italy. They sell 00 flour as the recommended base, though strangely it’s harder to find bigger packets of yeast. The type of flour makes it soft and springy but it tears really easily. There was a single futon bed being used as a sofa in the small flat. We plugged in the iPhone to the 20” TV finish watching Showtrial. Tomorrow we should arrive in Venice.
Surly They Won't Make It 