146 – Saturday 12th Sept 2015: Exercise, Doctor and a Pretty Drive

K ran and pilates and then showered in the plush facilities.  Although we were right next to the water park, it did not open till mid morning so we were not disturbed … we find it increasingly a rarity to get up early!  We also emptied and filled Chardonnay … it was actually nearing mid day by the time we left.

Our expensive stop … still managed to get a load of laundry done!

The 2013 addition for the water park …. not our cup of tea at all

The receptionist told us about a 24 hour doctor to check J’s leg and we set Sally for this.  Yes, Slovenia has 24 hr Doctor / light A&E facilities in lots of towns!  Sally took us down a dead end – again, another really helpful Slovine put us right.  J seen within minutes and again no charge.

On the way into the town, K had spotted a church with lots of smaller chapels in the path up .. we had a quick look at this (from the bottom) and then repaired to a cafe.  J caught the last 10 mins of Latvia beating Slovenia at basketball; cheering on SLO with the locals.

We drove pretty much hugging the Croatian border to a small and basic campsite outside Novo Mesto.  The campsite at Otocec was extremely pretty and along the river Kyka: we parked along its were yards from anyone else; our nearest neighbours a family of 4 swans who bedded down on an island metres from us.  And we BBQ’d 🙂  So lovely we decided to stay two nights.

A beautiful spot and … yes, more laundry drying!

Perfect evening light

147 – Sunday 13th Sept 2015:  Boozy Bike Ride

We set off south of the river to Novo Mesto, but part of the track was uphill, so we performed an exercise, called “pushing’.  It became a bit of a Bike Booze Cruise, as we had a glass of wine when we arrived at the town, several with lunch (EUR10 for 3 courses and salad, but indifferent quality), and two wine stops on the return leg!

Wine stop number 1

Free paddle boarding … if we had a change of clothes, we would’ve given it a go. I know the idea is NOT to fall in … but ….

So we had a go on a swing instead ..

Not sure the cycle helmets were entirely necessary!

148 – Monday 14th Sept 2015:  Back to Ljubljana and more Slovine Kindness

K ran part of yesterday’s cycle route to Otocec, crossing over the wooden bridges and ran the furthest she has ever run – 4.7KM, but the steep hills were walked!  Being Monday, we knew all museums etc would be shut, so we followed the Krka River valley.

Large rebuilt fortress in Zuzemberk

Used for markets, concerts etc. Mostly rebuilt as flattened in WW2

Lunch stop at Sticna outside the Monastery.  K was blending soup when David knocked at the door – he is the local tourism rep.  He kindly telephoned the Monastery to see if anyone was free to give us a tour … we would have been in luck, had we spoken Slovine :(.  We have his telephone number and if we find time to go back there, he has offered to point us in the right direction to best explore the area.  Yet again, another example of Slovine friendliness and helpfulness.

I just love the barns – is this a medical condition?

A renovation project? Most of the properties have been done up and look an indeterminate age.

We arrived at our second home …. Ljubljana CamperStop mid afternoon so K did some MORE washing and we did a van interior clean.  This is our this stay of two nights and our host welcomed us – we will enjoy the EUR8.50 supper.

Tomorrow we take Chardonnay for the first of her maintenance / repair work…. the 40,000 KM BIG service.