Day 18 - Treviso to Miramare

After breakfast, Marco took the time to cycle alongside me through to the Via Treviso Mare, to ensure I made my way out of the city in the right direction and in one piece. It was great to start the day riding slowly and chatting idly with Marco. I got on with Marco very well and I was sad to leave him at the side of the road to head east alone.

My original plan had been to stop at Trieste but my Dad surprised me by announcing he had some airmiles to use and that he would come and see me for the evening. The hotel was booked and so my destination changed to Miramare, a few miles north of Trieste and the site of a 19th century seaside castle.

One road, the Strada Statale 14, would take me all the way from Treviso to Miramare, and as I started on it a moderate headwind picked up. Since the road followed the same direction almost all the way, this was not a good sign. As the morning passed though, I felt the benefit of my previous work and was able to maintain a high level of effort and enjoy the resulting good pace into the wind. Further, the sun was already bright by mid morning and the scenery was a welcome distraction. Endless vineyards and freshly verdant meadows stretched out either side of me, with rickety old farm buildings artfully placed among them.

Around noon, the wind died down and I made very good time to the slightly awkward but pretty town of Latrevisa, where I stopped for lunch. Speaking to some locals, it became clear that I had overestimated how far I had come in the morning and I had about 15 miles more than I had expected ahead of me. The frustration brought on by this misjudgement lit a small flame behind my behind and I set another personal best for distance in the hour after lunch. Another good hour followed and I settled just short of Monfalcone to enjoy a drink and some of Flora’s sugared biscotti.

I had hoped that I would get onto the Strada Costiera leading down to Monfalcone in time for my Dad to pass me as his drove down from Venice. I felt that my earlier misjudgement made this unlikely though, so I found myself in a bit of a huff as I climbed the long slope to the top of said road. This slope came with its rewards and I rolled out the last twenty minutes of the day on a long downhill with a great surface, overtaking and being overtaken by several leisure cyclists as I went.

I arrived to meet my Dad at the hotel Miramare and washed away the day’s grime and irritation with a quick swim in the cold sea. It was good to be able to speak in my own tongue again without thought or hesitation and we enjoyed a good catch up over a substantial fish supper before returning to the hotel to bed.

Distance covered 93 miles