Dit zijn de afstanden die er per dag gefietst zijn. Dag 4 was de rustdag.Dag 5 en 6 waren de dagen dat we rond hebben gereden in de Veluwe zonder bagage.
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Alps - Day 13 : Slovenia
In the morning it was nice to wake up. Everything had stayed dry inside the hotel. The floor was also dry, so we didn't have to wear our shoes right away. It also hadn't been when we needed to go to the bathroom cold during the night .
The windows were still wet, but the sun was out
We had an excellent breakfast with ham, cheese, and jam. After breakfast we went to pay. The dinner and breakfast had been only 37,50. In total we needed to pay 107,50. The Italian helping us crossed it out and wrote down 100 euros, so we even got a discount.
The man helped us get our bikes. Before we left, I first needed to adjust my brakes. The man asked us some questions and said "Craaazy but beauuuuutifull".
The first ten kilometers went all downhill. Yesterday we couldn't see much through the fog, but now we noticed the landscape was pretty nice.
Nice view around Sauris di Sopra.
We hadn't been able to see this the day before
The tunnels we went through today were the only nice ones of the entire vacation. They were carved out of bare rock and had boulders on the ground.
The tunnel
The Slovenian border
We finally arrived in Slovenia but still weren't sure where exactly we were. We just followed the road we were on. A few villages later we asked someone for directions. The Slovenian woman didn't speak German or English but clearly wanted us to follow her. She lived across the road and called her daughter. It was a pretty girl that was shy because her English wasn't great.
Apparently, we were on a road that wasn't on the map. The nearest road that was indicated was next to a river. The girl explained how we could get there. The Slovenian town names were hard to remember. At Gonjace, we needed to take a left turn. Despite the language barrier and the unusual names we didn't get lost. On a map beside the road we learned we were right in the middle of a maze of small villages.
It was very nice there, with many vineyards. The villages were small, with only about ten houses each. There were also houses in between all the vineyards. Unfortunately, we didn't take a photo because we were too busy staying ahead of some thunderstorms. Here is someone else's picture to get an impression.
What the area looked like
When we found the river it started to rain. We now would at least be able to navigate using the map. In one village we saw another guy on a cycling vacation. After an hour we wanted to stop to eat. There was only a gas station to buy food. At the gas station were also two drenched motorcyclists from Germany. The man told us they still had another 40 km to go and were also cold when it rained. While cycling, you are at least exercising to stay warm. The cyclist we had seen an hour before also arrived. He only spoke Italian and was also drenched. He had cycled 120 km through the rain yesterday. After eating some cheap bread we continued. According to our list, there would be a campsite nearby. In the tank station we asked for directions. It was 10 kilometers in the wrong direction, so we just continued and hoped for the best.
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It was already 6 o'clock. We needed to ask for directions again because our map had some errors. During the next 20 km we were unsure if we were on the right road. It had been raining for about 3 hours now. Around 20:00, it became clear that the rain wouldn't end today. There also wouldn't be a campsite. That meant we needed to find a place to camp in the wild, preferably with some cover. In a few villages we had seen some barns. Maybe we could ask if we could sleep in those.
After checking out a few sheds, I noticed a wooden one in a field we passed. The door was open, so we had a look inside. There was a huge mess. There were blankets, chairs, boots, tools, and a lot of dust. On the table were bottles of rat poison. The roof wasn't leaking and it was large enough to lie down with two people.
The shed
First, we needed to make it a bit livable. The bench needed to be moved so we could lie down. We knocked most of the dust out of the blanket so we could sleep on that instead of the concrete floor. We thought about how to reduce the chance of getting into trouble if we would be discovered. We placed our bikes outside the shed, so they would be visible to anyone approaching. The shed door was open, so we kept it that way and moved as little as possible inside. We also wouldn't use our bivy bags because of their camo print.
What a mess
Almost as good as the hotel
We hung our wet clothes on a nail to dry. Then we went to bed, that is.. until we woke up at night to the sound of rats or mice running around.
View to the outside
Distance cycled : 169 km.