Out of the Hills and Down to the Sea

 Sežana to Piran

As we entered the outskirts of Piran we found a great cafe that had Octopus Salad on the menu!

Today was something of a landmark day. The six of us reached the southernmost point of our respective routes, arriving at Piran on the Gulf of Trieste, which is at the northern end of the Adriatic Sea. And what a beautiful place it is, but before I wax lyrical about today’s destination I guess I should describe the journey.

Here’s a look at our route. Initially we rode more or less south for about 10 kilometres then turned west the sea,  then after coming close to the water we headed slightly inland again traveling southwest. We were close to the sea for our last 20 kms, riding directly beside it for a while, then a little ways inland and then finally along the shore for the last part of the ride.

We left fairly early this morning to beat the heat for at least part of the journey. We know there was going to be a bit of gravel at the beginning of the journey. The first part wasn’t much to deal with, or much of a surprise  as we knew it was coming  up shortly after our departure …

We were then riding on what was a clearly marked bike path on bitumen which in very good condition. A very heavily loaded  bikepacker went past us going the other way just before I shot this little video which features what I took to be his partner trailing a little way behind and a Mum standing beside the path with her little boy on a stone wall beside her …

It looked like we were going to be on this bike path for a while but it soon turned to quite a rough section of gravel and I once again wished I’d opted for slightly wider tyres for this trip …

The tyres were okay, but like on a few previous occasions they felt like they were bottoming out which I do not like much.

This road became a very nice bike path - even better than the previous bit and I had to wonder why they hadn’t sealed those two short bits of gravel.

We rolled on together for a while …

… but then Dianne and I - we both seem to like descending as speed more than the others - got away a bit on a long, fast downhill section …

We got a nice glimpse of the sea a little further down the hill …

… and a bit further still down the hill our route took a little diversion off the main road. We thought the others might catch us there if they hadn’t left the road we’d been traveling on, so we waited for a bit but they didn’t turn up and we continued on our way. The road took us through a little village -  there was no cafe!🤔  - and then we were back on the main road, which flattened out and took us through a nice section of leafiness…

. By this time we were down off the hill and riding towards the first set of two bumps on the profile below.

Between the two bumps Dianne and I randomly bumped into Jane, Louise, Michael and Duckworth again while we were consulting our GPS devices to confirm which turn we should take at a complicated bit of navigation to get onto another section of bike path. Together we found the right way and climbed up that bigger bump just about right in the middle of the elevation profile. We regathered just below the top where Duckworth studied the map and I think was pointing out where where we headed …

I thought everyone was ready to go so I headed off. Just below the top of the hill our route went straight ahead on the road we were on but a couple of cyclists came in from a bike path on the left. I wondered if Michael’s route might take the others down where those cyclists had come up so I waited just past that possible turn off. Di appeared but the others weren’t with her. She didn’t know why. After a brief pause we continued slowly the little bit further to the top of the bump but when the others still didn’t appear we decided to continue, thinking we might bump into them again before arriving at our destination.

That didn’t happen. After rolling down the hill Dianne and I found ourselves in a semi-industrialized area with not a lot of greenery about. Thankfully we came across a cafe where we downed a couple of cold drinks over ice and topped up our bidons with icy water. Our route then took us out to the sea shore along a magnificent bike path. Here we were, riding along the Gulf of Trieste!

After five or six kilometres we turned inland again and had the final couple of bumps of our journey to deal with. We were riding along bike paths past olive trees and vineyards, but not in massive plantings. There were a couple of towns like the one below along the way that we passed by but didn’t ride into …

Riding up the last of the bumps before we descended to the seashore again we had a delightful surprise. We could feel cool air flowing towards us as we rode upwards, which seemed a bit unusual. This air got cooler until it was almost cold - and then we discovered why: we’d arrived at the mouth of a tunnel about 150 metres long with cold air pouring out of it. What a delight it was riding uphill into this cold flow of air just as we were starting to get quite hot again! I regret not getting a photo because it was one of the highlights of our day.

It wasn’t long before we were riding along the shore and in towards Piran …

… and then found a great restaurant for an early lunch. While we were looking at the menu we saw two little kids scoot by on their tiny bikes …

We both liked the look of the octopus salad so that’s what we had …

… and just after we’d tucked the others came rolling by and joined us …

After everyone had had a feed we set off together again …

… and then Dianne and I stopped at our accommodation right on the water just a kilometre further on. Duckworth, Jane, Louise and Michael are staying together inside the walls of the old town, about a half of a kilometre further on from where Dianne and I are at.

Di jumped into the shower then did the washing while I cleaned our bikes, including the drivetrains, then re-waxed Di’s chain and re-lubricated mine. I didn’t have access to all the equipment I would normally have at home but here’s how mine scrubbed up …

Not too shabby I reckon. I’d been meaning to get this job done for a few days but just hadn’t found the time or inclination before today. The only thing I’d got done since we left Salzburg was refresh the wax on Di’s bike and the chain oil on my bike after that day of  “biblical” rain that we’d had.

After that job was done Di and I headed into the old city for a look around and on the way we caught up to Michael and Louise who’d just been for a swim …

I just had to take a picture of this old bike outside the bike shop just across the road …

… before we wandered into the town centre to have a look at the famous and very beautiful Tartini Square …

After doing a bit of food shopping with Michael and Louise Dianne and I wandered back to our very comfortable apartment via a long shady laneway to stay out of the heat of the afternoon sun as best we could and I took one last photo, which I though would make a nice ending to this blog post …