Day 21 - Lesce to Marghera, Venice

 I've not mentioned the weather for a while, simply because there's no change. Each morning we wake up, it's sunny and by the time we throw a leg over the bikes, it's in the low 20s. We have been very lucky. Today was no exception.

Our route from Lesce took us northwards and into The Julian Mountains. I have really enjoyed every minute of riding through the country. Obviously, the weather helps but some of the scenery is just spectacular.

The Julian Mountains

I hadn't really thought when I took that photo, that we would be going up and over those mountains but that's what we did, via the Vršič Pass. The pass is the highest pass in Slovenia, at 1,611 metres, as well as being the highest in the Eastern Julian Mountains. A feature, if you like, is that it contains exactly 50 hairpin bends, 24 one side, 26 the other. We started on the 24 side, the worst side. Worst because, many of the hairpins, for some unfathomable reason, are cobbled! That makes an already hard task, even harder on 2 wheels. It wasn't just the fact they were cobbled, it was that with all the traffic, including the Arriva bus by the way, the cobbles were in a right state, bumpy, rutted, etc. Regardless, we both made it to the summit, safe and sound.

On the UP side, Vršič Pass

The down side, always easier anyway, was pretty much as smooth as a baby's bum, not a cobble in sight.

Once we were down, it was time for our fuel stop. It was absolutely roasting by now, so I cooled down with an ice pop. Not long after we'd started the next part of our ride, we came to the only POI for the day, the Italian border.

Our 12 th Country

Whilst grabbing the above photo, I also noticed this interesting roadside marker.

Original? Not sure.

The last stint to Venice was over 3 hours, so around halfway we stopped for a wee and refreshment. It was quite a posh looking restaurant but they were happy to fullfil Grizzly's need for coffee and carbs.

Continuing on, the roads were pretty good and the going too but the temperature hit 35 degrees! It reminded me of last year in Italy, where we got 41 or 42. Global warming has a lot to answer for. 24 would be just perfect, thanks.

With one small error of judgement a couple of kilometres from the hotel, I took an earlier exit off the main road, we arrived at our home for the next two nights. We have secure parking, paid for obviously but we don't mind that. It's quite a posh hotel, 4* or something and we have no complaints, except maybe about the view from the room.

We popped out, under the railway lines, to the station, to get our daily travel ticket for tomorrow and then saught out a restaurant I'd found online, It was OK, food and beer were good but it wasn't run by Italians, more like Croatians, judging by the language. No problem, we had a nice dinner before heading back to the hotel. Grizzly decided to have another beer or two in the hotel. Would you believe it, some other sad bastard (a Grizzly expression), asked him about the Shadslow and even admitted to having one himself, plus, he's in the Italian Shadslow Owners Club FFS! Da Fuck! (another Grizzly expression!)

We have 2 nights here. Tomorrow we are having a sightseeing day in Venice. I'm looking forward to it. Like everything on this tour, having been planned 3 to 4 years ago, to see it actually come to fruition is quite exciting/rewarding for me.

OK, That's all for now.

Ciao!