Piran warm up loop

Our second day of the Odyssey Venetians cycling tour, but our first day on the bikes. After breakfast at the hotel, we all met up for our pre-ride briefing. The Odyssey team is so organised and professional;it's going to be an awesome two weeks. We both have ebikes, but different types: my bike is a lightweight road ebike whilst Gayle's is a step-through with a huge 500kw motor - the limousine! My ebike does also has an extender. Our daily cycling routes are preloaded into our Karoo GPS, which the team stepped us through.

Today is a 32km loop - a nice varied ride on mainly quiet roads and some cycle paths. It's a bit of a warm-up for everyone to get used to their bikes, with most renting bikes. There are some people who have brought their own bikes.

We stopped after about 21 km at a fantastic olive grove overlooking the sea for an olive oil tasting, followed by a lovely light lunch. We met the owner, who was so engaging and knowledgeable as she discussed the olive oil making process.

After lunch, it was an easy roll down the hill to the coast, which we followed all the way back to the hotel. We went at our own pace, but we were always in sight of one of our fellow Odyssey riders! I've gotta say that the GPS is so easy to use and is a real gamechanger for me cycling!

After we freshened up, we went to a local laundromat to keep our washing up to date - I know it's not exciting, but it's part of travel. We had a wander around the beautiful old town and walked to the top of the hill for some photos of the city and surrounding seascape.

We met up for team drinks and a briefing about the day ahead. It's a much bigger ride tomorrow, about twice the distance.

We walked just 50m to the restaurant for the evening. We sat at the table with Jeremy and Emily from California along with our guides, Isabel, Henrick, and Dario. We enjoyed some local seafood: risotto, squid, sardines, and vegetables along with more local white wine. We mainly talked about food, our favourite topic, with Henrick and teased our foreign guides and guests with Australianisms! It was a great day all around!もっと詳しく