When I woke up this morning it was still cloudy but it had stopped raining (hooray)!
I had breakfast at the hotel and got on the road not long after. A fair bit of driving to do but all on motorway, following a relatively simple route, so nothing too difficult.
For the first half of the journey I was following the A22 Brenner Autostrada. It took a good 2 hours before I was clear of the Alps. The scenery looked great – or it would have done had half of it not been hidden by the clouds. I think on this stretch of road, not counting all the trucks (there were hundreds as this is the main motorway crossing the Alps in this region), most of the cars were German.
I stopped to get an ice cream once I’d got clear of the Alps, the Sun had come out and it brightened up. For the second leg of the journey I was following the A4 Autostrada straight in to Venice. On the A4 the Italian driving style was very apparent; Lots of tailgating (in all lanes, not just the fast lane) and aggressive Italian driving. The Italian Autostrada can be crazy at times! I don’t think anyone slowed down to below 100km/h through a set of roadworks, even though the posted speed limit was 80.
When I came off the motorway – A simple drive to the coast to get to my accommodation. Italian roundabouts are a little challenging when I’m sitting on the wrong side of the car for driving on the right. The angle at which some roads met the roundabout made visibility difficult at times.
I arrived in my accommodation at 2; Tonight I am staying in a self-catering caravan in Fusina, where the waterbus goes once an hour to (and from) Venice. As well as the caravans here, there are plenty of pitches so that travellers coming with their own caravans and mobile homes can park up and stay here for their holidays.
I had a walk round to investigate; There are a lot of Germans, with the German border only being a few hours drive away. A few Dutch, one or two French, one British motor home, and I’m parked next to a Belgian car. I’ve also seen a Czech, Lithuanian and Ukranian car around the campsite. No Greeks, but I did overtake a coach on Greek number plates on the Autostrada earlier.
After settling in to my caravan, I went out to get the waterbus in to Venice. A 20 minute boat ride later, I was in the middle of Venice, walking next to the Grand Canal towards St Mark’s Square.
I didn’t really have lunch so had a late lunch/early dinner in Venice, sitting at the waterside eating Spaghetti Bolognese, the Italian way. Quite expensive, but it filled me up so I won’t need to eat later, and I didn’t spend anything at lunch time so effectively it was 2 meals in one.
I’m back in my room now and am going to try and get a little bit of rest before I set off for the ferry terminal in a few hours. The ferry leaves at 04:30, I’ve got to be checked-in 2 hours before departure (so by 02:30), the check-in opens 2 hours before that (at 00:30).
I’m thinking, on the basis it is less than 2-3 minutes drive from here to check-in, that I don’t need to be there too early – but I also don’t know what it will be like in terms of volume of traffic taking the ferry, how long it takes to check-in etc. (this is a bigger ferry than the Dover-Calais ones) so I don’t want to leave it to the last minute either. So I’m aiming to leave here between 1 and 2am, certainly no later than 2.
I believe the ferry gets in at about 1 and once unloading from the previous journey is complete then boarding will start straight away.
Buona notte,
FH.
Today’s Mileage: 210.8
Accumultative Mileage: 1179.4
Journey Map
