A relatively easy day was planned, even though the plan was to cycle in the foothills of the Alps.
The weather was warm and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
186 km, eleven hours on the bike with a fast average speed.
After cycling for 40 kilometers Grant decided that he would push through to Udine instead of stopping for the night in the town of Pordenone as he had originally planned.
Crazybikeguy enjoyed the landscape, met some very friendly people and relished the lovely weather with poppy fields welcoming him for many of the first kilometers of the ride on his way out Vicenza.
Riding through the very busy farming community of Maragno, Grant unfortunately encountered the spraying of the crops with fermented cow dung mixed with water- caught it on the downwind which was rather an unpleasant experience and not only did he smell it but he also got sprayed with it. Yuck.
He didn't have much choice but to carry on and rode through the farming town Dueville,
where, a short way out of town while crossing a bridge and indicating to turn left he was almost ridden over by a woman who was driving too fast on farm road and she stopped to give Grant a piece of her mind; when he in fact didn't turn left as indicated for fear of being squashed by her vehicle, while she tried to overtake him while he was trying to turn!
At Marastica a magnificent castle with fortress walls at the base of the Venetian foothills awaited with the old town nestled within the imposing protective boundary. Crazybikeguy decided to stop there for a break to look at the old town and its beautiful architecture and interesting enormous chess board where live chess games are held bi annually .
Following the river Brenta into the town of Bassano del Grappa and crossing over the impressive wooden 13th century Ponte Vecchio bridge into this quaint commune, Grant was enchanted by its beauty and its Medieval civic tower from which one has the most amazing sweeping views of the lower Alps in the distance.
Riding along this path along the Venetian landscape eventually reaching Monte Belluna and pushing through to try and get to Udine, Grant crossed over the Tagliamento River which is rather unusual in color and in form as it's classified as the last morphological intact river that flows from the Alps into the Gulf of Venice. It has a unique color and many other properties that make it rather unusual and the subject of many investigations.
Grant was feeling good and happy he had made the decision to go to Udine and followed the route to Podenone, joining a regional road which was full of cyclists and almost no cars which made for fast riding -perfect for this lovely warm day.
Getting into Udine wasn't the easiest as Grant was a bit tired and needed to keep his wits about him in early evening traffic. He was looking forward to a walk around and the rest day tomorrow!
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