April 27th: Udine - Pordenone, Italy ~ A sublime day on the bike!

63km with 105m climbing

2037km so far!

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cycling from Udine to Pordenone could best be expressed using one word. Sublime.

Leaving a little later this morning from our "Art Deco stuck in the 70's and a bit spooky" lodging, we knew it was going to be as close to a perfect day as it comes.

The sun had made an appearance after last night's rain, and it was as smooth a start to any of our days. Really great leaving with short sleeve shirts and no layers of thermal wear, no rain, no crazy wind and no icy coldness being soaked into our lungs.

It was going to be a good day.

We spent a fair bit of time on gravel and muddy trails today. Dodging the deep holes filled with water and using the center part of the car tracks to stay out of thick mud. Trying to keep ourselves clean was an impossible task as the mud splattered everywhere from our mountain bike tyres.

A few underpasses deep with mud and water challenged the team with unseen small rocks or deep holes in the surface hidden by mud.

The recently plowed fields and acre upon acre of vines made a great foreground to the clay roofed farmhouses and churches dotted around the landscape. At the back lurked the angular Dolomites.

Julian had his first true interaction with a snake that I disturbed as I rode over a pile of leaves, and it moved fast to get away but too close to Julian’s front tyre as he cycled up behind me.

It was bigger than the other snakes we’ve seen and thankfully it was more frightened of us than we were of it, and it all ended well.

Stopping late morning at a small town cafè for coffee and a delicious snack gave our human batteries a quick recharge, and we were ready to go.

We are loving being in Italy. The people care. They are helpful. Random strangers will stop and ask you if they can assist - many speaking very little English. Such a different culture to the more austere cultures that we have experienced to this point. Maybe austere is a strong word, but it isn't far off the mark.

Julian feels that we have left the best cycling country for last - and it was by design. As with most things you need to compare to understand.

Tomorrow will be a longer day. Not much harder - but over 100km. After tomorrow we start heading further North. A bit more climbing.

Our legs are strong so we should easily handle this. We are past the 2000km mark which is quite a feat!

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