The last push to Venice

September 19, 2026

Once we set off to leave our lovely abode in the Prosecco Hills, there was hardly any more climbing to do before reaching Venice. We would be back in the flat plains, and the legs would get a break!This remaing distance took us two days. The first night was spent in a nice apartment in the historical centre of Treviso. We got there mid afternoon, giving us time to explore the pretty city centre with its monuments, old pizzas and canals. Treviso is also thought to have been the original makers of tiramisu! In fact our apartment was over a little Cafe serving lots of it, but we somehow never managed to try any 😞

Treviso has a network of canals

Cleaned up and happy to be walking tourists in Treviso

Aperol Spritz on Piazza San Vito

On Piazza San Vito

Day 15 Treviso to Venice

Heavy rain greeted us this morning in Treviso, so we donned the heavy-duty rain gear and set off on the final leg of our Munivh-Venice tour. First off we had to do an 8km side trip to Decathlon to get camping fuel, knowing it would not be easy to find in Venice.

Then back towards the centre to join the cycle route along the Sile River. Although curvy and twisty ( just like the river) on gravel paths, it was quite beautiful even in the rain - a nature-lover's paradise. We hardly met another soul for several hours and the only sounds were the ducks and water birds and the crunch of gravel and splashing as we navigated through large puddles. We both really enjoyed this section. And by 1.30pm, the rain stopped and the sun shone for the rest of the day.

Making good use of our wet weather gear today in Treviso

Following the E4 national cycle route today

Loved these extra-large lily pads with their rain droplets

Noone but us on the Sile river path today

The one tricky bit of trail through a grassy area

Once we reached Quarto d'Altino, we left the Sile and followed small, quiet coutry roads till the city of Mestre. Komoot did a great job of guiding us through here, although we first had to get through a short section of grassy track that was hard to ride due to the rain-sodden ground. But we managed.

Once through Mestre we were nearing the causeway to Venice itself. However one more hurdle was sent to test us! We had to get ourselves up a staircase under the Mestre train station where the elevator wasn't working, which required unloading most everything and carting the gear and bikes up the stairs. And no knight-in-shining- armour this time like in Brenner! Just a lot of quizzical looks from bored-looking commuters watching two old women cart dirty bags up the busy stairway!

Here we've just finished reloading the bikes in Mestre after carrying
everything up the stairs

And then Daphne was desperate to pee but of course in these built-up areas like this, there's nowhere to go, so I had to be creative 😁

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do

Pretty soon we were riding along the causeway and at 6pm, arrived at the ferry to Lido. This is a place I'm quite familiar with as Frank and I did this in the opposite direction two years ago. Then followed the magical ride past Venice itself, with views up the Grand Canal, to disembark at San Nicola, just a couple of hundred yards from the campground.

Here we were reunited with our Australian friend Mark, and met a bunch of other cycle tourists and backpackers. It was wonderful to be back in this little sanctuary again, so close yet so far from the hussle across the lagoon in Venice. We'll go visit there tomorrow.