Last night in Chioggia we walked down the main drag looking for the street/alley containing Ristorante Belle Venezia, one of those recommended in the guide notes. We found it and their menu looked appetising offering both seafood and meat varieties. Since we were in a fishing port we opted for the seafood. We ordered (we thought) a first course of Spaghetti Marinara to be shared. We actually got one each, a bit more than we wanted but heh! My main was Frittura Misti (mixed fried seafood) and Garth had fried Calamari and Prawns. These were delicious but both substantial meals on their own so after the Spaghetti we had to work hard to do them justice. All this washed down with a bottle of Chianti Classico between us - what else?
This morning we woke early and were the first ones in the breakfast room at 7:30am. Breakfast was served in a room overlooking the dock/marina area and we were able to snaffle a table beside the open window overlooking the Piazza. After checking out we read up the guide notes and headed south out of Chioggia, aiming eventually for Adria.
Once out of Chioggia we cycled reasonably quiet roads alongside canals, which brought us to the Adige River which originates in the South Tyrol to the North of Trento. Again the roads alongside the Adige were easy and quiet and it was a beautifully sunny day with little breeze. The roads alongside the canals and the river actually go along the top of levees. The farmland on the opposite side of the road to the canal/river appear to be at about the same elevation as the surface of the water. I guess these are all ancient flood plains and there are certainly a lot of crops grown in the fertile soil.
There were not many stopping places along the route today but one of these was Cavarzere where we hoped to get a cup of coffee. When we arrived in Cavarzere we found it to be the focus of a classic car and motorbike rally with the main street chocka with revheads. We walked through and found a bar where we could get a coffee and imbibed that before continuing on our way.
As we traversed again along the top of levees, some of them gravel surfaced, we came across other large drainage ditches which are obviously used for flood control. All of the farm land was of pretty much the same character with lots of cropping both large and small.
Arriving in the outskirts of Adria we followed the guide notes assiduously and also made sure we saw the Eurobike sign labels wherever there was a decision point. We were supposed to navigate to the Piazza F. Bocchi and we did actually find it but we could not see a nameplace sign that said we were in the right place so we carried on down the road for a bit. Eventually, after consulting a more detailed map, we realized our error and did some correctional navigation to a place mentioned in the guide notes from where we easily found our hotel.
Since we arrived at the hotel quite early - 12:30pm - we were able to check in but our luggage had not yet arrived so, after depositing our panniers and handlebar bags in the room we jumped on the bikes again to go and find somewhere to have a light lunch. A toasted sandwich (prosciutto and cheese) each and a caffe latte each and we were good to go. At the hotel at about 1:30pm as we arrived back they told us our luggage should be there by 2pm so we vegged out and watched the Tv until 3pm when we found our luggage just outside the lift downstairs.
A hot shower and change of clothes were just what we needed. As we had been watching Tv it started to rain outside and there were some very violent thunderclaps nearby. Hopefully it will be all gone by tomorrow, or even by tonight when we have to go out for dinner.
Today our route kilometres were supposed to be about 45 but we ended up doing about 51 and then another 3 or so when we went out for lunch. Tomorrow we have 65km plus so hope it is fine and not overly windy or sunny.
