Moving all of 20km up the valley in an attempt to avoid the ‘Bled’ tourists and nutty fitness enthusiasts who were apparently arriving to carry out a ‘Sparten’ event over the weekend, we found a lovely place to stop in Bohinjska Bistrica where we planned to enjoy the sunshine following the torrential rain and get some good walking and cycling in. (Camping Danika 33 euro per night)

When we arrived I had a little walk around the campsite to pick a suitably sunny spot as pitches were open and not marked out. I thought I had found a nice looking area which was open, without too many trees and had gravel underneath as the ground was saturated following the rain…. unfortunately the ground was deceptive and what I had thought was gravel, was in fact sand underneath…. a little bit of a sticky – or sinking – moment. Thankfully Keith managed to land in a reasonable location and three days of sunshine led to the ground being dry enough for me to drive off with traction control, grip pads and a little bit of welly. Lesson learnt by me to check a little more on what is underneath those little stones!

The campsite was right on the edge of the town with both a river and a cycle path passing beside it. The river (and cycle track) came down from the mountains into Lake Bohinj and on to Bohinjska Bistrica where we were ,and then on to Lake Bled and beyond in the other direction. The valley was nestled between the mountains…some still with a little snow on top. A truly stunning, tranquil location.

We set off into the hills on Friday afternoon for a lovely circular walk, finding that after an hour and a quarter and a few small stream jumps, our path was completely cut off due to a waterfall that had ‘broken its boundaries’ following the recent torrential rain and there was no way of passing. So we turned around and came back on the same route… it was pretty much half way anyway and a beautiful route despite the low cloud.

On Saturday we popped over to visit to the local market in the morning, where there was an exceptional offering of dairy produce as we well as walnuts, hazelnuts and oils from local producers, before setting off on the bikes to explore further afield.

We cycled towards Lake Bohinj and then up into the mountains beyond, arriving at ‘Slap Savica’ – more waterfalls, these ones were full but slightly more controlled, possibly just had more space to grow naturally than the ones from the previous day that had broken free!

Our final day gave us a chance to walk along the valley and also sample some of the local produce… well who doesn’t like a good Sunday lunch? I had found an interesting looking restaurant (Sunrose7) which focussed on sustainable, local, seasonal produce and they were pescatarian friendly which always helps.

The restaurant offers a small, a la carte menu which changes every day both for lunch and dinner, additionally they offer 2, 3 or 4 courses for a set price which was excellent value…. naturally we had all four courses as we just wanted to try everything! They happily adapted the Gnocchi dish to use Vegan bacon for me and the food was delicious. Another location that we will come back and visit next time we are in Slovenia… as there is still so much more to see and do.

Leaving the mountains behind us, we headed to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, where we had booked to stay at a campsite (Ljubljana Hotel Resort and Camping 35.33 per night) which was 6km outside the city centre beside a river. After doing a bit of food shopping, we set off for a little walk to stretch our legs along the river before the rain arrived…and when it arrived, it arrived in abundance again, raining all night and well into the following day.

Although we would normally venture out on the bikes given the choice, it really was too wet, so we opted to take the bus into town. It should have cost 1.30 euro each person, each way however, despite tapping our debit card twice on each journey – and once the driver took 3 journeys from us – the debit card only appears to have taken 2.60 in total each day… very odd.

We pretty much had Ljubljana to ourselves on the first day as it was so wet in the morning and people had obviosly just decided not to come into town at all which was nice. We walked, drank coffee, walked a bit more and explored the market before the heavens opened again and we decided to give up and come back the following day.

Wednesday was slightly dryer but cloud was still low unfortunately, so the views from the Castle and Park Trivoli weren’t much too write home about. We still did some good walking and explored the city a bit more despite the weather – it is a lovely small city with lots of coffee shops and a good central market with local produce.

We stocked up on fruit and veg, a large pot of chestnut honey, and also bought some Prekmurska Gibanica – a strudel-like layer cake. It is made with pastry, stewed apples, walnutes, poppy seeds, cottage cheese and lots of spices and is one of the old festive and ceremonial Slovenian desserts, dating back to 1828. It isn’t very sweet but has a delicious rounded flavour and is incredibly filling… even between Keith and I the piece we bought – which admittedly was pretty big – lasted two days!

Three days in Ljubjlana passed quickly and we moved on to Kamnic (Kamp Resnic, 22.50 per night) – an impromptu detour – to take in a little bit of Velika Planina.

Kamnic itself is nothing special, but it is the main point of access to Velika Planina which is 12km away, a great place for both walking and cycling in the summer, and ski-ing in the winter.

We headed out to explore and had a little badly timed walk around the town, getting soaked on the way back. Then on Friday morning got the washing hung out and popped into town again for 30 minutes to be chased back by the grey clouds and rain. Thankfully we got back in time to get the freshly washed clothes under the awning, and an hour or so later the sun came back out again. The weather is just a little bit like that at the moment.

In the afternoon we decided to cycle up to Velika Planina where we caught the cable car and then chair lift to the top. Absolutely stunning views in all directions.

We hadn’t really thought our plan through from two perspectives…. 1) We arrived at 3pm and the last cable car down was at 6pm, so if we had wanted to do any walking we wouldn’t have had time and 2) We were wearing shorts and t-shirts and barefoot shoes, albeit that we had jumpers and waterproofs in the paniers…. 1650m on a chairlift can be pretty fresh!

Both of the above though, coupled together meant the cold wasn’t an issue, and nor was the clothing/footwear. We benefitted from amazing scenery considering the weather in the morning …and it was a taster, whetting the appetite for our next trip.

The cloud was low again on Saturday morning but dry, so we headed in to the local market, which again sold lots of dairy produce, walnuts, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts and oils as well as locally grown vegetables, enabling us to stock up on everything for the next few days without going to the supermarket.

In the afternoon we headed off on foot into the hills above the town for a 8.5km and 450m ascent/descent. The forest was thick and unfortunately gave us minimal views… it certainly tested a few muscles that haven’t been tested for a while though – very steep both up and then back down!

I am sure you will be pleased to hear that we have been doing a little bit more experimenting with new recipes this week!
– Caponeata – a twist on a ratatouille with a lovely depth of flavour
– Giant Burrito cake – an alternative way to make burritos, or looking at it from another perspective, an alternative to a lasagne
– Salsa – a lovely refreshing salsa mix that goes well with most dishes

And finally the map….