Sunday 29th June 2025 – arrived in Slovenia and drove the Wurzenpass (height 1,000m) through the mountains through the Karawank range of the southern limestone alps. George was not happy. A lot of the 18% gradient (about 1 in 6) he had to do in first gear. He started to overheat. We put the heater on with the fan going to dissipate some heat! Maybe use low range next time, didn’t realise how steep it was!
We were due to do another pass, the Vršic Pass (1,600 metres) or Russian pass (it was built by Russian prisoners) through the Julian Alps but decided to go the long way round. However the max gradient we now find out is 11%. But the last thing we need is a warped cylinder head, blown heading gasket or cracked engine block.
We are camping at a place that makes cheese (from sheep’s milk) near Soca. The Soca river is an amazing turquoise due to minerals and glacial melt water. View of the river from the campsite:
Monday 30th June 2025 – up at 6am to walk the Soška pot (Soca trail). The valley is reputed to be the most beautiful hiking in Slovenia. I certainly think it is! The river here is a stunning turquoise colour and the river has cut through the limestone rock forming a gorge and circular patterns in the rock. Beautiful butterflies on the way including Marsh Fritillary (didn’t settle long enough to photograph). Also one with beautiful violet patches on its wings that I haven’t been to identify yet (possibly some kind of Purple Emporer).
The network here is not great so more photos may have to wait until the data connection is better.
We hope to sample the local ewes cheese and possibly the local Trout. Milking time, twice a day:
Curious European Mole Cricket on the trail:
Slovenian health and safety sign. Especially love the expressive “falling off a mountain” one!:
Rachel had the local Trout for dinner and I tried the farm cheese (with pork!). Both very tasty. The farm where the campsite is also has pigs, ducks, chickens and geese in addition to the sheep.
Met a British guy Ben who has recently graduated and is cycling around the Balkans for a month. He is going to tackle the 1,600 metre Vršic Pass tomorrow.
Tuesday 1st July 2025 – bought Telemach SIM cards in the local town to avoid problems with O2’s 25GB limit when roaming. €1.99 per Telemach card with 200GB data. I can’t quite believe it, just incredible. And it can roam too!
Visited the highest waterfall in Slovenia at Boka.
Visited the outdoor museum at Kolovrat which showcases a part of the Italian “linea d’armata” with commanders’ and observation posts, machine-gun and gun positions, caves, and trenches.
Staying the night at Tolmin.
Wednesday 2nd July 2025 – up early to visit the Tolmin gorge.
Memorial to German and Italian soldiers from WWI. 3,300 buried here (some exhumed and relocated).
There are several gorges through the limestone rock.
The Bear’s head – a fallen rock trapped in the gorge.
The flora here is exceptional a mixture of alpine and sub Mediterranean. On the sides there are Linden tree, Saxifrage, Mana Ash, Hop hornbeam and Yew (the latter a protected species).
There is a thermal spring here too at a temperature of 21 Celsius compared to 6 for the river water. Thankfully no drones allowed in the gorges!
There are legends here of a “wild woman” called Duga Baba who pressed passers by for information about agricultural practices! The poet Dante Alighieri visited the caves here and found inspiration.
There is a confluence of two rivers here, the Tolminka and the Zadlašcica, the only place in Slovenia where this occurs.
There are Soca or Marble Trout (Salmo marmoratus) in the river which luckily out competed an introduced species with some conservation effort. It is protected yet apparently still eaten in specialist restaurants (for a higher price than rainbow or brown trout).
It is hot today, 34 Celsius. There is a “moderate” high temperature warning in place!
My website is struggling to show the accent above the c in Soca (called a caron). Although it will render the caron above an S! It may be the font I am using or a character encoding issue. I will try and find a solution!
Lots of beehives here but multistorey. Some even on trucks, often brightly coloured.
Met some Czech people at breakfast time who arrived late. They are pilots who have come for 9paragliding. There is a 100 kilometre flying route here, the longest in the country.
Thursday 3rd July 2025 – moved to a wine growing area also with olive groves and peach trees. Visited the town of Smartno, a hilltop town.
Baroque altar in local church
Climbed a tower to get a magnificent view of the valley
View of Smartno from the tower:
Visited a cemetery with two Egyptian sarcophagi shipped by the Austrian Consol General Sir Anton Laurin in 1845 (who should by rights have been protecting the local antiquities!). He bizarrely used one for his son and the other for his parents!
Weather app says that is 35 degrees but will feel like 37. Cowering inside, it is oppressive. We are staying on a small campsite at Vrhpolje. A French cyclist arrived looking frazzled. I asked him if he would like some of our cold water and he asked me if I was French!
The restaurant in the village has good reviews and looked good value so we tried it. Pizza followed by Slovenian Walnut Dumplings (Orehovi štruklji). The latter typically Slovenian so we thought we must try them. Verdict, nice but quite heavy! While we were eating there was a well attended (at least compared to the UK) service in the village church of Saints Primus and Felician which, while 19th century had huge mosaics installed during a 2013 restoration created by Friar Marko Ivan Rupnik. He has mosaics in churches around the world and has restored famous mosaics for the Vatican. However he is mired in controversy and some cardinals have called for removal of his mosaics. Some in the US are even covered up. He faces a Canonical trial.
Friday 4th July 2025 – visited the Škovjanska caves. 7.5 kilometres of underground caves and canyons, a UNESCO site (2.5 kilometres is open to the public). Photos are not allowed in the main caves but here are some from the official website.
The river is underground in part of the cave system and disappears into a siphon such that the river level can rise 30 metres in heavy rain. The whole cave system was full during a flood in the 1960s. You can see the old dilapidated walkways from the 1930s in the caves. The original explorer’s of the caves must have been brave indeed (or mad) with only Carbide lamps. There are various pools they created to have water available for the gas generating reaction of their lamps. There are over 20 species of bats in the caves (first photo, rather poor quality). There are also curious cave dwelling Salamanders here.
