Day 47: Along the lagoons

This blog entry is a bit late since I did not find the time to write it yesterday. Writting the blog in the evening is hard on a camp site after it gets dark. And in the morning I wanted to get going. But here it is.

Cycling to Monfalcone was a bit annoying on big streets with much traffic. But after that I had some pretty nice cyclings paths (even if sometimes gravel, but italian gravel is somehow better than in previous countries. The gravel is less deep and more even).

Often the view was blocked by a dike, but at times there were nice views onto the lagoons on one side and to the mountains on the other side. A strong wind helped keep the temperatures low.

On the Grado island and in Bibione things very a bit to touristic for my taste, but once you get into the hinterland this stops pretty immediately.

One thing regarding the cycling paths: They were nice, but often had this situation:

A "Stop"-sign combined with the end of the bicycle lane followed by a crossing and a new start of the cycling path. People who cycle often will know this sign combination. But why is this?

The use of a cycling path is mandatory when it accompanies a road and is marked with the blue cycle sign. The cycling path is treated as an addional lane of the road, so it has the same right of way as the street it accompanies.

But as a traffic planner you want these annoying slow vehicles of the road AND you don't want them to have any rights. So what do you do? See above. You end the cycling path right in front of the crossing so the cycles have no rights and start it again right afterwards, so they may not use the road.

Problem solved.