Once we are all cleaned up and settled in we wander a few hundred yards along the lake for dinner. It is clear the locals have got wind of our achievements and our arrival and they lay on some appropriate celebrations.

As per our new norm we are up and on our way early….actually it’s getting earlier each morning as practice has meant we have got more and more slick with our “decamping”  roles and process….we are on the road by 730.

We are still in the mountains but this will be the last day and we both feel a bit reluctant to leave…it really is quite beautiful.

As we head off it’s not at all clear how we will make any progress at all without an enormous climb, but miraculously a cycle path (not the same one as yesterday but no less impressive) provides us with a full 40 miles of flat route winding down the Valsugana valley.

We are always keen to celebrate fellow “real” bike packers when we see them (most on are electric bikes which is great but not “real”) and when we stop for third breakfast (we’ll it is supposed to be a holiday as well) in Carpane we get chatting to an English couple who are heading back up the valley. Turns out Adrian and Jill are quite the intrepid explorers and it’s great to hear all about their adventures….they do seem pretty impressed with ours too.

Just as we reach the town of Bassano del Grappa the mountains just stop and are replaced with, well with nothing really. The next 40 miles are flat and featureless plus we seem to be stuck on poorly kept very busy main roads. It’s also ridiculously hot by this point so the whole experience is not a very happy one, especially compared to previous days. We burn through the miles as quickly as we can and arrive at our campsite just across from the island of Venice, around 1630 having done a pretty huge 85 miles for the day.

Since we left London just two weeks ago we have managed a massive 1030 miles and we have climbed 47500 feet and it feels amazing to be here. Tomorrow is a well earned day off in Venice !