September 22, 2015
Day 5 - Peschiera del Garda to Vicenza: The Rapture
Well what a monster truck of a day. I am not an athletic person at all and the distance today was a long one for me. It was all about getting the whole day in Vicenza tomorrow to visit Palladio buildings and museums and other villas. Then it got even longer because I found a bike route from Verona to Venice on the Veneto tourist organisation website last night, which would keep me off the more direct but busier SP11. All the zig zagging added nearly 20km to the day. But back to the beginning.
After breakfast, I was away at about 8.30am for a quick sprint along the fairly busy road to Verona. It had a small shoulder and the lane in each direction was very generous, so it actually felt fine. I grabbed a quick coffee and then headed through the guts of the town (which was a nice refresher as I've been to Verona before) and south across the river Adige, the same river that I had been following in previous days, but now much further south.
The route from there was a bit mixed. Sometimes well signposted and other times a mystery. It also took me down some pretty awful back roads that were either falling apart into cobble-like chunks, or made mostly of gravel and sand. It frequently used lots of the better maintained local roads that are very narrow with no shoulders, but which people bolt down really fast. In some places it felt much more dangerous than the main road. Over lunch I was thinking about just heading back to the main road, but decided to give the route another chance. I'm glad I did. From Caldiero onwards it was much better road surfaces and there was more of interest along the way. Primarily, evidence that it is well and truly vintage in the Soave area. The wineries (huge factory like ones - no quaint cellar door here, this was an industry) had that very distinctive smell, and there were lots of them.
The towns of Soave and Monteforte d'Alpone had a very bizzare feel. Part of it would have been I guess that I was passing through right around lunch time and everything was closed. But there had been 'Festival of the Grape' the night before and the only life on the streets was council garbage men picking up the plastic bags and bottles lining the pavements. The bunting was still up and the stage and marquees only half dismantled. It was like all the people had just disappeared.
The last 10km into town were back on the busy road - I just kept thinking how much better it was compared with the main roads of Sri Lanka, which it was. Was checked into a B&B and showering by 5pm.
Today's ride: 97 km (60 miles)
Total: 232 km (144 miles)
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