Following The Old Train Line

Eventually the head wind ceased and we could finally pick up speed again - it was now easy to, on the newly paved cycle path (even with road markings, the region of Friauli truly invested some money!) going slightly downhill, so without much effort we were cruising at a speed of 25 km/h and had time to marvel at the scenery. The cycle path in this part of the Alpe Adria Radweg used to be a train line, passing through short tunnels and over riverbeds, being lined by trees, shrubs and occasionally an abandoned house that lost its purpose when the train line fell out of use. And most importantly, it was detached from every other sort of infrastructure (namely, the highway) so it felt like we were in another world, lost in time.
We hardly met any other cyclists here, so we enjoyed each other's company, riding next to each other and taking photos whenever we were amazed by the view (which was often!).

We spent the night in the little village of Dogna, which was next to the Cycle Path and despite it having been the longest day in distance, we were already at 6 pm at the accommodation - the earliest we would ever be this week! Staying at the hostel was very relaxed as it was the off-season and there was only one other guest, a Polish women who also travelled by bike and took advantage of having an Italian at hand to help her with the maze of Italian transport.
For dinner we were relieved of having to decide anything as the options were very limited, there was only one restaurant on the country road and on this evening it was just offering two different choices for dinner. We both opted for what was supposed to be potatoes with onions, cheese and a sidedish of polenta, but turned out to be lots of cheese with some pieces of potatoes and onions - we didn't complain, though, as we could use the calories and the pan fried cheese was tasty; only the short climb up to the hostel again was a bit though after this ample meal.Read more