The final leg of my world cycle ride, Venice, Italy

I finished my world cycle ride in June 2017 but until this week I never realised that I had never written up the end of my cycle ride. So here it is….

This was the final leg of my year on the bike and 17,000 km cycle through 23 countries and across 4 continents.  That morning when I set off from the village of Va Vi Calle I had a quick 10km ride to Punta Sabbioni Ferry Terminal where I hopefully could catch a boat to Lido Island where I planned to base myself.

This section of the peninsula is set up for tourists and so there was a dedicated cycle path for the whole of the ride to the ferry

Within 40 minutes I had arrived at the ferry terminal but it was a lot smaller than I was expecting

I had arrived just at the right time and within 10 minutes the boat had set sail for Lido

The ferry ride was only short and if I didn’t have the bike I could have saved the 10 euros and swam the 3km across the channel between the mainland and Lido Island. 

In the distance I could see Venice Island but i wouldn’t get there for a couple of days as I wanted to investigate the other islands in Venice lagoon before fighting the tourists in Venice.  It is probably easier to show you a map of the different islands to avoid confusion.

20 minutes later the ferry docked on Lido Island and it was time to jump on the bike and go for a cycle around as unlike on many of the other islands in Venice Lagoon cars and bicycles are not banned.  

It turned out that Lido is in fact not just one island but a series of islands that are dissected by canals and waterways

The main mode of transport on the island was still the bicycle

The island of Lido is around 13 km long and 1 km wide.  Towards the east of the island my map showed a long beach and so as it was still early I decided to head there and watch life go by while brewing a coffee

To be fair there wasn’t much going on when I arrived at the beach so I decided to carry on cycling south investigating Lido Island.

It seemed that every house came with a boat parking berth rather than a car parking space which makes sense when you consider that a car is pretty useless for travelling around Venice Lagoon

I soon reached the end of Lido Island and instead of turning around I decided to jump on another ferry to Pellestina Island.

This trip was even quicker than the last ferry as the gap between the 2 islands was only 500m 

No sooner had we set off than we had arrived. Pellestina Island was pretty similar to Lido Island as it was long and thin.  However, this island is far less developed and I was happy that I had jumped the ferry over.  Along the east side of the island there is a dedicated cycle path so decided to go and investigate as I knew nothing about this island.

The first town that I came to on the island was San Pietro in Volta had a forgotten and lost in time kind of feel to it 

As it wa snow after lunch I decided to stop and get a bite to eat at the only place that I could find which was open

After lunch I just cycled around the island enjoying the colourful houses and laid back vibe.  

The boats here seemed more for fishing rather than just for cruising around Venice lagoon

Before I new it the sun was setting and it was time to go and get a pizza before finding somewhere to set up my tent for the night

As this island is less developed the beaches have been left to nature rather than beautified for tourists and it was only a short ride from the restaurant before I found a great spot for the night.

The following morning the sun was up early and it looked like it was going to be another stunning day. 

After a lazy breakfast it was time to work out where I was heading that day – If I continued cycling south along Pellestina Island I would soon reach the end and have to get a ferry back to the mainland.  Therefore, I set off north to catch the ferry back to Lido Island.

Lido Island definitely had a different feel and although it was more developed it still had a very quaint feel of a life gone by.

My plan for the day was to go island hopping around Venice Lagoon which meant that I needed to find somewhere to leave my bike and gear for the day as you cannot take a bike on the small island hopper boats.  The map showed a camp ground near the ferry terminal and so I decided that I would check into a campsite for the night.  That way I didn’t need to worry about finding somebody to look after my bike and gear. 

 

Once I was set up it was time to go and see why everybody raved about Venice.  The ferry stop was a 2 minute walk from the campsite and they ran every 10 minutes.

As you can see below the boats are both well used and enclosed which means that bicycles can only be taken on the car ferry boats.

 However, I was soon on my way off Lido Island and I had decided to visit a couple of the smaller islands in Venice Lagoon before heading for the more touristy main Venice Island.  My first stop was on Murano Island.

There are no boat docks just a landing stage that the ferry pulls up next to and you jump on or off the boat. (the umbrellas are a cafe and the ferry landing stage is the next yellow dock on the left of the picture below)

Like Lido Island Muduro is a series of smaller islands that are crisscrossed by a series of canals.

As these islands are set up for tourists you can even hire a kayak and paddle your way around the canals.

After an hour or so wandering around the streets and alleyways of Murano I jumped back onto a ferry and headed off to my next island.

My next stop was Burano Island which is the most northerly island on the ferry boat schedule

To be honest there was not much difference between Murano and Burano Islands in terms of architecture as they both had coloured houses and decorated plazas. 

Burano Island was definitely less commercial but in a way I think I had made a good choice in basing myself in Lido Island as it is more ‘real’.

After a lovely lunch I jumped back onto the ferry and headed for the main Venice Island. I landed on the western residential side of Venice Island and decided to just wander around enjoying the beauty of the place as there is something special and captivating about these islands which are slowly sinking.

All of the restaurants do an ‘early bird special’ from 5pm to 7pm which is around a 20% discount on the crazy prices that they charge for food.  I suppose with a captive market I would do the same.

As we were in Italy my choice for the evening was Italian (there really was no other choice as all the restaurants sold the same food)

I got a table outside (they tried to give me one on the inside as I was on my own but I stood my ground) and had a delicious fish supper.

Hats off to the Italian chefs as they make simple food taste beautiful.

After dinner it was time for a bit more promenading around Venice before jumping on a ferry to see sunset.  (At 40 euro per 20 minutes  I couldn’t stretch my budget to a gondola)

Once the sun went down it was then time to head back to Lido Island to where my tent was already set up waiting for me.

The next morning I was woken to what I thought was an earthquake as the ground beneath me was literally shaking.  It turned out to be a humongous cruise ship passing next to the island on its way to Venice.  I wish I had taken a picture as the campsite was a good 500m from the water and it towered above the trees and houses.  Thankfully, since November 2017, Venice seaport access through Giudecca Canal (the waterway next to Lido Island) is denied to cruise liners over 100,000 tons. Instead, the vessels are now rerouted to Port Marghera, from where passengers are ferried to Venice.  Perhaps not the same experience for the people on the cruiseliner but a much better experience for everybody else.

As I was up early it was time to have my usual bowl of porridge while looking at booking flights back to the UK as the following day would be the end of my year on the bike and it was time to head back to my wife and adjust back to ‘normal’ life. 

Once the flight was booked and breakfast eaten I packed away my tent as that night I decided to treat myself to a final night in a hotel.  Again, the internet makes life so much easier as once I was packed it took me 5 minutes to find a hotel on my phone that was near the campsite so off I set to ask them to look after my bike for the day while I went sightseeing.

As this was going to be my final day in Venice once I had dropped my bike off it was time to catch a boat and go and see the famous sights on the southern  side of Venice Island. Here are the highlights of my day:

Perhaps the most spectacular sight was the cathedral

After a fantastic day out in Venice there was only one thing to do to celebrate my year on the bike:

A bottle of champers

Once the sun went down it was time to catch a ferry back to Lido Island where my fancy hotel awaited me.  However, there was one last job to do before I caught the ferry – go in search of packing material to fly my bike.

When I fly I do not bother with cardboard boxes but I cycle to the airport and when I arrive I wrap my bike in clingfilm.  I also wrap all 4 of my panniers together in clingfilm so that they count as one bag.

As this was my last night ‘on tour’ once I arrived at Lido Island I decided that a few beers were in order rather than heading for the hotel

And by the time I eventually got home the the birds were beginning to sing

As always here is a video to give you a better idea of my 4 days in Venice Lagoon:

All of the videos from my cycle around the world are available on my YouTube channel by clicking here

The next morning my flight left at midday but as I didn’t wake up until 10am there was no way that I was going to make the flight.  I checked the internet and there was a flight at 5pm, which I could make, so I phoned the airline to change my flight and after a leisurely breakfast packed my kit, loaded the bike and set off for the airport.

As this was Venice Lagoon there was no way to get my bike there but to jump on the car ferry to Venice Island

It was then a 2km cycle across the causeway which connects Venice Island to the mainland before a 10 km falt cycle to the airport (you can get a passenger ferry direct to the airport but they do not allow bikes onboard)

And that was it my 17,000 km cycle ride had come to an end and it was time to head home.  The end of a beautiful amazing adventure whose memories would stay with me forever.  

My destination was Heathrow Airport, London and once back in Blighty there was only 1 thing to do

When I arrived I checked into one of the airport hotels as my wife was flying in from Vietnam the next morning

 

The end of a beautiful journey and with that there is only one thing to say – until the next time…………

———————————————————————————————————————–

If you do not wish to miss any future updates just pop your email address in the form at the foot of this page to receive an email notification every time I update my blog. We can then virtually ‘share’ breakfast or lunch together as my blog updates get sent direct to your inbox.

Thanks fr virtually tagging along with my cycle around the works and take care.  Remember if you are out cycling – ride safe !!!!

Cheers

Stewart