Distance: 24.3km (629.2km), time spent: 8:07.
Weather: Slightly overcast, hot, rain at the end.
Strange is the feeling when you wake up on the last day of a multi-day hike, with all the days and mileage behind you, and only one last walk before you stand at the point you have been walking for so long towards. Does it come with joy arriving at your destination? It does, but it also comes with a sort of sorrow too. Being so long on the way, you just want to keep going, extending the experience. Continue living a simpler life, not feeling the burden of everyday, prolonging the escape from normal life. In short, you do not want it to finish, but on the other hand is achieving your goal still worthwhile. And I have for a long time wanted to see Venezia.
Leaving Jesolo, starting straight off to follow the Fiume Sile.
A reminder of the destination head.
The last stage of Der Traumpfad is a mixed experience, not only due to the anti-climax and conflict between arriving at your longtime goal and the wish to keep going, but also due to the walk itself. From Jesolo the trail follows the banks of the Fiume Sile in the first part, then it changes to a long straight line of walking next to a road towards the final destination. Thankfully, after that long slog, only a short ferry-ride lies behind you and the iconic city of canals. And the opportunity for a swim in the Adriatic underways.
A pleasant path to walk on after Jesolo.
Johanna and Florian walking next to the Sile river.
I always wish for good weather on the ultimate day, arriving with the sun shining upon you makes you remember the hike on a high, but the forecast is not entirely favorable. Rain is expected. From the beginning,the way follows the Sile river. On the other side lies boats that reminds us where we are heading, but the gondolas here still seems strangely out of place. A pale veil hangs above us, and we still walk on a levée.
A jetty stands alone in the Fiume Sile.
What strikes me the most, as always, are the things that seems destined to enter history and be forgotten. Now punctuated by the atmosphere created by the pale light. Old jetties falling apart are found next to the river, sometimes only the poles are left as the only memories of what once stood there. Boats, or more half-boats, lies half sunk in the reeds.
Reflections of trees.
Memories of a lost time, a ruined jetty.
I find this hike something similar to the human life we live. Humans, life and the things we make are fleeting things. Only living for a brief moment of the history. And so is it with Der Traumpfad, like everything else. The things we make along the trail decays, albeit slowly, and vanishes out of history, but the mountains persists, like monuments of time.
Lightplay in the sky.
We walk by the cabins with 'Chinese fishing nets' outside of them, some of them quite big. These are hugs nets that are strung up in a contraption and then lowered into the sea, then lifted up again, catching the fish unlucky enough not to get away before it reaches the surface. As we pass by one of them, it hums to life. The big net is sunk into the Sile, and then slowly lifted up again. The fisherman stand on 'deck', anticipating the catch, but there is none. Later, we walk by another one, halfway in ruin, the cabin tilting, the net down in the river. It is the same one depicted in my guidebook. Must have been ousted by the big ones saw earlier. It is kind of sad.
Modern Chineste fishing net cabin.
Birdlife, Fiume Sile.
It is a lovely and somewhat forlorn walk. To the east are sometimes the huge resorts or hotels of Lido de Jesolo visible. I shiver at the thought of them. They have done a good job avoiding it. Closer to Ponte Cavallino the Chinese fishing nets are getting numerous, and varies in size and how well kept they are. So far it has been peaceful and quiet and I have enjoyed the time from Jesolo, but at the bridge we enter the next section of the walk.
Ruined Chinese fishing net cabin, this was in use when the author of the Cicerone guidebook walked by it.
A coffee break at the café situated just after crossing over the bridge and then a less interesting section on a road, where our minds and eyes are only fixated on one thing. The Adriatic. In this, Der Traumpfad makes the dream come through (not that it has not made other hiking dreams come through already), making a detour down to the sandy beaches.
Happy Der Traumpfad hikers has reached the Adriatic Sea, me, Johanna and Florian.
Before swimming, I had to go and put my feet in the sea.
The sky is not blue and the sun is not clearly visible, a veil is what we see on the sky, but the light is quaint and it is warm. Before anything, I need to take off my shoes and put my feet in the water. After walking high up in the mountains for so long, surrounded by peaks and deep valleys, arriving at the sea is an exurbant feeling. We all go swimming in the sea and rolling waves. If the ferry to Venezia went from here, it would have made for a perfect ending of Der Traumpfad.
Florian goes swimming.
It is not, though, and after the moment of bliss on the sandy beach next to the Adriatic, a long straight slog over 10km is awaiting us. Before we embark on that final stretch, we sit down at a restaurant for lunch, going all-in with pizza. Having walked for a while afterwards, I find out that I have forgotten my sunhat at the restaurant, adding some additional kilometres to today.
Baywatch, but no one to watch (almost).
And it is truly a change of tune, from the solemn walking next to the Fiume Sile in the beginning and the blissfull swim in the Adriatic Sea, the long and straight road is a slog. Going past huge hotels and resorts and the usual trinket shops. Eventually, I catch up with Florian and Johanna. I am slightly confused regarding the laying of the route on this final part towards Punta Sabbioni. It is kind of like they are rushing to get there once the target is in sight. Looking at the overview map in the guidebook, I can see another road going on the north shore of the sand spit that one can follow all the way to the same place. It also goes next to the water for a long time, making it look a far better alternative.
A dragon flies.
Then you forget all about it. As the end of the walk is at hand, and Venezia is only a short boat ride away.
On the long final slog towards Punta Sabbionio.
Beyond lies Venezia.
Ironically, there has not been a single drop of rain all the way from Jesolo, but on the moment we arrive at the ferry terminal at Punta Sabbioni, we can feel the first drops settle on our shoulders. We buy ferry tickets and gets in line, then we embark on the ferry. The time of walking is finished, but one short story remains before I can put the final note on Der Traumpfad down on the paper. We find a place, looks out at the sea and then the ferry begins to move. Venezia is next.
At the finishing ferry, we did it! Florian, Johanna and I.
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