Author: anthill

My alarm woke me at 6am as planned and I had yogurt and oats for breakfast. These are the oats I bought 2 days ago thinking they were porridge oats but they just sat there bubbling in the boiling milk, so I’m eating them with yogurt.

I passed my first sign of the day for Wien which read 118km. Not too bad, something I should be used to, but I knew I had a mountain to climb. Since I hit the Alps I’ve developed a phobia of mountains or any small inclines. I need to snap out of this as its starting to ruin my rides.

Sure enough I hit the mountain. The road was wide, it didn’t look like I was climbing, not with the shape of the land around it, but I was struggling. I think sometimes climbing these mountains is more a mental strain than a physical one.

I got to the top and enjoyed a long descent. I had only 40km left to my halfway point which was Wiener Neustadt. This felt good, what felt even better was the mountains were starting to disappear behind me and I was on a long straight road with a good pace.

This continued all the way to Vienna. I had to change roads from the 54 to the 17 which was pretty seamless. I had a bit of rain when I approached Wien, but I had made it, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

I finally have my rest day tomorrow. Got some washing to do and time to look around Vienna. I worked it out that I’m actually closer (as the crow flies) to England than I am Finland. Slightly depressing thought but onwards and upwards on Wednesday!

In terms of finding a campsite I was limited how far north I was going to go. I couldn’t get as far as Vienna and the nearest campsite most northerly along the route was in Hartberg, only 60km away. So I had a slight dilemma. Do I cycle a short distance and have further to go to Vienna, or do I cycle as far as I can and find a hotel/hostel. The days ride would decide the outcome.

I was cycling through Graz on a Sunday. Perfect day for cycling through city centres. I think I was right not to spend a day here. It didn’t look like I was missing out on much. Every 100 metres I hit a set of traffic lights on red, then again round a bend. In the end I just starting going through them because there was nothing coming. I then hit my first hill. Really steep out of Graz, I was sweating and uncomfortable already.

At the top were more ups and downs and it was getting hotter by the minute. I’d only done 10km out of Graz and it felt like I’d been riding all day.

I got to Hartberg shattered. I checked the campsite out and it looking very welcoming. A friendly Austrian told me that it was too hot for cycling today and I should camp and get up early tomorrow. So that’s exactly what I decided to do. Spent the afternoon lying in the shade of a tree on my sleeping mat. I needed the rest!

This of course meant that I’d now be cycling tomorrow which should be my rest day. I figured that there would be more to do in Vienna on a rest day, so set my alarm for 6am and went to bed early.

The campsite I stayed at was run by two lovely little old ladies and it was cheap too. I was approached by an Austrian mountain biker. He told me an easier route from what I had planned. I was planning on sticking to the Austrian/Slovenian border and then heading north. He told me that there is an old road to Graz (R70) that has now been replaced by a motorway (A2). He said it has a few steep hills but is definitely the easier route. So that was what I did.

The road was a bit up and down but almost flat all the way to a Griffin. I then had my first climb. Then a steep descent followed by yet another steep climb. That was really how the day panned out on a whole. The Austrian had told me that I need to keep heading east to get away from the mountains. The photos I have taken over the last few days seem to be nothing but mountains. I’ll be glad to get away from them and give my legs a break. Although they have been the setting for some of the most beautiful views I’ve seen on the trip.

As I got closer to Graz the mountains did seem to recede, they were now just steep hills. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier on the legs. I’m not going to stay in Graz. The campsite I’m staying at is really expensive and it’s a Sunday tomorrow. Maybe I’ll have a proper look around another day.

Left slightly later than I’d wanted. This usually happens when I have to cook breakfast. Also it had rained in the night so taking my time meant the early morning sunshine dried the tent out.

My legs felt drained from the day before but I had slept well and the rest had done me good. I haven’t been on the net for a few days so I’ve been unable to check what lies ahead. Maybe this is a good thing. If I know I have a huge climb it doesn’t do much for my spirit.

Turns out I had a few huge climbs, very steep climbs indeed. The route to Bistrica was all up and down but I could cope with this. It was route 101 north that was so so steep. It was a wide road too so the gradient wasn’t obvious, but looking back I could see it was steep and my legs could feel it. Checking my GPS I only had 3 miles to the border but I was going a lot slower than 3 miles an hour and I had to keep stopping every few hundred meters to cool down. It was tough.

I finally reached the top and crossed into Austria. The route then went just as steep down as it had up. It was great fun but heavy on the brakes.

A few more steep inclines before I was out of the mountains. I stopped for a sandwich at some random place, I’m not even sure if they did food but they knocked me up a great ham sandwich with mayo, tomato sauce and lettuce.

By this point I’d had enough. It was still the hottest part of the day and my legs were almost jelly. I plodded on to Lake Klopeiner See where I’ve pitched my tent for the night and had yet another cooling swim in a lake.

I’ve been going three months today so I should be halfway through.

The previous night I’d been to the campsite shop and bought some pineapple slices and sweet bread like things fully of sugary slop. They weren’t pleasant but I swear they were 600 calories each so I thought this would give me plenty of energy for the morning.

I was glad to be leaving Italy. It’s a beautiful place but the people are odd. They have bizarre illogical methods and rules that don’t work with me and I always seem to be breaking them. So today I was heading for the mountains of Slovenia, Lake Bled to be precise. I’d heard it was a gorgeous lake in a beautiful setting.

I quickly started climbing my first mountain. The first mountain I’d climbed since Arezzo in fact so I had to give the legs a good push to get them going. It wasn’t so nice moving so slowly, I was used to whizzing along the flat planes around Rimini and Venice.

I soon got to Gorizia. A town that seems to share itself with Italy and Slovenia, meaning I had a very unceremonious entry into Slovenia. I instantly got in to trouble, the road signs don’t seem to point where I had noted down the previous night, so out came the GPS.

I followed a beautiful turquoise river all the way to Seli Pri Volcah. I couldn’t figure out why it was such a bright turquoise colour, perhaps someone could let me know? The lake at Most Na Soci was the same, I took a photo of it but the colour doesn’t show up.

I then headed deep into the mountains. The mountains were a lot larger than I’m used to, towering above me. I had many small climbs but I was waiting for the big one, and after dinner it came. 4100 feet to be precise, it was a killer! I ran out of water halfway up so stopped at a bar. The barman was an athletic enthusiast and made me up a homemade isotonic drink of sugar, some kind of salt and water from the river in his yard that he swore was drinkable.

I finally made it to Bohinj absolutely knackered. My legs were shaking and I felt I couldn’t go on another mile. I had some sultanas and sweets for the sugar and plodded on towards Bled.

I was stupid today, I bit off more than I could chew. I’ll try not do that again.

Arriving at the campsite on the side of Lake bled I took a cooling swim. What I’d heard was correct. It really is beautiful around here and Slovenia is a gorgeous country. Tomorrow I should be heading out of it though, and into Austria.

Venice is an amazing city. Why they would build a city in such an unstable place is beyond me. The whole future of the island is a constant battle against subsistence, water and air pollution. Apart from this it is a city like no other and I would encourage anyone to go there and explore the maze of alleyways at least once. The only thing that let it down for me was the crowds. Also the advertising they had plastered around the most photographed bridge, the bridge of sighs. I had a lovely relaxing time with my fiance, she even brought me a new tyre, toiletries bag and spare t-shirts amongst other goodies.

The first night I experienced an apocalyptic storm. First it hit with strong winds that pushed the wall of the tent in to touch me. Then came hail stones the size of golf balls and heavy rain. All accompanied by a lit sky from constant lightning. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pooping myself, especially as I was camped under a rather large tree. I could hear screaming outside as most tents got flooded. Luckily I’d wisely chosen slightly higher ground so my tent ended up on an island.

At the campsite I met an interesting artist named Ian Wildgoose. We chatted for hours about this, that and the other and he gave me a cap. Its nice to meet interesting people like this along the way. He is commissioned to do amazing works of art around Venice. Just before I left I also met a cycle tourer who was travelling from Zagreb to London. He had the same tent as me and a very similar setup of bike.

I left early with my new tyre weighted down with all my new bits-n-bobs. Today I was heading towards Trieste but not going quite that far. The plan was to camp about 30km away and go north through the mountains into Slovenia tomorrow.

The road out of Venice is busy and the exhausts from the traffic are choking. I cycled North past Marco Polo airport where the traffic died down. There is an autostrade that goes directly to Trieste so most of the traffic uses this, leaving the roads nice and quiet for me.

The land is flat the only inclines were crossing bridges over dykes. This meant I could get a good pace going. After dinner I caught up with another cycle tourer named Antonio. He is doing a ride from Italy to Istanbul. We rode together for a while and chatted about our trips until I headed south to the campsite.

Tomorrow I have mountains to climb so it’s an early night for me.

It was just another short ride today. By short I mean 115km but I was finished by 1pm.

The day started off badly. There had been thunderstorms all night so I hardly slept, and had to pack away a sopping wet tent. The sky still hadn’t cleared so I donned the waterproofs just to be on the safe side.

Continuing on the SS309, I joined the early morning rush hour and a convoy of lorries towards Venice. The rain never came back and the ride remained overcast. I’d worked out that I hadn’t had a day without blistering hot sunshine now for 20 days, so this was a pleasant change from sweating 10 minutes into the ride.

Road was perfectly flat so I managed to maintain a decent pace. It wasn’t long before I reached Chioggia, just past halfway. From here the road bridges a large inlet of water. I’m sure it has a proper name. You can see it on google maps. I took a photo, it’s hard to see where the sea ends and the sky begins.

After this the road headed north and was perfectly straight for about 10km. Passing by natural woodland and marshes that looked like they had never been touched. This took me all the way to Camping Jolly where I’ll remain until next Tuesday.

Rimini didn’t quite meet my expectations. It was a nice city but didn’t really consist of much other than high street shops. I’d describe it like Worcester town centre on a sunny day but the people are better dressed.

The campsite I was staying at was on a long stretch of holiday apartments and hotels. The beach was even divided up into plots owned by the hotels. I strolled down the sea front on the evening, with all the shops selling tacky toys, hair braiding, punch and judy, crazy golf, it really wasn’t a place I’d like to stay.

The campsite had a definite vibe to it as the campers were mainly young. I met three Belgian guys on a two week break who had got as far as they could before they needed to head back. They seemed pretty cool and they certainly liked a party. There were a group of English also who had driven down.

The road heading north went straight up the sea front. It was like being in one of those old racing car computer games where the scenery is constantly on a loop. Only the scenery consisted of shops selling lilos, beach towels and t-shirts. This continued pretty much until Ravenna where the traffic got heavy as I was now on the main road all the way to Venice.

The 152 kilometres signposted as remaining to Venice was slightly too much considering I’d already cycled at least 40 to this point, but thought I’d reduce it down somewhat before camping. So I put my head down and pushed on to the coastal lido’s that run along the coast near Comacchio. Tomorrow, Venice.

My plans for today were to take me to Rimini from Arezzo. I had toured Arezzo the previous day on bike. It’s a pleasant town with churches scattered around the centre. If you’re into that kind of thing. I on the other hand was a little bored and spent most of the morning in the park then back to the campsite in the afternoon to chill out.

I wasn’t looking forward to the days ride as I knew I had a three thousand foot mountain to climb to get to Rimini and there was no real alternative. I left just after nine in the morning and instantly made a wrong turn in Arezzo.

Back on route I could see the mountains looming in the distance. Before I knew it iwas sweating profusely and climbing my first big climb. It was only 500m but it was steep.

After a brief descent, passing through the picturesque medieval town of Anghiari, I ended up in Sansepolcro. Here I bumped into three mad polish cycle tourers who were heading in the opposite direction. They had stopped for a cigarette after completing the mountain I was fast approaching.

The climb started here. It continued for a good two hours before I reached the top. As I’d expected I was greeted with beautiful views before descending pretty much most of the way to Rimini. I’d calculated todays ride as 84 miles yet it took no time at all and I arrived and Camping Italia by 16:30.

I’ll have a day looking round Rimini, then continuing on Wednesday for a two dash to Venice where I’ll wait for my fiance to arrive. She’s hopefully bringing me a new back tyre that should see me through to the rest of the trip.

I slept like a log. The campsite was actually really pretty although how it got as many as two stars I’ll never know. What made it pretty was at night. It’s perched in a forest on the hill opposite Spoleto so you get to see it lit up at night. Glow bugs twinkle in the trees and owls toot all night long.

Looking at the map for the days ride to Arezzo, I’d left myself in an awkward position where the only way to Arezzo directly was via motorway. This meant I’d have to skirt under Lago Trasimeno and add quite a few miles to my trip. I also couldn’t go directly to Perugia so I’d have to go south before heading back north again.

It was also motorway leading out of Spoleto so I decided to play dumb and cycle on it anyway. I got a few beeps so after putting in a good head start, I got off the motorway and onto my planned route before the police came and picked me up.

It was nice on my route and so many cyclists about. They always give me a wave or a cheery hello. It was a very steep climb into Perugia . I then headed to Magione before heading south under the lake.

The rest of the ride was pretty straight forward, no big hills, no heavy traffic, and although it was hot it was bearable. Therefore I made it Arezzo feeling pretty good.

My fiance has confirmed her flights to Venice now so I’m slightly ahead of schedule. Therefore tomorrow I’ll probably have a day of sightseeing around Arezzo before heading north to Rimini via San Marino.

I can’t get over how good Italians speak English. This makes it a lot easier for me. Just last night there was a guy searching the woods with his dog. I asked what he was looking for. Although his English wasn’t perfect he managed to tell me that he is looking for truffles and he doesn’t use a pig because he isn’t allowed one in the house. Incidentally, he’d found only one truffle in about 3 hours. I think he needs a better tool for searching.

The picture is of Lago Trasimeno.