After a lot of research and thinking and planning I have decided to cut out the section from Venice to Trieste and to catch a ferry across the Adriatic to Porec on the western coast of Croatia. I'll then head north to explore that piece of the coast before turning southward to Pula and north east to Zogorje where I will start my island hopping southward. I've shown this is the attached screenshot.

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Why?

Because I can, I like ferries, I am impatient to see Croatia and, for some reason, the very north east coast of Italy is not that appealing. I can't explain that one. I will cut 238km from the original route but I'll add some back in by heading north from Porec.

The ferry leaves Venice at 1700 on Wednesday. Venice is 87km from Vicenza which is one day's ride. I don't want to spend a night in Venice as I expect it to be expensive and I have heard you have to store your bike away from the old town area.

So I will split the journey into two, stopping over at Padua some 47km from Vicenza leaving only 40km to cycle on Wednesday.

I have combined the two days onto one page here.

Vicenza to Padua

This ride, whilst only 47km, has been one of the nicest. The countryside was beautiful and I spent almost no time at all on roads. I cycled tow paths, cycle paths, cycleways and tracks. Mostly flat and with the sun out it was really lovely.

The downside is that I didn't really stop at all so there are no photos. I guess I will have to rely on memories!

I saw nothing of Padua as my accommodation was on the far side of the city and my route zig zagged me through a series of paths and cycleways well away from the city. It was about 12km from thecity centre and I didn't have much enthusiasm to try and go back to explore.

The following morning I awoke to heavy rain. I knew it was coming but with only 40km to cycle I thought it would be pretty painless. I was wrong. It simply didn't stop and with a brief stop for a coffee I kept pushing on toget to Venice so I could find somewhere to hide out whilst I waited on the ferry. The only upside was imet Christian a fellow. Yclist from Stuttgart. He was also heading to Venice so we cycled most of the way together and, where possible, cycled two abreast so we could chat. He was in a short tour of 9 days and today was his last. He catches a bus back to Stuttgart in 2 days sohe is doing some sightseeing in Venice.

We parted ways at the end of the bridge.

I found a lovely cafe where I dropped all over their floor, ate a large chicken curry and drank countless coffees. I also spent a while trying to work out where I boarded the ferry as the port area in Venice is quite big.

Again, given the weather, there are no photos. This must have been, literally, the greyest day of the tour so far!

The crossing was a bit lumpy and we arrived slightly late but I found my accommodation quite easily after docking.