142-143: First Cut is the Finest!

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Clunegapyears

142 – Tuesday 8th Sept 2015: Moving North and East from Maribor

We left Horvat vineyard saying farewell to our hostess; the vine expert. I put the parking on the Parkings app that most motorhomes use as the Agritourism book is really badly distributed and advertised. It is the least we can do after such amazing hospitality.

We drove North … with the aim of covering pretty much all of Slovenia … doing it properly! So we headed north to Gornja Radgona, but did not stop … a ski centre in winter and pretty ordinary. Due to vagaries of the border with Austria, we were briefly out of Slovenia which meant we could use our free Roaming with Three. So we parked up at a village:

spoke to K’s daughter and mother
booked Harry Potter Studios visit
booked K’s train ticket for her visit home end October
checked bank accounts still alive and not imploded

and perturbed a local resident who walked all around Chardonnay as if she had landed from space!

Back into Slovenia and back roads to a town called Grad, where we parked at a Church and had lunch. I know it seems irreverent, but in the countryside there really are no lay-bys or parkings. Grad actually means Castle, we saw the sign, but not the item itself. The scenery around here, was very pretty … more peaks and churches.

Grape pickers finishing for the day

Having peaked at Grad, we headed south again and through Moravske Toplice: this is another hot natural springs spa resort with an over priced and very commercial campsite … we kept going to …. Dobrovnik. Not the Croatian one – the Slovenian. The Agritourism book listed a parking here and we wanted to justify the purchase of the book!

This one was actually the car park of a man made lake – Bukovnisko J. Being rural, the car park attendant did not speak English or German (our standby language recently), but a few gestures and mimes and she sold us a ticket for EUR5 and told us to park over the other side of the car park. No one else there, in fact the whole place was not busy, and we did not feel like lepers! Parked up and wandered in to see what there was…. an ice cream later …. and we failed to obtain a free map of the lake and area so we took a phone pic of one of the info boards and wandered around the lake. Peaceful and pleasant enough, once you got past the Hungarian coach load of 90% loud and chatty women. There was a small chapel with a natural spring which is reputed to have healing properties. It really did feel a sanctified place. Sadly a man meditating and a couple on a bench near this – one wonders if they have some sorrow they are looking for help with.

By about 9.00 we had the place to ourselves – totally, other than a few zillion stars.

Our lonely but very peaceful pitch

143 – Wednesday 9th Sept: Vine Cutting Festival

Leisurely start. As we vacated to run around the lake the car park attendant pounced on us to sell us a ticket … we persuaded him that we had bought an over night one already and that we would be on our way in an hour. I know it would only have been another EUR5, but it is the principle of the thing! So we ran, and departed.

We got as far as Lendava, right at the eastern side of Slovenia. Lack of parking in the centre so we hunkered down in the supermarket carpark. K shopped and J washed! we then breakfasted there. Again Chardonnay caught attention being a) a motorhome in the less touristy area b) being British and c) being beautiful, not that I am biased (Chard that is!)!

We had been told that the Sauvignon Blanc around here was supposed to be good and there were cycle wine routes but since the harvest has just started, staff are busy, and we could not easily find the Tourist Information Office anyway! And we’ve bought too much wine already! Or is wine like shoes and handbags in that you can never have enough?

We followed the scenic road to Ljutomer where we lunched in a car park (car park meals seem to be a habit! today!), popped into the TIC in a rather impressive square and had an ice cream, of course.

We have seen these milk dispensers in most towns.

J smitten.

Typical traffic – tractor on tractor.

There are many new houses being built, but most of the old ones have had a re-furb and the choice of rendering colour for the walls is not to UK taste and we have seen this pretty much all over Slovenia.:

We took the smaller road to Jeruzalem and were really pleased we had … little pointy hills with lots of vines. We kept stopping for photos; fortunately the roads are so quiet. Not much at Jeruazalem other than two hotels, a church, a TIC and 40 inhabitants (official figures from the chap at the TIC). From the TIC, we bought:

A ‘I feel SLOVEenia T shirt for J and EUR2 cheeper than in Ljutomer 🙂
A bottle of pumpkin oil. We have eaten local food drizzled with it and have seen them harvested in the fields and left to ripen. Apparently they are pressed for oil in October.
A bottle of local Sauvignon Blanc … we wanted Verus, the vineyard we had drunk at our posh meal, but we could have every grape but Sauv. Bl. by Verus, so we selected a different vineyard to try.

We then set the sat nav for our third Argotourism …. it took us the quick way – in and out of Croatia in 5 mins. We were surprised to have to show Passports on the way out of Sl, and again on the way in. We were also asked, sadly, if we had any Syrian refugees on board.

At our overnight destination there were about 25 people all out front with the men wearing black felt hats and wellie boots. Fortunately the son of the farmer spoke near fluent English and guided us to where we could park and helped us avoid an over hang … another puncture in Chardonnay not desired!

Our hosts were insistent we joined them… and ‘does the fat dog slide on lino?”

The farmer has a patch of about 20 different grapes in the front. Every year, he and neighbours dress in traditional clothes (hence the hats and boots) and they have a party for the first cutting of the grapes.

BUT before the precedings commenced we all had a shot of ‘grappa’ infused with herbs which gave it a green hue. Then the cutting commenced.

As peoples buckets filled, they filled the large wooden buckets, which were then transported on backs by Shanks Pony to the stalk stripping machine.

Clever device – pulls the grapes off the stalks and spits out the stalks. All the 20+ varieties of red and white grapes in together …

A bit of a pause: wine and food. Again J and I tried to slip away … uninvited guests and all that, but with a little pressure it was borne on us that it would be rude.

Food was homemade breads, parma ham and salami style meats, tomatoes and onions. I don’t eat bread, but I tasted J’s – one was like a soft pizza dough (but better) with bits of pork sprinkled on top … these came from the rendering down of the lard like butter … delicious.

To help a bit, the grape mush was loaded into potato sacks as it makes it easier to unload and reload the press.

Then the pressing began. Three pressings actually.

All the men were involved by this point – Zvonko Jr. (English speaking son) explained the Slovenian saying: ‘Too many midwives spoilt the birth’. Similar to our ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’. But no issues here as most were in a supportive capacity.

The juice drained away through a long pipe into the Fermtation tank in the cellar. Zvonko Sr. used an device held to the eye to measure the sugar content – only 13. Sugar would need to be added. Do you think J and I look expert … expert drinkers! Or all at sea?

I should have recorded it … some of the men and women joined in a couple of songs. Honestly, it was 3 or 4 part perfect harmonies. Zvonko Jr. said they sang about the first grape cutting and as they all knew the words they belted it out. Really beautiful.

Other special moments of the evening were so numerous, but especially:

Looking at the barn of old farming equipment, such as a potato digger, that spits the potatoes out sideways. Apparently there is also a party to celebrate the old farming techniques. We must come back!

Being shown a young Edible Doormouse. Yep – this is its official name. Some places have special festivals to celebrate them. They live in trees in Eastern Europe and are a delicacy, but only the Slovenes eat them.

Learning about how each village will have a slightly different dialect .. we had picked up that the Slovene sounded different in the eastern part.

Seeing the Slovenian cattle: smaller and suitable for hilly areas as they don’t damage the slopes.

We thought these were to show wind direction, but they clatter in wind as bird scarers.

We cannot believe the warmth and hospitality of this country. We were not allowed to pay for our overnight pitch, offered toilets etc, given some of the bread to take away ….

This is a treasured and enriching memory. Thank you!

K – dog whisperer!

It worked the first time!

This amazingly generous and warm group of people – thank you.

140-141: Magical Maribor Moments

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Clunegapyears

Sunday 6th Sept 2015: Onto Maribor

We left Prebold, but were fairly unimpressed by the towns we passed through, not enough to stop anyway. Scenery was less mountainous by still pretty and agricultural. The barns are architecturally really interesting.

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More churches and always with hills in the background.

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Hops for the two Slovenian beers being harvested now: Union and Lasko

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Our destination was the motorhome parking at the top of a hill with the intention of walking on the morrow. Best laid plans and badly laid roads put paid to that! We started up the hill on the dirt track – too many water tracks and rattlings: Chardonnay and our teeth! Abort and plan B … Maribor, which was planned next anyway.

Our general expectations of Maribor were not high – even though it is Slovenia’s second city on the river Dava. (Boys and girls – were we surprised! Read on…). We arrived at our first Agro Camping at about 4:00 pm – the Horvat Vinejardji. Our hosts were out and we settled the van onto a very sloping pitch – chocks brought into play to level the bed. Settled to some admin work – and after a while, our host arrived – quick warm welcome (we were their first motorhome, despite being in the Agrotourism book for a while). K offered the standard EUR10 – refused! He asked if we would like a wine tasting a little later in the evening – does the fat dog slide on lino? At about 7:30 – he knocked and we followed him into the house… We tasted about 5 different wines – all white – this area is mainly white – Sauvignon Blank, some different Reisling, Chardonnay…. on we went … slowly with decent sized glasses. Then – our hostess appeared with a large platter of food! A real mixture: local cheeses, sliced onion on bread with a light lard butter (tasty – honest) and pumpkin oil drizzle, gammon on bread – and so tasty. J ate most of it – this was our evening meal – superb ! Our host’s English was very good, so he was able to talk to us about wine growing generally in Slovenia … mostly family run businesses and 6 major large firms, until last year when one in Maribor went bankrupt. Due to the sunny summer this year the harvest is starting this week and expected to be good. Last year there was very little sun and the harvest was poor. We discussed how the little known quality of Slovenian wine impedes its demand and therefore export to the rest of Europe. He also talked about the wines to look out for in the different areas as we travelled Slovenia. We were welcome to park up as long as we liked.

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A nightcap wine tasting of our own back in the van – that fat dog just will not stop sliding – thanks to Thomas O’Reilly for that one, Amelia!

At EUR 5.99 fro 5 litres it really was a poor finale.

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The view from Chardonnay looking up at some of our host’s vines

Monday 7th Sept 2015: Magical Maribor Moments

This may be a long blog – no need for sleeping pills tonight… AM – we cycled into Maribor – I (J blogging here) did a sort of walking tour guide thingy. Maribor was 2/3rds destroyed in WW2 and boasts a large 1980’s iconic bus station. Most of the architecture reflects the ‘proletarian’ history of factories (source our 2001 guide book). However a number of old buildings such as 4 old town wall towers and a synagogue survived. We avoided the tourist train (Kerstin, if you are reading, this pic is for you!) – it did not seem to move due to the lack of tourists :).

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We saw the oldest vine in the world – 400 years old – it’s in the Guiness Book of Records – it still produces wine. As there is a festival to harvest its grapes so the date is pretty much fixed to end of Sept / start October. The wine produced is distributed by the Mayor in small bottles.

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The wrinkly old vine is on the right!

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It had a small and free museum and had some of our overnight host’s wines – Horvat.

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Journalists waiting to ask us how our trip in Slovenia was going … actually Serbian journalist interviewing Slovenian wine experts … should have asked us, we seem to be tasting enough to become expert!

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That led to a sampling of the local wines in a conveniently nearby restaurant – only 4 wines, but we were sharing, honest!

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We fell into conversation with a lovely lady – Petra, and her Crufts Bichon Frisee, and she gave us very good advice on the area and things to see and do.

She talked about how her family, wealthy Ljubljana, had different capitalist ideas to a lot of Slovenia, who were still emotionally locked into the Tito era. She recommended a particularly good restaurant – Mak’s – for special occasions – possibly expensive – K’s eyes lit up the street and she asked Petra to book us in for 6:30 this evening! Bugger the budget Mrs Spontaneous…

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Not having had enough of wine tasting, we headed for the largest underground wine cellar in Slovenia – 20,000 sq metres. A good tour of timber and concrete (?) wine barrels – with German and Dutch couples – the wine tasting then began (again !). Our tour guide was the manager of the overseas consortium that was trying to buy the bankrupted wine firm from the receivers (see note above about 6 large wine firms). He was Dutch married to a Slovene and had worked in many industries (we did get his life story) but it was very interesting to hear his take on some Slovenine attitudes to competition and pricing based on old Communist beliefs.

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No fountain, so visitors press coins into the wall for luck.

7 wine tastings later, we retrieved our bicycles and wobbled back to Horvat…. J was ready to nap before the 6:30 restaurant booking – K disappeared into chez Horvat to purchase some of the wine, where she was offered more wine tasting and a tour of the bottling equipment and the main cellar. The generosity of our host is amazing: he rounded each price down and threw in a bottle of a different grape! In telling our host about the cave tour, he said how a consortium of vineyards had bought some vines from the bankrupt large company and they were in a really poor way but a lot of work on them and they should produce some good kilos of grapes this year. Slovenia is a small country and is is fascinating to hear parts of the same story from different people.

K back with 2 minutes to spare before the taxi arrived….. a very quick clothes change and minimal makeup.

The restaurant decor was fairly bland. The chef / host David was eccentric … jeans, jacket and a mop of unruly hair. He offered up his 19 month son as the main course! We left ourselves entirely in his hands re the meal and the wine. He does not produce a menu as it depends what is available. The pictures can do the talking. It was truly amazing. So much food, but served slowly and all so light that neither of us had that leaden stomach feeling.

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1. Bottom left to right and up – you need directions are there were so many elements just to the starter!

Beetroot macaroon with chicken liver pate and foie gras.

Parsley with homemade sausage and …. on top.

Crostini with Slovenian parma ham

Corneto with minced spiced beef and cream cheese

Lollypop of 24 month aged cheese with pumpkin seeds

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1. Continued … hot part

The lightest tortilla with cauliflower cream

Sweetbread in crumb with ginger and soy sauce

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James knowing he is in for a good time.

Wine was Zlata Radgonska Permina 2006 – apparently the oldest sparkling winery in Slovenia

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2. Soup Course

Tenderest salmon strips in a yellow pepper soup. Quail egg, caviar and a jelly of sweet and sour pumpkin. Served under a large dome with herb smoke.

WINE: Verus Sauvignon Blanc … delicious

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3. Salad Course

Dressed leaves with roasted pumpkin seeds and chargrilled chicken.

As the chicken was on the bone, they came later with a large bowl, jug of warm water and rolled towels so we could rinse our hands!

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4. Main Course

Most melt in the mouth lamb with lightest mashed potato, meat juices, onion sauce and papardelle of pumpkin and carrot.

WINE: Zamut Cabernet Sauvignon (Augustus) 2008 (we rejected an earlier suggestion as we felt it was too heavy – Shiraz)

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5. Dessert

Marinated pear balls, pear ice-cream, cinnamon and wine poached pears, bitter chocolate biscuit, chocolate soil, white chocolate mouse with a mango centre (when you cut in it looked like a poached egg!)

WINE: Most …. this is actually not a wine…. yet. On a certain day in November the celebration is the the grape juice is now fermented enough to become wine. Until then, it is Most (pronounced Mosht)

We were offered a cheese course!!!! To finish we were given shot of grappa, told to only drink half of it as it was a long drink ins a small glass. The glass was then topped up with Chardonnay grape juice.

As we left, we had a sour cherry shot! In any normally circumstances, we would feel bloated, poisoned and plastered … it is a testament to the quality of the food and wine and the lovely long gaps that we felt replete but in no way uncomfortable. Amazing experience. WOW – WHAT A DAY!

138 – 139 : Slap Happy and Numb Bums

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Clunegapyears

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!

135-137: Should be at school!

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Clunegapyears

135 Tuesday 1st Sept: Oldest and Finest …

No not wine! An Arboretum. After we ran and said farewell to Laraine and Steve (who actually thought we were having lie in – duh!), we set sail North. We stopped off at the Volcji Potok ( you should hear hear the sat nav rendition of this … much amused by Sally Sat Nav’s pronunciation generally – cesta vesta is one of our faves!). It is the ‘largest and most beautiful arboretum’ quote from our 2001 guide book!. Having been spoiled growing up near RHS Wisely, even K was much impressed.

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A French garden

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Two English gardens with lovely Acers just turning … don’t say Autumn is coming!!!

If this were Football, I’d be shouting England 2, France 1 and Italy and Germany ZERO!

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A rose garden, indigenous forest etc…. and all with a mountainous backdrop.

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A really pleasant couple of hours and ice cream at the summer house!

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Highlight? Most memorable? The donosaurs!!!!! Yes, seriously – scale and MOVING and BELLOWING dinos. I know they have to entertain the kids, but do they have to make them so life like …. even some eye rolling! K unnerved … and not just by what they were doing in an arboretum!

When we were in Ljubljana, the lovely TIC girl, when asked where she liked to go had indicated two place on the map and we set off for the first of these – Velika Planina, just north of Kamnik. This is the ‘great highlands area’. top height is 1666m. K had identified a campsite (not in all resources and we soon found out why … MINUS: very basic at EUR22 (K negotiated a 10% discount – it all helps) … one toilet in a shed (clean and it flushed!!!), amongst trees and interesting manoeuvres to get Chardonnay in! PLUS: it was right at the base of the of the cable car we would take tomorrow and really peaceful. Only one other (smaller) camper on the site …. interestingly a German married to a French lady, so K found herself badly switching languages.

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Pre dinner drinks on our woody camping.

136. Wednesday 2nd Sept: Shite Frite

Up and at ‘em again …. we caught the 9.00 am cable car. Sorry, you working folk (very conscious my former work colleagues are back dealing with new classes, seating plans and new directives from ‘em on high), but it felt early to us! The guide book states ‘ the six minute ride is not for the skittish”. It was steep. it was a long way. The cables looked very baggy. Now James likes to have his feet on terra ferma and he was slightly anxious / disconcerted about this ride.

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K happy to board the cable car, but J already shaking and it had not yet started its ascent!

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However, we then had a LONG chair lift ride, having been advised to get the double ‘get you up there’ package. J mostly eyes just and gripped the rail. Again this was a REALLY long ride, but it saved us a 45 min steep climb by foot.

Velkina Planina is where traditional diary farmers graze their cattle over summer. It is hight pasture land. Mostly above the tree line. The wooden round buildings were razed by the Germans, but rebuilt since. Many are holiday homes, but a lot were still inhabited by the herdsmen, who wear green felt pointy hats.

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We had not gone far before it was coffee stop. We sat outside one of the round huts … listening …. listening to …. virtually nothing. The odd cry of a bird of prey and the jangle of a cow bell. It is seriously one of the most peaceful places we have ever been. On top of the world!

We walked through a number of the wooden hutted hamlets and past numerous urbane cattle with their young. A really lovely place. Unfortunately J had started with an eye infection the night before and was not feeling his best. I put this down to why he keep his eyes shut and hands white knuckled on the return chair lift! As we arrive at the bottom of the lift, he less than calmly said he needed to find the toilet …. it had frightened the shite out of him! He really was not a happy bunny and has informed me that cable cars are doable at a push, but chair lifts NOOOO!

Sorry, lots of pix of the scenery and little wooden huts, but it was a very special place.

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We needed LPG so drove south and then back north a bit (I know I should have sorted it yesterday, nearer Ljubljana) and stopped off at Kamnik … mandatory daily ice-cream and eye drops for J. Isn’t amazing – we describe symptoms in English and they prescribe antibiotic drops for all off EUR5!

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Lot of benches had rolled up mags for people to relax and read … what a lovely idea.

Next Stop: Logarska Dolina- the second place the Ljubljana TIC girl had said was one of her favourites. We had picked up an AgriTourism book of camperstops at farms and K had confirmed our arrival for tonight by email with one. Sally Sat Nav initially tried to take us through a barrier that, even had it been open, a car would have struggled with. The she tried to take us up a near vertical track. The concept of farms giving up a space for motorhomes is fab, but not if totally inaccessible! We will try the book one more time and see if we just bummed out on our first choice. Fortunately, we had spied a campsite on the route up, just north of Luce and we retraced our steps. Adjacent to a bubbling brook, 2 other couples staying, small, clean and basic … perfect! And only EUR13.16 incl Tourist Tax :). When checking in, K asked Meine Hostess about short walks for the morrow as J only 86% … really helpful again and K had to resort to German; we are only miles from the Austrian border … and she suggested on with a food stop that specialises in local produce. Sounds fun, although most local produce seems to be buckwheat and sour milk or dumplings … not sure what we will get, but when in Rome!

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Using the bench with a roof as a laundry drying hut!

137 – Thursday 3rd Sept 15: Gourmet Gorging

Slow leisurely start; waiting for the rain to cease of course! K ran and did some Pilates; there was kindly a hard standing behind the picnic bench. And we both showered… always a good thing, occasionally.

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Parked up at the start of Romanov Kot, as recommended by Meine Hostess at the campsite. It is another glacial gorge, however, the valley bed is a sea of scree and rocks. Quite lunar or post bomb.

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One of the prettier beehives,

And the opening of the valley.

But the highlight of today was …. tarter – massive bowls of soup. This is the main course of the lunch – all typical of the region …. cottage cheese …

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Sdumpling, a meat in a ravioli thingy, three other sorts of roast meats, green beans with a pork cracking sprinkling and an onion dish. Did I mention the roast potatoes and salad sides? Pudding was a kind of apple and cinnamon strudel. I have not see J eat so much in ages and we still have a massive doggy bag for tomorrow. we will NOT be wanting supper tonight!

127-134 : Slovenia’s Higest and Best …

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Clunegapyears

127 – Monday 24.08.15: Skofja Loka, Mountain Pass and Bled

We – K, J and the redoubtable Kerstin headed out of Ljubljana to the north….. stopped at the beautiful medieval town of Skofja Loca – really helpful lady at the local Post Office – many photos and a nice walk. Also really helpful lady at the Tourist Info, who suggested we leave Chardonnay in her parking and recommended a mountain drive onward off the main route to Bled. Do you sense we like the Slovenians?

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Our Lunch Stop: very easy, as everything you need is on board.

Thence we pointed the van towards Bled – a lakeside town that promised to be a bit like Cumbria. It is – Like Cumbria on an August Bank Holiday – tens of thousands of people and their cars – all looking for the not too many parking spaces. Camping Bled was our destination – home to 750 folk in the (now) high season – we thought there were more than that…. we found our pitch and KX2 headed out to walk in the rain to the lake… J offered to babysit the van and push out some Zzzzzzs – quite successfully of course. The campsite was overcrowded and in the morning, there was no hot water for showers – which drew a strong complaint from K1 on our departure. Not that the staff cared, but K got her revenge with a poor review online – that felt good! Bled is very cute but not the campsite…

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K2 shared a Bled cake, which J missed out on. Rather like a vanilla slice, but a little stodgier. I generously allowed Kerstin to eat most of it, and this was after she had consumed a panini!

128 – Tuesday 25.08.15: Vingar Gorge and Villach

We fled Bled and drove the hairpin road to Vinegar Gorge – found parking and started the 30 minute walk to the end of the Gorge – and a waterfall – waterfall number 5,000 in Slovenia? The UK Health and Safety Executive would condemn the walkways and little bridges and empty the Gorge. The obligatory coffees and ice cream at the cafe near waterfall….. We did well arriving early as the walkways were narrow and coach loads were arriving as we were leaving.

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As we were early, the mist was just rising off the water.

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The long boardwalk along the gorge; built in late 1800s with difficulty.

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Waterfall at the end, of course!

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Hundreds of cairns and some were really creative.

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Not posted up any funny signs for a while …. this should actually had read ‘pod slap’, but some wag had doctored it.

Kerstin was booked on a train back to Germany from Villach in Austria – so naturally, we drove her to the station – passing through Slovenia, Italy and Austria – back through Italy and into Slovenia in one afternoon!

Found a lovely campsite – not crowded – and with hot water – at Kamne near Doverj! And fast wifi 🙂 Relaxing BBQ and slept dreaming of the jobs on the AM horizon. Zzzzzzs…..

129 – Wednesday 26.08.15: Triglav National Park and jobs

Jobs and more jobs: K scrubbed (up well !), polished and spat (!) and paid some bills – J hoovered (hovered ?) and variously tried to look busy… We did not move off the site – no time to! We have loved being with family and friends for the last month, but we seriously needed some catch up time, so decided to stay put for 3 nights in total.

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View from the campsite

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Our Pitch for 3 nights. Chinese laundry services offered!

130 – Thursday 27.08.15: Jobs and bus into Kranjska Gora

K and J ran – to whet the appetite for more jobs (?) – very hilly route some 2 miles – or 3 ‘kin-ometers! Afternoon – a bus into nearby Kranska Gora – a ski resort. Nothing very much – but a peanut sized glass of wine whilst awaiting the bus back to Kamne. Bought fodder for a BBQ – K found some good value trousers in Intersport!

131 – Friday 28.08.15: Kobarid and to Bohinjska Lake AND punctured a hole!

We contemplated the 49 hairpin bend pass to go south, but on the advice of the campsite receptionist, who spoke 7 languages and well, we re-routed … back into Italy and then down back into Slovenia.

Interesting border crossing just above a lake: a derelict fort with amazing views on the Italian side and a monument and castle on the Slovenian side. We did encounter hairpins, but thankfully not 49 of them!

The Italian Side:

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The Slovenian Side:

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We stopped off at Kobarid. We struggled to find a parking for Chardonnay, so we pulled into a business car park and J went to ask if we could park. Initially the chap said no and then took pity on us and gave us an hour. This was time enough to visit the WW1 Soca Valley battles between Austro Hungary (incl. Slovenia) and Italy. We had no idea just how many young men died and were maimed in these battles. It came across strongly that the Italians were ill disciplined and mis-managed … surprised?

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After a quick ice cream…. one has to have one’s daily quota!, we drove Chard up a very steep (and more hairpins) hill to an Italian memorial to the dead. They moved the bones of about 7000 soldiers here and stuck a church on top. Mussolini opened it.

Again, we were given really helpful advice by the staff in the museum. K had read about a Historic Walk around the town, but was told that as we only had limited time in Kobarid, we should focus on the waterfall … haven’t we seen enough? However, parked and walked to the Slap (honest, it’s Slovenian for waterfall). The final corner was on another boardwalk. If we thought Vinegar Gorge was a H&S issue …. it was nothing by comparison. Rotting and slippery boards with not hand rail. J declined walking this bit and relied on K to take the closer pix!

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Postscript – took a wrong turn in a tiny village and a complicated reversing manoevre was required – K driving and J directing from the roadway, K was trusting his every instruction! … J was watching for our overhanging bikes – but signally failed to spot the edge of an overhanging roof! Result – a gash in the rear side panel of Chardonnay!!! Profuse apologies to lady owner of said roof…. J’s pride seriously deflated…

On to Bohinj campsite and immediate Gaffa tape repairs – now we need to find a motorhome repair shop…

Parked up next to another British motorhome – Laraine and Stephen …. swapping stories.

132 – Saturday 29.08.15: Bike, climb and Cable Car

After a good nights rest (J dreaming of van gashes) – K suggested a bike ride, walk – and a visit to Slovenia Vodafall number 5001 ! (Voda is water in Slovene). 12+ ‘kin-omters each way and bear in mind the bikes nor our bike legs have seen any action for a long time. Mostly hilly – bike walking / pushing was introduced to conserve legs… Locked up bikes and climbed about 2000 steps up to a picnic lunch at vodafall and mostly downhill on the way back.

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Stopped of at the Vogel cable car – really steep and very fast, up to the top of the mountain. Views were amazing. We could have done a hike up here across the high pastures and peaks, but strangely J was reluctant.

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Ice cream stop – and one of those charming moments to wonder at… the rock face behind the restaurant was sheer – up to 100 feet (?). A boy of 7 or 8 started to climb up the face – belayed by his instructor – with anxious parents watching… he clung to the cliff, using his hands to find tiny cracks to inch himself upwards – we just had so stay and watch with bated breath. He reached the top to applause from all the diners below – and then swiftly abseiled down to terra firma – a lovely incident.

We really liked Bohinj – much more than the famous, over crowded and slightly twee Bled.

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Legend: The Stag looks after the area, but was shot. It is invincible, but no longer shows itself to man

133 – Sunday 30.08.15: Through Bled to Radovljica and bees!

We finally pushed ourselves into doing a run. It was a lovely route along the river that feeds Bohinj Lake, but we both struggled to put in any distance.

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Can you spot that man at speed? Another beautiful place to run.

Packed up and headed back to Ljubljana.

Our journey avoided hairpins; think we have had our fill for a day or two, but we drove through Bled and as it was not raining we took some pix on the move. Being the last day of the summer holidays, the traffic was piling into Bled – we would never have been able to park had we wanted to!

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We stopped off at Radovljica. K had read that there was one of the most interesting museums in Slovenia here … all about bees and bee keeping. Bee keeping is really important in Slovenia (we were sold honey on our first campsite, see honey and honey liqueurs sold everywhere as well as loads of brightly coloured hives. We learnt a lot and again, the lovely museum receptionist came and put the bee film in English on for us. At only EUR3 each, this was definitely worth a stop off. We are now bee experts … just ask us a question!

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A typical bee hive wagon (modern look like the new parcel collection boxes)

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This is actually a beehive!

The town was Medieval and very pretty with Slovenia’s oldest bit of a moat. Seemed a shame to leave it, so we found a restaurant with a terrace at the back over looking the valley and views to the Triglav mountain (Slovenia’s highest) and had lunch … would have been a shame not to! Don’t we look relaxed!

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Drove back to the Ljubljana CamperStop that we used with Kerstin about a week ago. Wifi around the restaurant so several glasses of white and J followed his Dublin Gaelic football team on the laptop. Supper in the restaurant (I know – we are on a budget, and two meals out in the same day!!!), but the bill was all of EUR23 for the afternoon glasses of wine and the meal …. the over night would have cost EUR10 otherwise … seemed silly not to!

134 – Monday 31.08.15: Ljubljana and Chardonnay Jobs

Having realised how rubbish our run yesterday was, we were up and at ‘em … and K actually ran little further than J – RESULT! Only just over 2 miles, but hey, small steps! Shower and breaky and off. Mein Host had kindly told K and indicated the route on a map to a proper motorhome repair place and thence we went. We were warned that they were extremely busy … earliest we could be booked in is 16th Sept and they will probably need Chardonnay for 3 days and the cost will be in the region of EUR400. Cripes! On a mission to make sure Chardonnay is fully functioning, we then took her to the Fiat garage and booked a service. Apparently at 40,000 KM, which we are at, we need filters etc changed … the bill will be a minimum of EUR400! Is EUR400 the standard quote for overseas motorhomes??? Given K just paid £400 for her Merc to be serviced (not even at Merc) Euros sounds much better and we hope the labour rates are cheaper.

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Drove via a supermarked and stocked up – food and booze for at least 3 days, and back to our now ver familiar CamperStop. As we pulled in … Laraine and Stephen from Bohinj were there …. lovely to see them again. Loads in common. Had the EUR8.50 menu with them (soup, salad and a meat dish – yummy and it mean we don’t pay for the pitch!)

Clune Gap Years

A journal and reflections of our motorhome travels

Category Archives: Slovenia