138 Friday 4th Sept:  Dogged Walking … oh and a Lunch

The lovely Meine Hostess let me off EUR1.15 as I did not have the correct change … under £9 a night … peaceful and basic – our kind of campsite.

Logarska Dolina is another valley, the one up from where we were yesterday, but quite a different feel.  It is known as the Foresters Valley, is only 7.5 km long and culminates in a Slap!  Yep, slap the thighs, another blinkin waterfall!  We parked up just into the valley and followed the forest path along the river bed and then up to the Rinka Slap.  A real mix of deciduous and evergreen trees.  Loads of wild flowers, we don’t know the name of, but appreciate all the same.

We watched the clouds blow in and off the mountain peaks.

Along the river bed. Dry at the moment as the water from the waterfall gets absorbed into the ground unless there is a massive downfall. Given the rain we battled through, I wonder what constitutes a massive downpour?

Rinka Slap. Do check out the coffee kiosk perched up a lot of steps … we’d climbed enough and even the lure of blueberry brandy was not sufficient temptation!

On the descent, J felt peckish so we stopped off for another lunch (must stop this becoming a habit!) and left with a large doggy bag.

Another lunch … happy bunny!

What is hard to get across is how incredibly peaceful everywhere is.  Walking the valley, the only sounds were the rain (yes it poured on our way up), the waterfall and the odd cry of a bird.  We are now sat on a campsite in the small town of Prebold having moved a little to the east … again, no sounds other than the rain and the odd hum of a car.  Slovenia is restful and peaceful.  The friendly mein Host has given me a FREE super scale walking and cycling map of the area.

Our neighbour, who likes to talk, wears a shell suit – he comes from what was the DDR!  He was moved to Dresden by the powers in the communist era and then you went where you were sent.  He said how lucky he was to have been moved somewhere so lovely.  I was able to tell him that I had been to Dresden and the Meissen factory some years ago.  And all this in German …

139 – Saturday 5th Sept 15: Numb Bum!

K gets satisfied, in a weird sort of way, when laundry is done, so a bedding etc load into an efficient top loader (haven’t seen one of those in a while) and some hand laundry.  Again, all hanging under the awning or inside Chardonnay.  Slight concern that it will hang around as there is so much damp in the air.

We had a massive thunder storm again last night and they seem quite frequent.  We hear the long low rumbles echo around the hills and the water droplets sound like gravel on Chardonnay’s roof.  More rain is expected today, BUT we are turning into Mr and Mrs Fittie- Allweather!  Bikes down, prepped and wet weather gear donned, we set off.  K navigating the back roads to Celje: a slight 3 km detour … oops!  Fortunately the rain held off.

A typical view on our route. All the hills and mountains are really pointy and churches seem to inhabit the tops – is climbing up to them some sort of penance for this Catholic nation?

The area we are in seems to be a garden of Slovenia. It is well known for its hop growing; we passed a tall machine harvesting the hops and then being stripped in a barn. However, as well as corn and a few sun flowers, there are LOADS of apple orchards, and numerous varieties.

Should I be jealous? Not sure J would get any takers in those cycling leggings!

Having triple locked the bikes, we planned to go into a museum …. oops!  All the museums and shops (except large supermarkets) seem to shut at lunchtime on Saturday!  So if you work full time and need to do jobs, there is no chance of a lie in Saturday morning.  Given we could not be cultural, J’s tummy rumbled, so we went gastro instead! But when a pizza, a delicious soup and 4 glasses of wine (albeit small) only costs £12 including the tip, it would be rude not to!

Happy boy! Third lunch out in a row and he said it was one of the best pizzas – EVER.

As we left the restaurant, the heavens opened.  Why is it ‘heavens’ … nothing heavenly about the weight or length of the downpour.  We waited a bit but as it seemed set in we resigned ourselves to a drenching, but decided to go back on the main route in the hope it would be more direct and easier cycling.  We had a quick coffee stop (euphemism for J needed to use the facilities) on the way and back in time to change and tidy up before James’ Gaelic Football game started.  Power of the internet: J can watch the Dublin v Mayo semi final replay live on the iPad in rural Slovenia 🙂

Only 24.4 miles, but only the second time the bikes have had and airing in a while.  Despite, he sexy padded cycling leggings (K has her own padding), J was the one with the numb bum!