A century ride to Treviso

It had been a beautiful night sleeping out. There was a strong cool breeze from the south most of the night and the one time i woke up a beautiful star show and at dawn the haze from the day before was gone. I had piled up so much loose hay on the ground figuring that during the night it would get packed down and at least I would have half the night in comfort, but I woke in total comfort.

One of the nice things about sleeping out, is that you go to bed early and wake up with the sun, thus getting an early start to the day. I woke to a beautiful sunrise and because I had escaped to the south west of the city the night before, I set off back east through Verona. 

If nothing else I wanted to see what was so special about Verona that every room in town was booked at 180 to 200 uro ..... 3 or 4 times the normal rate for a room.

The city was dead this early on a Saturday and I had breakfast at a Mc Donald's the only place open where I could get some protein or more than just coffee and a croissant. 

I think this was either Romeo or Juliet's house, but they too were still asleep.

...... the old Roman theater where the opera was held........

........my McDonalds .........

The plaza with out door dining, packed with people the night before...... all now sleeping in ....

I

Leaving Verona ..... not all that impressed .....

Feeling well rested and with an early start I headed east and by 10 AM made it to Soave an old walled city up on a hill. There were 2 really very helpful and nice ladies who set me up with some good maps and convinced me to take some time to explore their walled cities castle.

I took their advice and was not disappointed and even paid the 6 uro to go inside. I couldn't take photos inside but it was restored to how they lived in the 8th century.

...... I could climb all over and up into the highest tower .....

....... the vineyards and manor below ..... I would recommend Suave any day over Verona, and will now always look for wine in the USA from Suave.

I continued on my way and without any climbing, a nice breeze from the south and the mountains visible to the north .......

...... and I made iit to Vicenza for lunch.

.... At this point with a good 50 miles by lunch I started to set my sights on Treviso which would set me up to get into Venice on Sunday.

I took more main roads .... more like riding route 7 in the Berkshires rather than my norm on smaller less direct roads. There were pretty good shoulders and I saw many other cyclists on this Saturday afternoon.

...... and there was often a nice bike path as I blew through some small villages.

...... and getting into a rhythm, feeling good and not finding much life to make me want to stop in Citadella or Castel Flranco two other nice but uninspiring walled cities, I moved on.

........ and about 7:00 I arrived in Treviso. It was my kind of town, medium in size with a lot of life on the streets, several busy plazas and young people and families out and about, shopping, just hanging out and older guys just out cruising about on their bikes. 

When the day was done I checked my cyclometer and I had logged my first century of the journey ..... 103  miles. Not bad for an old guy of 63 on a heavy touring bike (with fenders) and all the gear needed for 50 days on the road (all of about 12 pounds). 

I credit the achievement of doing a century ride to having gotten a great nights sleep in the hay and something that is not my strong suit ...... getting up and out of bed early and not dilly dallying with 3 cups of coffee at breakfast.  For me it was another Buddhist example of how sometimes adversity or our enemies are there to show us or to teach us something, and that we should be thankful for adversity or our enemies when we encounter them.

I easily found a nice little hotel and had a great dinner and a much needed shower before going to bed exhausted but happy.