27/10/2012 - Venice

The Italian city on a lagoon of the Adriatic Sea, a place where many tourists spend their time wandering the narrow passage ways taking photos of the canals where the canal boats would expensively and slowly take other tourists around the sights of the city… and I was exactly one of these tourists today.
Fatigue and exhaustion from cycling near 4000km has got the better of me and it was difficult to find motivation to do anything more than just getting lost amongst the city. Lost is exactly what happened to me too, I was stupidly unorganized today and didn't even have the address of the hostel I was going to be staying at. Eventually I found an information center and got directions from there having to get the water service boat across to another island that was extortionately pricey at €20 for 24h. The stop I needed to get off was no more than 5 minutes away too so I hopped on the opposite direction and took the hour round trip to rest my legs from all the walking.
Venice is a beautiful city but incredibly easy to get lost in and even my GPS couldn't figure out which direction I was going because of the narrow streets and the tall buildings.
Making it to the hostel I checked in and had an hour nap before heading to the supermarket for food but I had left my bicycle and cooking gear at Adriano's place so I was left only able to eat a large quantity of sandwiches; no kitchen use in this hostel.
I wanted to go out and either see the town at night for some night photos or go out for a couple of drinks... Or even both but even now at 7:30 I just want to sleep.
I find it ironic that when I am camping in the middIe of nowhere alone I don't feel the slightest bit lonely but a hostel with quite a few people that I could meet but i am a mix of exhausted and could not be bothered (which isn't like me at a hostel) I feel lonely. Hmm, I suppose this means I should get back on my bike, it's 25km away from here, it's been less than 24 hours and I miss it and all my belongings that has made this trip possible like hell.
I'm going to have an early one tonight and rest up for another 4000km or at least to Israel.

The streets of Venice were flooded with not only water but tourists too.

People having to wear these make-shift boots

Gloomy pics of Venice.

 

Typical shots from around Venice

San Marco’s Cathedral, Venice

26/10/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 43

Distance cycled: km from Valstagna to Scorzé, Italy
Average speed: 84.7km/h
Moving time: 4h00m
Total distance: 3850km
Border X'ings: 13
Money spent: €9

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Disregard that spike, that's just my GPS acting up when it cant connect to any satellites

It seems now that the weather is changing for the worst, winter is settling in. Today went from a foggy morning to a torrential downpour and I was left to cycle all of the in-between. This did not mean I didn't enjoy it, I needed a shower anyway as it had been at least 5 days since my last. And today I finally got out of the foothills of the Alps and was on my way to Venice where I had organized accommodation for one night with a non-english-speaking Italian who replied to my message at warm-showers.org. Thankfully his girlfriend Elisabeth spoke decent English and was able to translate for me.
Adriano and Elisabeth took me out for dinner and to meet with family members where I took the leftovers from everyone's plates to successfully stuff my belly.
I ate an unusual dish called Seppie alla veneziana that was made from squid and the ink that it produces only being able to describe it as the darkest and blackest plate of food I have seen or eaten. After licking everyone's plates clean I moved onto desert having Italian profiteroles and other cakes.
Adriano graciously paid for my food that I initially refused and we returned to his beautiful home where I passed out in the spare room.

Morning Fog with the outline of the Alps behind, its early morning and Im tired and cold.

The valley that was soon coming to an end

Cool little salamander i found on the bike path

25/10/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 42

Distance cycled: 113km from Cles to Valstagna,Italy
Average speed: 17.8km/h
Moving time: 6h22m
Total distance: 3766km
Border X'ings: 13
Money spent: €7

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Today was not an enjoyable day for me. I was consistently lost and had to backtrack many kilometers because I hit a road that was forbidden for cycling. I had a route plotted on my GPS but because it was set for walking trails I refused to use it because this morning when I did it took me down unnecessary orchid roads that winded me up and down the mountainside.
I was back to my old style of touring by asking locals for directions but this came as more of an annoyance because people would direct me in ways that came to a dead end.
At one point I had to cycle down a cycling prohibited highway where cars were close enough to throw me off the road;
I survived unscathed but it certainly pissed me off.
It wasn't till later in the afternoon where I finally picked up on a bicycle path that led me out of the alps that is a good 50km long. I'm not sure how many of these kilometers I did today before camping but I'm at least 100km from Venice.
It's cold and I'm exhausted so I'm going to slip into my sleeping bag and hope that tomorrow will be a better day; the weather forecast predicts rain, so lets have our fingers crossed for sunshine and blue skies.

Central Plaza in Trento, Italy

On my way out of the valley

24/10/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 41

Distance cycled: 92.6km from outside Aprica to Cles, Italy
Average speed: 17.6km/h
Moving time: 5h16m
Total distance: 3653km
Border X'ings: 13
Money spent: €15
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I couldn't be more content right now. Another gorgeous day cycling the passes of the Alps.
I haven't had a shower in days and I couldn't care less.
The morning was a bit of a struggle having to climb up another pass to 1884 meter that is passo del Tonale, but after it was a fantastic gradual to steep decent into the valley di Sole. For the first 20 minutes I was keeping up with the traffic which I am sure they saw in their rearview mirror a big smile, that I should have kept shut as I ate my fair share of insects today.
It's a shame that google doesn't have the cycle routes of Italy on their website because I again missed out on some paths that followed the river. I stumbled across this path about half way down the valley and it was serene, an asphalt ribbon of cycle path that laid beside the turquoise river Noce.
The Italians I met today, despite not being able to communicate other than to those who could speak Spanish were generous, I was offered coffee and food that I first refused but they insisted. I had to spend a bit of money on fuel for my stove (at a travelers discount) and some groceries at Lidl but all things that were necessary.
I like to keep things posted on my blog page so I spent a good hour at the library in Cles updating it.
Before I knew it, it was getting dark so I rushed towards the lake to find a place to camp only stopping half way to pitch my tent on a walking path next to a farmers orchard.
I cooked up a great dinner and if I should give any advice about the way I travel I recommend cooking up more than you can eat and throw the rest in a Tupperware container for a tasty snack or lunch for the following day.

Cane! that’s me

Cycling up the Passo del Tonale

1884 meters in Altitude

Down in the Valley

The owner of the restaurant i went for a drink giving my bicycle a go

Good food for a good day

23/10/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 40–Why pay for a camp sight?

Distance cycled: 92.7km from Bellano to 2km from Aprica, Italy
Average speed: 15.7km/h
Moving time: 5h54m
Total distance: 3560km
Border X'ings: 13
Money spent: €13

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Today was the earliest morning I have woken on this trip to prepare myself for a long day. But, by no means did this enable me to cover the distance I wanted to.
The morning frost chilled and stiffened my muscles and I found it difficult at first to push hard. It also didn't help that I cut up my shin on my peddle whilst rushed to move when I was catching my breath on the side of the road oblivious to a car behind waiting to move into a parking spot I was blocking.
It wasn't a good morning until I found a Lidl supermarket to fill up on nice cheap junk food and groceries. Here I met a Israeli woman who invited me to her fast food restaurant a few towns east down the valley I was cycling.
I went to her shop but waited half an hour until it opened; she was very kind but predominately seemed to dislike certain races of people, she is Israeli after all. But I was very grateful for the sandwich and coffee she made up for me and also for a power point where I could charge me belongings.
The main road I cycled on, again, like the rest of Italian roads had no shoulder and I did my best to keep to the far right.
Google doesn't seem to have Italian cycle routes available for me to upload to my GPS and so I didn't know of any until I stumbled across one after midday, this is where I met a skateboarder named ken who gave me some advice about the upcoming roads. The cycle route I took is not well sign posted so I ended up cycling a unnecessary 300m climb by accident. At least the view of the valley was nice.
Getting later in the afternoon I was surprised to have to climb 1000m in altitude over 13km to a ski town called Aprica; I found this more difficult than Gotthard pass I cycled in Switzerland the other day but I made it to the top as the sun was setting and of course I grabbed a celebratory beer.
Being as it is a mountain town things were very expensive including camping at a sight. As I stated in the heading of this post 'why should I pay for camping?', they were asking €15 for pitching my tent. The only facility I needed was the shower but I suppose I could go on for another day without one.
Camping at 1111meters in altitude 2km down the road for free sounds better for me.

Meeting Ken whilst he was skateboarding

Lunch… just a fat ass sandwich

IM going to miss the Alps when i get out of them.

22/10/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 39–The Land of Pizza and Pasta

Distance cycled: 105km from Close to Lugano, switzerland to Bellano, Italy on the lake shore of Como lake.
Average speed: 16.1km/h
Moving time: 6h30m
Total distance: 3467km
Border X'ings: 13
Money spent: €25, for groceries, a ferry trip across Como lake and ice-cream.

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Switzerland, you were undoubtedly the best country I have cycled yet. Italy on the other hand not so good for cycling.
There were no shoulders on the roads I took today in Italy today, in fact much of the cliff face I cycled against where a shoulder should have been would have residing paint from where cars clipped the rock face with shards of mirror that had laid there for what seemed to be quite some time having the risk of puncturing a tire. It got to the point today where I refused to put on my headphones as I really needed to hear from behind what quite possibly could kill me.
This wasn't the worst of it either, the tunnels that I passed through were dark and relatively long and without my tail light I honestly would not have gone through.
On a lighter note, no pun intended, the sun was again out with temperatures reaching 24 degrees.
Most of the day was spent cycling around Como lake that offered some hilly terrain but with some slight headwind.
Crossing into Italy where I don't know a word of italian was rather difficult, the only things I know how to say are 'Gracias', 'gracias mil' and 'ciao'; what I found weird though was that people seemed to say "ciao" as a form of 'hello'.
Anyways, it was a good day despite the lack of shoulder on the roads of Italy.
I found my resting place, I mean this in terms of camping rather than where I would die - but from my experience today this is not far from the possibility, on a small peninsula 2 minutes from a camping ground that I refused to pay money for.
I cooked up a pasta dish for dinner that mum would have been proud of and crashed. Not to confuse you but by crash I mean slept as opposed to got myself into an accident… but these are Italian roads…

Slept behind an abandoned hotel

This is Lidl peoples, take note as it has the cheapest groceries you can find

Lugano, my last stop in Switzerland

Crossing the border, i asked the border control for a passport stamp but they said no…

Italian structures

I stopped in Faggeto for a very gay icecream

Leaving Belagio, Italy

This is Varenna, Italy

Aussie Flag in the background