June 6, 2023
Nova Gorica (SI) to Ferrara (IT)
Train days are never much fun, but today went a lot smoother than our trip to Koblenz last autumn so that's a bonus. I think part of the issue is that our experience of trains and bikes is mostly in the Netherlands where it's very clear what you are supposed to do for every train, and we've never encountered a station without a lift that can fit all our bikes. At our home in Utrecht we can just wheel the bikes in with the trailer attached. We forget that this is not the case in the rest of Europe.
We achieved a miracle and were packed and ready to go at 8:30 so we had a few minutes to chat with Bojan before we rolled out. It was dry when we left but the skies opened on our 4km ride to the station and we were all drenched before we had a chance to get raincoats on. Tobias was quite disturbed "oh oh knee" "oh oh Mama". There was no lift at the Gorizia station but we talked nicely to the station master or someone who escorted us across to our platform so we didn't have to go up and down the stairs. They thought we were funny and took a picture of our set up.
We had only a minute to pile in and then we had to lift our bikes up 3 steps to the bike section. The trailer wouldn't fit but the train was pretty quiet and we were the only ones with bikes so we didn't have to remove bags. Until about halfway when a group of 8 bikepackers got on and we had to do some quick rearranging to get everything in. There are 4 places for bikes, but we managed to make it work. The train was 2 hours and despite his initial excitement of going on a "kedang kedang" he was all done by the time we got to Venice Mestre. Our friendly train ticketer yesterday told us 7 minutes would be plenty of time, and the conductor on the train was confident we would make the switch to the Bologna train. We were more pessimistic, especially because the 8 extra cyclists were all going the same way, but we were willing to give it a shot. The first lift was out so James carried his bike down, ran back up to help me carry my bike with Tobias in the seat, then ran back up again for the trailer while I raced over to the lift and just managed to squeeze in. James' bike was too long so he ran up with his, then went back down and got the trailer. I parked my bike in the door of the carriage while he got the trailer in the doorway and ran back out for his bike. A very helpful man got the trailer in for us, but this meant nothing was blocking the door. The whistle blew, the doors started closing, but James threw his bike in the gap and swore at the train and somehow managed to make it inside. The other cyclists must have made it onto another carriage, but their bikes must have been significantly easier to carry up and down the stairs.
After all that excitement we sat down and ate our sandwiches for the hour long journey to Ferrara. The bikes fitted perfectly but the trailer was in the doorway and the platform switched side every stop so we had to keep moving the trailer.
It was much hotter when we arrived in Ferrara with no sign of this morning's rain. We had just one more too-short lift to relay down and up to exit the station before we could bike to our apartment. It wasn't far from the station, but it felt like it took an age to cycle there. There are cyclists, and cycling infrastructure, but the roads take priority so there was a lot of waiting.
Once we found our house I was straight to getting Tobias' bed set up and him off to sleep while James lugged all our stuff up to the 3rd floor. We have definitely done enough carrying of our gear for one day. In the afternoon we didn't venture much further than the playground and the supermarket. Tomorrow we will head into the old city and perhaps ride the path around the old city walls before we head to Bologna on Thursday.
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Today's ride: 4 km (2 miles)
Total: 1,364 km (847 miles)
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