We had a rude awakening and a few sick moments this morning. Lying in bed half asleep I could hear the engine of a nearby semi-trailer and deduced from the noise that the driver was manouvering around some kind of obstacle. After a few moments I realized that the gray mass just outside the window over our bed was not fog but the side of a truck and then that is was only 2 inches from the window. Yikes; the driver was manouvering around US. I bounded out of bed with the intent of either sounding our horn of moving our truck. I got the engine started, bare foot down on the clutch pedal to engage the gear, and my left calf muscle screamed in anger with a cramp. You see I was too quick; the truck had not built enough air pressure to provide power assistance to the clutch and my still sleepy legs did not want the stress of pushing the un-assisted clutch.

Anyway by the time this had all transpired the driver of the other truck had actually departed and everything was OK; well sort of. Back in bed I happened to look out the window and notice another nearby truck seemed to be moving without a driver. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was we who were moving and we certainly had no driver, so another bound out of bed to slam on the E-brake. In my preoccupation with the cramp I had forgotten to reapply the E-brake after starting to move.

Thus ended a far too exciting morning. Fortunately the day then settled into a relaxed drive along the A14 and then the A13 into the city of Mestre which is across the water from Venice.


Our destination in Mestre was Camping de Venezia which is only a little way from and to the north of the causeway to Venice. It seemed like a good position and a number of camping guides, as well the establishments own website, said it was open all year. But of course when we got there the entrance way was blocked and a sign told us it was closed.

Fortunately there is another campground in the area. But of course well south of the causeway and from the map it seemed much less well situated as a base for visiting Venice. But with no other options we spent some time navigating around the city and finding our way to Camping Fusina. We were delighted to find it open, almost deserted, and right near a ferry dock which had an hourly service running right to Venice.