From Italy into Slovenia: the Land of Pogačar!

 Tarvisio to Lake Bled

Well, we’ve arrived at scenic Lake Bled in northern Slovenia, which is a fantastic place to arrive at by bike. The  journey itself was very beautiful and one of the most enjoyable rides that Dianne and I have had together for quite a while. 

There weren’t any long stretches of dead flat riding in a straight line which tends to be fairly boring, even if the scenery might be pretty. Instead, for must of the day we were either descending or climbing gradually with gentle undulations. 

Our general direction of travel was east-southeast but we often changed direction slightly so there was regularly a different view of what lay ahead. For almost all of the first half or our ride the surface under our wheels was buttery smooth asphalt rail trail, allowing us to enjoy a series of stunning views of mountains rising above forests or meadows or a combination of the two. Most of the second half of the journey was on quiet, well-maintained country roads. There were only a few very short sections where we had to pay much attention to what we were riding 

Over the course of our journey we dropped  from an elevation of about 750 metres above sea level to 470 metres above sea level. Along the way there were two high points which were both roughly 850 metres above sea level. To get up to the second of these high points we had a tasty little hill of about 3.3 kilometres in length. After that climb we were rewarded with a long enjoyable run down to the lake Bled. 

The morning was gorgeous as Dianne and I set off from our accommodation above Tarvisio to descend to the town and rendezvous with Jane, Duckworth, Louise and Michael before heading off towards Lake Bled …

Michael suggested we make a relatively early start as it was forecast to become fairly warm day during our journey. We had less than sixty kilometres of riding ahead of us but we all liked the  idea of dodging some of the heat later on. Another advantage of leaving early on such gorgeous day was that we enjoyed a still morning with beautiful sparkling fresh air - but not too cool, and the skies were nice and clear for taking photos. 

Here’s an early view of looking back towards mountains that loom over Tarvisio and are characteristic of the first half of the ride …

 We rode along the bike path, in and out of lovely cool forest. Each time we emerged into a clearing or elevated position our eyes would feast on another gorgeous alpine vista …

Generally I like to maintain momentum when I am riding my bike but today it was real easy to stop regularlyand drink in the view. 

Michael and Louise are better at stopping and drinking in the scenery from a standstill than I am. Michael arrived at this spot shortly after Dianne and me, and took this photo of the two of us with mountains behind …

… and one of Louise nearly in the same spot as I’d taken one of the photos above …

… and this one of the two of them …

We crossed the Soca River many times as we followed its eastwards course down the valley. Di stopped on one of the bridges to get a photo of this river that she’d dreamed of visiting for a long time …

Back in the time leading up to the COVID years, Di had made big plans for us to do an extended walking journey in the mountains of Triglav National Park and along the Soca River in 2020 to celebrate turning Seventy. We had bought our tickets and even booked some of our accommodation before everything was shut down. When our friends Michael and Louise mentioned late last year that they were planning this journey which we are sharing part of with them, and asked if we would be interested in joining them, the deciding factor for Di (and then, of course for me) was that we would be able to traverse some of the area we’d planned to visit and at least admire the mountains adjacent to our route.

For most of the early part of the ride the route was mostly along the rail trail …

 … but occasionally it would be on small country roads that always seemed to have a very smooth surface devoid of potholes. In both cases the riding  was just gorgeous …

… occasionally the surface would be a bit distressed due to the vagaries of the weather but deteriorations were generally very minor …

More Mountain views continued to pop up at the end of the valleys running towards the one we were traversing …

… and others directly ahead, so we got to enjoy them longer …

One of the highlights of the journey today was riding through the only real town between Tarvisio and Bled. Kranjska Gora was a town Di had booked us into on our not-to-be journey here and so it was a great pleasure to ride through the little town centre and experience the ambience of the village and enjoy traversing the friendly cobbles that are nothing like the fearsome stretches that competitors in the famous classic Paris Roubaix race - one of five one-day monuments in the cycling calendar - have to endure. Here’s a short video I shot as we made our way through town …

There was only one significant climb on today’s route and here’s what the mapping software I use makes of it …

We always have to take this sort of information with a grain of salt. My mapping software (Ride With GPS) lists the average gradient of this hill as only 5.5 percent and the maximum incline as 9.7 percent, but Dianne and I saw 13 percent pop up on our bike computers with sustained a section of between 10 and 12 degrees in the first half.. Generally when a climb has an even gradient it is easier to get up than when the gradient varies significantly. Anyway, we plugged away and were happy to get to the top with a short rest in the middle so Di could catch her breath. 

By now we’d arrived in  Slovenia, which is the home of one Tadej  Pogačar, the reigning World and Tour de France champion, who has been dominating professional cycling for the past several years.  More (hopefully not too much) information: there are eleven Slovenian cyclists from Slovenia currently riding at World Tour level, including the likes of  Primož Roglič and Mateo Mohorič, who is noted for his rapid descending and several audacious victories from breakaways. 

I  don’t think we saw any of those amazing riders on the road today but we did see some gun cyclists flying past. Also, down on flatter ground we saw a number of people training for cross-country ski racing on their summer roller skis. However,  the most impressive athlete we saw on the roads was the woman who was powering like a diesel train up this hill today. WOW!. She was one lean mean running machine. Di reckoned she had massive calf muscles that were as big as her thighs. These hills and mountains must really provide a fantastic training ground for building aerobic capacity.

Once that hill - the only one today of any significance - was behind us  it was pretty much a lovely, long downhill run of  about twenty kilometres to Lake Bled.  Just past the top where the road flattened out for a bit before starting that long descent, Di and I caught up to Jane and Duckworth, who were waiting for the rest of us. Here’s a couple of shots of them …

I had to include both because a) the top one is the first I took and I especially liked it because of Duckworth’s demeanor - but Jane isn’t looking at the camera - and b) in the second one both are looking at the camera and Jane is sporting her standard/gorgeous smile. Could be my imagination but it seems to me that the Inscrutable Duck is just (and this is just maybe) a little more amused in the first photo.

Because Dianne and I are staying on the other side of the lake and notionally had a little further to ride to our accommodation than the others we thought we’d set off and if there was a cafe along the way we’d stop and regroup. Within about half a kilometre though we did find a cafe so I turned back to alert the others. Michael and Louise had just arrived and the six of us regathered at the cafe/bar and had a drink and debrief. It was just a bit rough and ready so we had just had a short relax and bit of a debrief before setting off again.

About four kilometres later our paths diverged. Dianne and I came to a welcome sight …

… and shortly thereafter  we arrived at the western end of the lake and then Bled Jezero, a train station just on the lake’s edge with a beautiful outdoor cafe attached.. It looked like an excellent place to have lunch before we made our way to where we’re staying the next two nights. And it was!

Lunch hadn’t quite started but the chef, who we’d met on arrival and had a chat with about his visits to Australia, offered to cook us his signature dish: trout with potatoes.

It was looked like this!!! …

… and it tasted like manna from heaven. The two yellow rectangles are slabs of polenta. Di loves it, but she didn’t think she should eat any because she’d filled herself up with the trout and maybe half her potatoes. I managed to resist taking up where she left off. After I shared the photo with Michael and we spoke on the phone he said he wasn’t surprised: he reckoned the fish looked like a small whale. I have to admit, the trout was probably about 50 percent bigger than a trout you’d get at a restaurant at home.

After this delicious and very satisfying lunch we climbed back on the bikes and made our way around to the southern side of the lake. We arrived at the lakeshore just before the turnoff to the right and our accommodation for the next two nights …

.. and we’re delighted to be here after hearing about the place from cycling friends who’ve visited  before us. 

Here is a photo of Lake Bled that is a commercial tourist shot, showing the little island in the middle which you can visit. Apparently it’s very popular to get over there, climb the 99 steps up to the top of the  tower and ring the bells. We might do that tomorrow … and then again we might not. 

 

Lake Bled looks like a pretty good place for a day of R & R!

It has been a brilliant day right up until the very end, when Di had a little incident which will affect our plans for at least tomorrow - hopefully not any further down the track. 

The two of us had talked about a walk around the lake - which apparently is about six kilometers - as the main activity for our rest day tomorrow. That would normally have been her preferred option for our day off the bikes but we’ll have to see how she’s feeling in the morning. 

Coming down to the lake today there was a bit of random mayhem at one point, with pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers all vying with each other to create as much confusIon as possible. The immediate consequence of that is Dianne seems to have strained a muscle at the top and back of her right leg in the process of avoiding a contretemps amongst all that confusion.

It became clear that she’d done herself a bit of a mischief when she got off the bike and had a sharp pain. Whatever that muscle is it is protesting with a sharp pain when asked to bear weight. Transferring weight from one leg to another - a necessary procedure when walking - isn’t so good at the moment. 

A little while ago we strolled perhaps four or five hundred metres to a traditional Slovenian restaurant for dinner - delicious it was - but it had already become clear to her earlier when she walked down to check out the grocery store and the restaurant that she would not be able to circumvent the lake on foot or perhaps by any other self-powered means tomorrow. She is optimistic it will come good with a day’s rest and two good nights of sleep, so fingers crossed. Otherwise she (and probably me too) will have to catch the train from Lake Bled to somewhere further along our route.

You might have been wondering, “Where is the map and elevation profile?” I decide to turn things around just for a change so here they are now (remember tapping or clicking on an image will enlarge it):

I’ll leave you there contemplate the swings and roundabouts of our situation. I won’t be doing a blog post tomorrow but hopefully I’ll have some better news in two days time.

Cheers

Doug