Rest Day: Bovec

What a day!? I thought I couldn’t fall in love with Slovenia any more than I already had done, but clearly I was wrong. Yesterday we decided to have a rest day without the luggage to explore the local area, know as the Julian Alps and I am so very glad we did.

After a nice relaxing coffee in Bovec and a quick stop at the bakery we headed up Mangart Saddle, a well known biking route on the border with Italy. The views were incredible with rugged mountains in all directions and blue skies. Heavenly! We spent many hours up there just looking at the view, walking and eating our early lunch. I even tried to get my drone out but it decided to have a quick malfunction and fell in amongst the trees. As a dedicated pilot, I climbed down the side of a mountain to reach it!

One mountain pass ticked off and the fresh mountain air in our lungs (along with a couple of cigarettes) we headed off in such of our next set off hairpins.

Vršič pass was far less scenic and far more technical. Who puts cobbles on hairpin bends?! Each hairpin was numbered (genius!) so we know that we rode from 53 to 17 and back. A whopping 72 hairpins each as we went there and back. And of course we both got stickers!!

The final part of the so before returning to camp was pretty special. The Soca river is turquoise blue and crystal clear, it’s also glacially cold, having flowed from the beautiful rivers that we had seen earlier in the day. After a hot and sticky day on the bikes, it was the perfect remedy! My hands and feet aches from the cold but I guess that made it even more special. What a glorious day! Again!

HIGHLIGHTS - sitting at the top of Mangart Pass taking in the view, swimming in the icy cold Soca
LOW POINTS - hand cramp from too many hairpins
ROADS - Mangart Pass, Vršič PassLäs mer