Venice to Mantua: by bike and boat along Italys glorious Po valley

Using canals, rivers and quiet roads, this cycling and boating break – ‘a holiday not a road race’ – takes riders to beautiful wetland scenery, ancient towns and delicious food

Ten years ago, while exploring the Renaissance city of Mantua in Lombardy, I bumped into a bunch of cyclists embarking on a “bike and barge” trip all the way to Venice. It sounded like the perfect way to hit the quiet backroads of the little-known Polesine region, which surrounds the Po River and stretches to the Adriatic. Finally, here I am, joining the trip (though in the opposite direction), boarding the Ave Maria, which is moored behind Palladio’s iconic Redentore church on the island of Giudecca. The once rust-encrusted 42-metre transport boat was saved from the scrapheap by local tour operator Girolibero and transformed into a very comfortable 17-cabin floating hotel.

My 32 fellow passengers are a cosmopolitan crowd: Britons, Berliners, Americans, Canadians and New Zealanders, ranging from a teenage student to sprightly retirees. Unlike me they are experienced cyclists, but the tour leader, Hein Hoefnagels, a superfit 74-year-old Dutchman, reassures me that “this is a holiday not a road race”. We will be travelling at a leisurely pace, covering between 15 and 35 miles a day for eight days with lots of stop-offs (including the fishing port of Chioggia and the ancient town of Adria); the roads are flat – plus there’s the option of an electric bike instead of a touring one.