We needed to cross the Venetian Plains today. A decent length ride of 115 km.

The forecast was dismal for the last day of spring. We woke to rain and looking at the forecast it seemed it was going to get worse and then later improve. In fact, the further south west we travelled, the forecast improved.

Could we beat the weather?

We left in light drizzle, looking at more of the older outer remnant fortifications.

For the next few hours there were no photographs.

Shortly after the first photos it started to bucket down. We ended up taking shelter on the busy autostrada (deliberately accessing off a gravel path, fence) to shelter under a bridge that crossed over the autostrada. Bit scary but a bit drier too.

When the rain eased we then headed back along the dirt path to the busy arterial road. The rain continued but we got wetter from passing vehicles (spray and puddles they were through).

Some time after that there was a lull and we thought, great!

The wind came out then to dry us….but it was a horrid cycling wind. It was predominantly on our left hand side, so a side wind that was pushing us off the road (remember we are riding in the right hand side), and we had a very steep drop off on the right hand side. So got a bit scary.

What made it seem worse was that this section of road was 10 km or so and dead straight, so no reprieve. It seemed to drag on and on.

Life got better and we did a few turns and the winds eased, the sun came out.

This was our first glimpse of the Adriatic Sea at this river opening.

We crossed this dodgy looking bridge, all metal with someone standing in the middle collecting money. Turns out it is a privately owned bridge. Bicycles can cross at no charge.

Seems like shrimping may be a popular activity here too.

We started riding parallel with the Adriatic Sea, just metres from the beachfront, so we popped down to see what we thought. The area was infested with tourists and holiday accommodation options.

Not my cup of tea, but obviously popular for many people.

This did interest me. Some people are super clever. This is all sand.

The map below shows the area we were now riding along.

The area from Lido Di Jesolo was km after km of tourist shops selling the same stuff and I do wonder how they survive.

It was a relatively car free zone, but made up for with aimlessly wandering tourists, a variety of hire wheeled bikes and trikes and carts, dogs and it took lot of concentration to get through unscathed.

The Venice basin was interesting.

The reason for the earlier closure is that these cantilevered walkways are being installed. They are brilliant. There are many km’s worth already in place.

We needed to get a ferry from Punta Sabbioni to Lido, one of the Venice basin islands surrounding the opening to sea for the lagoon waters to enter.

That was a drama. The young 20 year old ish girl gave me a super hard time saying we might have to wait numerous ferries (every 30 minutes) to cross, there were no refunds blah blah.

Feeling agitated as we did have an accomodation deadline to check in by, we lined up straight away for the next ferry. No one else had lined up.

After about 10 minutes an old toothless, scruffy looking bloke indicated he would like to see our tickets….dubiously we handed them over. He looked at them, then put them through the scanner for us. Nice bloke helping us out I thought.

Turns out he works for the ferry line. He allowed us to go under cover with him near where the ferry would arrive. The ferry arrived, and he got us on first! No issues whatsoever!

I gave him a big wave as I was thankful for his help and kindness vs the young officious ticket girl.

The ferry was pretty full and no one was displaced due to the bikes!

So we are on Lido now staying at a bed and breakfast with Sven from Belgium who thinks all bikes are ok in the rain…..fortunately rain is not forecast and they are behind a high locked fence, with two chains, under a grape vine.

We found a lovely place for dinner and wandered around. We will see more of Lido tomorrow as we cycle down towards Pellestrina island.

Lido has many canals but not as intricate a network as Venice itself.

Our ride today was 115 km, very flat with a variety of climatic conditions. Certainly the wind and rain was a challenge in the first half. We actually got hot in the second half!

Our full map is below.

Tomorrow our adventures continues, and the forecast looks great for the first day of summer in Italy.

Thanks for reading ❣️😊