It is cloudy this Sunday morning, I am waiting the rain to stop a little bit. Then, I can take the road again and go to Slovenia!! This country, I was looking forward to it with anticipation. I heard so much good things about the landscapes and Slovenian. I arrive under the rain. I have a vague idea about my itinerary. When I arrive in Kranjska Gora, I hesitate to go to the mountains because the weather is not looking good over there. But the call of the mountains is stronger than the forecast. I take the direction of the Triglav national park and the Vršič pass. The good thing is that it is cool to climb the 800m of elevation. The bad thing is that I can’t see the summits, there is fog. I have some regrets to not see everything but once at 1611 m, on the other side of the mountain, I find the sun!! No more regrets, the view is awesome on the Slovenians mountains!! Now, it is time to go down. I learnt that this road was built during the First World War and finished in 1917 by the Russians prisoners, in horrible conditions. There is a monument for them. I am now in the Trenta valley which go along the Soča river. We are Sunday, I didn’t think to go to the supermarket yesterday, everything is close. So I decided to stop to a camping near of a restaurant. First Slovenian camping, very different from Italy, here everybody goes where he wants and every single piece of grass is used. I found a piece of grass close to a big tent. My neighbours are from Holland. And spontaneously, Frits who is cooking rice and vegetables – yes him, he can cook on the camping, they are better equipped than me… – offers me to join them for dinner because he cooks too much. Roos and Mayla, their two little girls don’t eat a lot, I finish the leftovers! We had a wonderful evening. After dinner, we played UNO with the girls.
The next day, I say goodbye to them. They are going to the Gorge of the Soča river, I will take the road to Bovec. It is going down along the river, it is nice but there are lots of cars. I can go to the supermarket, I try a “burek”, it is like a flaky pastry with cottage cheese mixed with eggs. It is fat, it is very good! I took a break at the park for lunch with a Spanish couple. They give me some advice about Slovenia. I keep going along the Soča river, still a lot of cars, still going down. I am going to Kobarid, then, finally I can take a second road, less busy along hamlets. Tired, I decided to stop here after 55km. It’s hot, there is camping near the river, perfect. Slovenian camping, we pitch our tent wherever we want, and here there is a space where cars are forbidden, cool. I do my evening’s rituals: Tent-Shower-Washing (TSW) and I can drink my first Slovenian beer, a Lasko. When I came back to my tent, I was invaded by two big tents!! I start to grumble to myself, why are they so close to me when there are still a lot of places around. The 2 families come to say sorry, they didn’t know their tents would be so big. I told them it’s not a problem, I stay only one night and I feel like I am part of their family! It’s how my adoption by two very nice Polish families started. They offered me dinner, pasta with pesto. Yesterday night, I ate with a Holland family, at lunch with a Spanish couple, tonight with a Polish family and my other neighbor, by bike as well, is from Austria. I love this melting pot!
The next day, I meet them after breakfast. I learn that they want to go hiking in the mountains. This is a wonderful idea. I asked them if I could join them for the day. My legs need a rest, so instead of riding, they will climb. 800m of elevation on 5km. We start at 1000m. On the way, a traditional cheese factory where we can try very nice cheese. Nice address if you are looking for local cheese, good and cheap (it is just in the mountains…). 5km hiking to reach a lake (with water!!). The view is awesome. It is 5pm, too late to do the loop, we go down the same way. Not funny for our knees, my legs start to shake. We arrived at the carpark with the sunset. Everybody is exhausted, so we go to the camping’s restaurant to have Slovenian burgers and beers. Very nice day with their company, I loved hiking in the mountains, it change of riding. But I can’t tell you how I can feel my legs during the next 2 days with some aches!!
Even if I would love to spend more time with them, I say goodbye to everyone with the hope to see them in Krakow. My plan today is to follow the advice of the Spanish couple who I met 2 days ago, and go to Most na Soči train station. Train who can take cars and bikes. It is a historical line, created between 1902 and 1906, “The Bohinj Railway system” with one of the longest tunnels, 6339m, built by hand. There is a little exposition about the story of this line inside the wagon. 45 minutes by train with an English couple. Very quickly, 45 minutes, I have already arrived. For 4€, I had avoided 50km and 1600m of elevation, no regrets! Now it’s time to go to Bohinj lake. It is unavoidable in Slovenia and sadly, in August, I am not the only one there. I ride along the lake because it is so beautiful with the mountains around. At the end, only one camping and full. It was 5pm, so I had to change my plan. It is the good moment to find a piece of garden. I go back in the same way (it is not possible to ride around all the lake). I leave the crowd to find little nice roads. I am now around hamlets, tractors and fields. But it is not what I was thinking, there are more apartments to rent than houses with locals. Tourism region. I tried twice to ask for a piece of garden, but it was not… I don’t get discouraged and keep going. It is one of my biggest worries about traveling by bike, to not know where I will sleep at night. When I see 7pm and still don’t know where I will pitch my tent, I start to get stressed. I have to learn to relativize because there is always a solution. I was thinking of doing a little day of riding, I am now riding 500m of elevation at night time. I climb to Koprivnik v Bohinju hamlet where I can see 3 persons at the bar. I go to ask them if they know where I can pitch my tent. Carmen, the owner, told me that I can put my tent in front of the bar, in the grass. Ouf, I feel relaxed and now I can share a beer with them. Tilen, a regular, speaks English well, it helps. 10 minutes later the neighbor came to tell me it is not possible to put my tent there. No luck, he is one of the rangers of the Triglav National park where wild camping is forbidden. He told me to hide in the forest, where he can’t see me… so wild camping is forbidden but his advice is to do some wild camping somewhere else…Tilen told me not to worry, around his be ok, I just have to follow him. It is 9pm, I have to wait for him to finish his beer and the next one. We are at 1000m, the temperature goes down. I am cold but I spent à very good evening with Tilen and Carmen. They try to teach me Slovenian, but it’s pointless, it is so hard to speak and remember. Moreover, I never could say good morning in Slovenian… they forget to put some vowels!! When it is time to leave, they want me to stay inside a spare room at the bar for 20€, I say no, they insist, 10€, they insist a lot, I say ok. I am not very excited, especially when I see the room.. but at least I got a real bed and it is warm. I have a can of stew for dinner, eating in my old room from the 70’s, the end of my evening is a little bit creepy.
I have to leave before 7am the next morning (Carmen has to do some shopping), perfect, I will be early at the Blad lake, another unavoidable, another busy place. At 9am, on the beach, there are not too many people yet. I can have my breakfast with a nice view. I don’t stay too long and ride to Kranj, a nice little town where I can find a benche and shadow for lunch. I met a French couple on holiday by bike as well, they offered to help them to finish their dish at the restaurant to not throw it away. I am full, but I take it with me, it will be my dinner tonight. We had a nice chat before riding together. We are both going in the same way, to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. I go further than them, to the only camp in Ljubljana, from here I will be able to take the bus the next day to the city. Tonight at the campground, I meet a Spanish couple traveling by bike as well, we are sharing our experiences!
At 8am this Friday morning, I am already on the bus. I want to be early in the city before the crowd. The streets are empty, I visited the castle of Ljubljana where you have a nice view of the city. There is a lot to see in Ljubljana: market, bridges, cathedral… for lunch, I have a meat burek (I prefer cheese burek!) And a Slovenian pudding, a prekmurska Gibanica, nice but filling. So to digest, I go for a short walk to Tivoli park, a big park in Ljubljana. I finished my day sharing a beer with the French couple who I met the day before.
One day is enough to discover the treasure of Ljubljana, so the next day I take my bike again, under the rain…I am going north west, to Kamnik. 20km to ride on the right side, avoiding the cars but not the puddles. In Kamnik, I need to drink tea to warm myself up and make a decision. Thanks to the website Warmshower, like Couchsurfing but only for people who travel by bike, I spoke with a local who will open a campground, at this moment under construction, and I can pitch my tent there. Cool, so let’s go to Golice, a little hamlet, a bit high. When I reach there, the rain stops, I can dry and enjoy the view. There is a toilet, water and a little hut with a table and chairs. It is so perfect that I will spend 2 nights there, one day doing absolutely nothing (only reading, writing, listening to music and eating!). I deserve it after more than 1000km!
And it was good to have a rest because the day after I will ride 95km… I ride north until the border with Austria. I stopped at lunch time at a lake because it is hot! I came back near the Drava river (which I left just before entering Slovenia).
So I was thinking the day after will be easy, along the Drava river to Maribor, only 60km. No, no, no… in this part, it is not a bicycle path, it is just an upside down road along villages ! My rear brake doesn’t work anymore, the front one doesn’t work very well.. I try to fix it before a big climb (so a big descent). It quickly makes me angry, it doesn’t work. I tried to call dad for help, but from France, he can’t really help me… disappointed about myself and my unknown mechanic, I decided to take the main road which follows the river. Busy roads but at least no big hills. In Maribor, the camping is at the opposite side of the center. So soon I arrived there, I put all my stuff on, had a shower and quickly took a bus to bring me to the city center. Maribor is the second biggest city in Slovenia. It is well-known for its wine and its gastronomy. After 70km, it’s hard to find some energy to visit the city. But I still go to sea with the oldest wine of the world, from 400 years old. Maribor is in the Guinness world record for that. Nice but I prefer to taste the wine! So I’m going to try some local white wine at the bar and celebrate these last 11 days in Slovenia.
I have one last mission before leaving this country : fix my brakes. It is better for riding… I tried 3 bike shops before I found someone who wanted to fix it for me… I looked at how he did it, hopefully next time I will be able to do it. It is already 11am, I have to go. Tonight, I have a date with Croatia!! I follow the Drava, this time it is flat. It is 5pm when I cross the border with Croatia. And even if Croatia is now part of the European Union I have to show my passport before crossing the border, which is surprising to me. But quickly this feeling disappeared for the excitement. This day is far from finished, but I can’t tell you anymore, see you in the next Croatian chapter!
485km around Slovenia gives me lots of time to enjoy this nice country. Mountains, rivers, countryside, lakes, so much to see. I preferred the East, less tourism, less people, more authenticity. I heard too many nice things about this country, some part of me was a little bit disappointed. Maybe because I was not in the right season. So I took lots of notes of where I want to go again, and I will be back, during low season, and take more time to enjoy hiking in the national park and discover more the west part!
You can have a look on Komoot for the itinerary (but 2 bugs along the way..) : https://www.komoot.fr/collection/1749622/-slovenie