Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie by Andrew P. Sykes

Author:Andrew P. Sykes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CyclingEurope.org
Published: 2014-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

In Venice, I had been sleeping on the sofa at Simone’s friend’s house. The living room, dining area and kitchen were all part of the same open-plan area, so I did feel a certain obligation to get up very soon after waking up. Mindful of the weather conditions on the previous evening, I was curious to find out if things had improved. The house was almost windowless, save for a couple of skylights in the roof, but even these were covered by blinds so I wandered along the corridor to the front door of the building (come to think of it there wasn’t a back door but…), opened it and, much to my delight and surprise, I was immediately basking in bright sunlight. I looked above to the sky and it was blue. It immediately put me in a positive frame of mind about the day’s cycle to Verona and I set about packing everything away in the panniers and loading them back onto Reggie, ready for the off. Simone descended from the mezzanine bedroom where he had been sleeping, rustled up some breakfast, packed his own much smaller bag and we were soon pushing our bikes beside the neighbouring canal, back in the direction of the train station, bus station and bridge to the mainland.

The first 30km from Venice to Padua was easy going. Inevitably, there was a slight upward gradient as we moved away from the coast but this was so gradual as to be almost imperceptible. Once we had crossed the strip of predominantly decaying industry that separated Mestre from the sea, the cycling was mainly on cycle paths that were laid out by the side of the roads. Just as is often the case back in Britain, the paths were erratic in terms of surface quality and frequently ended abruptly, only to continue a few metres further along the road. The repeated requirement to judder over the kerb of the road to access the paths as they started and then stopped, was a little annoying but after 36 hours of absence from cycling, I was happy to put up with the inconvenience, for a while at least. Just west of Mestre, we picked up a route that followed the occasionally meandering path of a canalised river and, when this eventually met up with the River Brenta, we headed north following the signs for the centre of Padua which we agreed would make a good place to pause for coffee.

Now I love Italy. Most people do. It’s beautiful, the people are welcoming, friendly and laid back in a way that the British, French and Germans aren’t, the climate is just wonderful (for most of the time) and the food… The food! What can I say? It’s simply a great country in which to travel. However, there is one major problem with Italy and here it is. The Roman Empire finally fell towards the end of the 5 th century. We all know just how brilliant the Romans

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