Saturday 14 September
Woke to grey skies and descending mists. Quick, simple breakfast and on our way: back alongside the lake to the station at Bohinjska Bistrica which I had checked out yesterday. Bought ticket and joined the 9.02 a.m. train to Podbrdo which had a bike cabin full of bikes. I JUST squeezed on.
The journey through the Bohinj Tunnel by train only takes about 10 minutes through the Kobla Mountain but saved me many kms if I had had to go the long way round.
At 6.339 kms long, the tunnel is a great feat of engineering - at the time it was built (finished in 1906) as part of the Transalpina Railway joining Nova Gorica & Jesenice (the journey we took the other day as part of our trip from Trieste to Bled) through the Julian Alps, it opened a new world of prosperity (through tourism) for the people in Bohinjska who were facing tough times when the local ironworks burned down.
At Podbrdo, the train emerged into startlingly bright sunshine and blue skies. The town is attractive and, once I got my bearings, I climbed past kava bars full of people enjoying a coffee - the final stretch to the top to Petrovo Brdo was 4 kms of tough up-hill that had me tearing my jacket off half-way only to have to put it on to descend the other side to Zali Log where I met up with My Friend who reckoned he'd travelled 60 kms in the car via a narrow (and at one point closed) road through the mountains. On the other hand, I'd probably only cycled 15 kms at that point. He got these nice photos at the top:
I had this view on my climb up:
The road followed the river down through the valley. I can tell you, there'd be no way I'd be doing anything "off-piste" (as Harry would say) around here - all roads that lead off go up in a vertical direction.
Then along the floor of the valley with undulations to Škofja Loka, our destination for today.
Probably a 40 km ride today (odometer not re-set this morning so only guessing) - beautiful ride on quiet, although sometimes, rough roads.
The B&B took a bit of finding due to roadworks which had blocked the street mid-way. This is the view from the balcony where we had our picnic lunch of sandwiches:
This is a very old town (10th century) and is regarded as one of the best preserved medieval towns in Slovenia. We had a bit of a rest and then spent the rest of the day walking the Old Town, including a climb to the Loka castle, and a very interesting tour of the museum housed there.
This is one of the loveliest towns I have been to. Around every corner are pretty, colourful buildings; the architecture is wonderful; the churches lovely; an old granary; bridges spanning the river (in fact the town marks the confluence of two sora); an extensive 14th century city wall; a large central square (Mestni Trg).
The history of the town is interesting: it has survived the plague, peasant revolts, fires, earthquakes, floods. Its involvement in WWII was a highlight of our visit to the castle museum all the more because I had not known about it. The town was occupied by Italian forces in 1941; and the Germans also that year - with the Gestapo arresting and deporting families to Serbia; the town is also the site of seven known mass graves. The exhibits in the museum were a chilling reminder of the awfulness of what took place.
Afterwards we enjoyed a beer (Rokovnjač, rather than the regular Union or Laško) and schnapps (for me) and then a concert in the main square as there was a music festival taking place. It was very pleasant but we retired early for dinner as we were both weary.
At a nearby gostilna (= "restaurant") I had goulash (goveji golaž) which was yummy (although the dumplings were a bit tough) plus a beetroot salad and a delicious side dish like my vegetable "pie" of last night but with ricotta cheese. Thankfully, My Friend passed on the Bikovi Prašniki (or testicoli di toro in Italian) - which I'll leave for you to work out what it is in English!
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Just zipped out to get night-time shots of the castle. This is My Friend's effort:
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