In Bled and on to Tolmin

Recovery in Bled then Two Rides  Separated by a Train Through a Tunnel then a Treat for Di

A Quiet Day in Bled

Di spent the first few hours of the morning snoozing, putting into practice the notion that sleep - and lots of it - is an essential part of recovery. I slipped out at 8:00 to get breakfast supplies. The little supermarket located just a few hundred metres away on the corner of our street and the road that runs along the lakeshore was already packed with people when I got there and it had only been open a few minutes. 

When I got back to our digs Di was still sound asleep. She soon roused herself when I asked if she was ready for breakfast. I had managed to procure the fixings for a properly nutritious meal: bread with caraway seeds, eggs (yes, eggs!), Gouda cheese, smoked salmon (from Norway, not Tasmania), a tomato, orange juice and finally milk uso we could have coffee more or less the way we like it.

After breakfast I suggested that maybe we should try to find a person who did remedial massage. Di was reluctant but when I did unearth someone who appeared to be experienced and reasonably well-credentialed she agreed.

Here’s a screenshot from her webpage …

 I tried calling Spela but initially could not get through. Di wondered maybe if we went out for a gentle walk we might be able to organise something on the way and, if so, we’d already be part way there and if not, we’d have had at least some exercise to try to relax the area that was worrying her. 

On our way to the town I noticed I’d had a message back in Slovenian which of course I couldn’t understand. I just asked if she could speak English, explained the reason for making contact and that we’d hope she could help us out. It turned out that she spoke very good English and could accommodate us at midday. We had plenty of time up our sleeves so we took our time enjoying the scenery to begin with. The Bled Castle is the dominant feature at the eastern end of the lake and it can be hard to stop taking pictures in trying to find its best angle …

Horse-drawn carriages rides seem to be a thing here, like they are in Hobart in the summer, but apparently on at least double the volume of traffic here given that we saw two carriages on our way into town …

… however I think I’d have to give the team in Hobart kudos over what we’ve seen here in Bled. A far more impressive carriage that has a greater air of authenticity about it I reckon …

… but then maybe I’m looking through a biased lens of what I’m used to seeing as an archetypal horse-drawn carriage. 🤷🏼‍♂️

It was interesting to see this fairly impressive but dilapidated older residence alongside the lake and I had to wonder how it had fallen into disrepair, with paint peeling, no glass in any of the windows, saplings growing on the upstairs veranda and so on …

… I guess the answer could be anything but it seemed such a waste. It was encouraging though to see some small signs of work underway to revive the building: some new guttering, building blocks, a porta loo in place and some temporary fencing ready to be erected.

We were taking it slowly towards our appointment to minimize the aggravation to Di’s injury but we still were well ahead of schedule and Di really felt like a cup of tea so we stopped in a very nice looking place where Di ordered her tea and I asked if I might have some hot chocolate. The waiter joked that it was the wrong time of year for hot chocolate - which made me think he had just what I was hoping for.  Check this out …

… we’ve come across this thick lava-like concoction before - thick enough to support a spoon standing on end - in the mountainous country of Italy and Austria before on cycling and hiking trips. I was over the moon to find it again. Yes, highly decadent but not overly sweet at all so there must be a LOT of chocolate in it. I’ve managed a nice doze this afternoon so I don’t think it will stop me sleeping tonight.

Continuing our slow journey to Di’s appointment I was tickled to see these two Bettecchia bikes on the back of a huge four wheel drive prominently displaying “Mammut Austria” livery …

Bottecchia is a storied Italian brand which, unlike Colnago, has not managed to remain in the upper echelons in the sport of cycle racing but apparently still sells lots of bikes in Europe.

We got to Di’s appointment early and the therapist was happy to see her straight away. At the end of the session Di felt sufficiently pummeled to feel that she should be able to deal with tomorrow’s ride. I asked if the two of them would mind posing for a photo to mark a moment which could have saved us continuing the tour …

Apart from catching up on a bit of sleep the other thing I managed to get done today was finish the “quick” cryptic crossword I started some time ago but haven’t had a chance to look at for days. I was surprisingly pleased to be able to finish it off without looking anything up. It must have been a a lot easier than most of them in this book (if you’re at all interested in crosswords you can tap on the image and see clues and answers more clearly)…

From Bled to Boriniska Bistrica Railway Station

The raw data and elevation profiles of today’s two rides rides suggested they shouldn’t be too taxing for Di and the injury she’d sustained as we arrived in Bled, so we set off cautiously optimistic.

Here’s what the route looks like …

… and the elevation profile, which - although it shows a descent and then an ascent - had less than one percent of climbing:distance so we were happy about that …

The focus of our first leg was to get to the train station that would take us through a short tunnel by about 8:45 so we could get the 9:10 train. The alternative was to wait until after 11:00 and we really wanted to avoid the heat and have plenty of time to walk from town to the Tolmin Gorge and back again. That meant an unusually early start but it was gorgeous at 7:30 when we were leaving Bled …

Most of the first section of riding was alongside the Sava Bohinjka River. It’s popular for both fly fishing (look closely on the left side of the photo and you will see a fly-fisherman plying his craft) …

… and for kayaking, but we didn’t discover anyone doing that in the few clear glimpses we got of the river. Here’s another clear look at this very pretty and unspoiled river …

Back to the riding, there was a section of what looked like fairly newly laid bitumen that was buttery smooth …

Here’s a photo of Di rolling through one of the few places where the valley broadened out a bit, with an attractive church out in the middle of nowhere …

… and then shortly thereafter an even more attractive church, again out in the middle of nowhere …

… and here’s one of Duckworth, who had eclipsed Dianne and me a little earlier, pulled over to wait for Michael, Louise and Jane …

A little further along I saw a couple of cyclists coming towards us and got the GoPro out quickly enough to record them steaming past …

We were closing in on the train station when we crossed the river for the last time …

Riding the Rails

We did get to the train station in enough time, which was just as well. It was pretty chaotic, first of all lining up to buy tickets at a dispensing machine. There was quite a bit of confusion in front of us, what with language difficulties, an interface that was a bit foreign and people trying to work out how to pay - both with cash and with card. 

We were about ready to get on, but before that happened Duckworth had the job of “holding the horses” …

… while Jane attended to *something* in the station. You can see the carriage which we had to load the bikes onto, and here is where it got really chaotic. The bikes had to be lifted a bit over a metre onto the train. This might not sound like much, but most of the bikes were either gravel bikes loaded with bikepacking gear or, even heavier, electric bikes also carrying bikepacking bags.

Luckily there was a young lady who’d ridden this line many times (I suspect that maybe she was working as a guide for small groups on part of the Alpi Adria cycling loop) who took charge so we all got on in the nick of time.

I don’t think the train would have pulled out without all of us being on board but it was a big relief when the six of us were all aboard. Here’s a photo Di took of four of us together on the train, happy as Larry …

(Michael, still suffering from the ailment that has sapped him of energy and his general fizz) had sat himself in the cubicle next door and was not the least bit interested in shifting just to join our joviality.

Podbrdo Railway Station to Tolmin

It was a lot quicker getting our bikes off the train and getting underway again that it was getting on. Again, here’s a map of the journey that … four of us took (more on that later) and the route profile …

As you can see, we rode downhill quite a lot to get to Tolmin, which was rather blissful. I happened to get underway and onto the exit from the railway first and short this little video of the team turning the corner and heading toward Tolmin …

I was so busy watching the road and trying to capture on video what the ride was like down to Tolmin that I didn’t take any significant photos on the 30 kilometre ride to Tolmin from the Podbrdo station.

In the short time I’ve been on this trip I’ve been trying to get the hang of using iMovie on the iPad. The interface isn’t nearly as intuitive than what it is on the MacBook or the iMac so what I’ve got for you is fairly basic, but it does feature some gorgeous riding. I didn’t want to spend hours trying to dandy up things so it’s just raw footage. If you’ve got four minutes to spare and want to see some of the most fun riding we’ve had since starting this trip, please grab a cup of coffee and have a watch …

Thanks for watching if you took the time. I did mention earlier that there were four of us who rode the same route to Tolmin to Podbrdo. Michael and Louise followed a route that Michael had downloaded from Komoot. The rest of us on the other hand used a route that I had adapted from that Komoot route. The outcome was that we rode a little less distance and had less elevation … and got to coffee quicker! 😁

Tolmin appears to be a lovely town with a friendly, active vibe about it. There is a bike shop directly opposite where we are staying, and the guy running the shop was able to help Michael restore the maps that had disappeared off his new Garmin bike computer.

Di’s Tolmin Gorge Walk

Dianne and I had planned to visit this area in 2020 to do some extended hiking to celebrate Di turning 70, much the same but in a less grand way than when we celebrated her 60th birthday. However, COVID put the kibosh on that.  And then Michael and Louise came along and punted to us the idea of a bike tour in the area she said she’d come - as long as we could stop in Tolmin to visit the Tolmin Gorges. 

Five of us set off together from town to visit the gorges. Michael was still in recover mode so passed, which was probably a good plan because there was a lot of up and down, and we covered about 7 ½ kilometres in fairly warm conditions. I’m fading fast here and I’m sure I’ve made a lot of errors in patching this report together so I think I’ll stop talking and just let you enjoy the imagery …

Here’s a monument at the entrance to a very low key cemetery as we neared the gorge …

… and a bucolic scene just a little further along. I wanted to include this shot because I think it is pretty representative of the small scale agriculture that seems to be the norm in this part at least of Slovenia, which I feel really adds to its charm.

And now we’re into the gorge and a little icon appeared as were descending …

Looking down at an early view of the river …

Just past where I took the photo above we came across this whimsical watercourse …

Although we were all a bit tired after we finished the walk we were all very pleased to have made the effort. Our excursion was topped off on the way back by seeing a couple people paragliding quite close by after seeing a large number very high in the sky and a long way off …

And that pretty much wrapped up the interesting part of the day. My apologies for any bits of missing text, grammatical errors and spelling faux pas. It’s time to go to bed: there’s more riding to be done tomorrow and the day after and the day after that.

Best regards

Doug