Having spent the last two nights in a self contained apartment, we were ready to leave by 8 am.

Rain was a possibility later in the day but it was a lovely morning when we headed off.

We rolled down to the Napoleon Bridge, crossing the Soca at its narrowest point of its entire length. There has been a bridge here since ancient times. In 1616 the Venetians demolished the old wooden bridge.

The old Napoleon bridge was built in 1750 from stone. Napoleons’s troops marched across it on their way to Predel Pass, hence its name.

During WW1 Austrian soldiers blew it up, then the Italians built a wooden, then later an iron bridge.

Here is how it looked today.

We headed out along the quieter valley, through a series of small villages retracing our steps from two days earlier. The road was fairly quiet with the exception of a few cyclists, and people walking their dogs.

We turned right to cross the Soca and the views differed, one basking in sunlight, the other half more subdued.

The bridge was narrow and led us to a busier arterial road that we were on for some distance before eventually heading onto very quiet rural roads and pathways.

There were numerous of these overgrown cave like openings in the cliff. At the back of this one was a locked gate. Not sure if they had a purpose during the wars or a local storage area.

Hydro scheme

Rail bridge

Kanal has an iconic single span bridge that has featured in high diving world cup competition.

Steep short climb and this mosaic work, maybe I needed divine intervention?

The pathway followed the river, through some old rail tunnels and under roads.

This tunnel we jumped off and pushed the bikes. It was super narrow and inclined.

Out of the tunnel were these steps. They were hard work pushing the loaded bike up the ramp and walking the steps,

We watched this younger couple push their bikes up, easier than us! This is Lisa and Nico from Frankfurt, Germany, en route to Bologna, but heading to Croatia next. Lovely chatting with them.

The nice pathway continued.

At Solkan that bridge is used by cyclists and walkers, but we crossed further to the east.

Our last meal in Slovenia was here, coffee and pizza.

With the Italian border 80 metres ahead, we bid Slovenia farewell. 😢 It is a beautiful country.

Back into Italy we negotiated the busier border city of Gorizia ( co joined by its Slovenian neighbour Nova Gorica) before finding quieter roads. The rest of the day was spent on a real mix of roads from quieter to arterial.

The landscape had altered and was starting to look more Tuscan despite being quite a few days ride from Tuscany.

When we left Slovenia, it had started to spit with rain and it gradually got heavier as we approached our destination Palmanova.

The outskirts of this interesting town show the old moat and ramparts, You can circumnavigate the town following the pathways here.

We entered via this gate, single lane.

We ended up in the centre looking at the Duomo. We returned later to visit inside the duomo.

The Duomo features nice frescoes, ornaments, a glass coffin with a masked body.

Many of the sacred decorations were confiscated by Napoleon so they only have a few remaining.

It’s quite wet now, coats are back on as we walk our bikes around. Our accomodation did not open until 3.30 pm so we had some time to spare.

Palmanova was designed as a fortress city. A city in the shape of a nine pointed star, in perfect symmetry, construction commenced in 1593.

Two defensive circles of walls were built during the Venetian era. In 1797 Napoleon occupied the town and a third defensive circle added during the second French occupation.

During WW1 the town was a selection and supply centre for troops fighting and suffered heavy destruction. During the latter part of WW2 the fortress houses an anti partisan centre of repression.

Since 1960 the city is an Italian monument.

The forecast is pretty drab. Rain, rain and rain. as we head off to bed, the skies have cleared and the duomo bells are ringing.

Let’s see what transpires in the morning.

Thanks for reading ❣️😊