Nova Gorica to Aquileia 29 miles (total miles 480)

Woke up this morning to the sound of rain pouring down on the tent so we were in no rush to get started.  After a leisurely breakfast at the campsite we eventually packed up and set off in what we thought was torrential rain back through Nova Gorica into the old town of Gorzia over the Italien border.

Going through Gorizia was a bit dodgy with heavy traffic and lots of slippy looking cobblestones but we soon made it through onto some of the quieter roads and tracks which I had mapped out. unfortunately some of the tracks were a bit rougher than I had anticipated so we soon found some much better alternative back roads to Gradisca Di Isonzo.  

By this time the weather was improving although the rivers were very much in spate

In fact the weather improved so much I even decided to take my waterproof trousers off, this of course quickly prompted flashes of lightening, rumbles of thunder and then the heavens opened up with really strong winds.  We belted along the road as fast as we could to the first available shelter under the canopy of a petrol station.

It was a wee bit scary sheltering there with great flashes of lightening all around us.

Here's a link to a clip showing how stormy it was, https://youtu.be/UjauR2PO1Kg  however it wasn't as scary as the guy behind us filling 30 litre containers of petrol with a fag in his mouth!

After quite some time the weather seemed to improve enough for us to carry on however it was still pretty bad and we stopped a mile or so later at a roadside cafe where we got some shelter heat and coffee.

We had originally planned to head for the coastal resorts of Grado but there didn't seem much point in today's conditions so once the weather improved we cut across country to the old roman town of Aquiliea, the weather was much better by this tiime and we were actually still dry under our waterproofs, but as the ground conditions are pretty boggy we've booked into a chalet on the campsite rather than pitch our tent.

Although the conditions have been pretty awful we've actually quite enjoyed today's trip as we were never too cold and wet and we had to sort out quite a few route changes along the way.  The weather does however confirm that we made the right decision getting the train yesterday as we would originally have had nearer 60 miles to do today.  Anyway the forecast is for sun tomorrow.  Yeehah!

Today's route https://www.strava.com/activities/1180488790