Journey’s end
Once again I set off at first light to beat the heat. I’m leaving wine country and heading deep into beekeeping country all the way to Ljubljana. Yesterday I got stung by two bees, and today it’s going to be hard to escape another sting.
I ride through lots of very pretty villages. There’s a lot of rural life in Slovenia, and it shows in how well kept the villages and their houses are. One example is Selšček, where each house had its own number and name. At the entrance you can look up which houses there are in the village, each with its picture.
I ride a few kilometres on the road past areas full of bees. It’s something I’d never seen before: they’re right by the road and keep crashing into me. So I suppose plenty of them will crash into the cars too. Well, so far I’m dodging the stings.
Now come the tracks. Shortly after starting on them I come across this sign. I don’t speak a word of Slovenian, but there’s not much doubt about what it means.
There couldn’t be a day without an ambush. I hope I won’t have to run away from a bear. And there I was complaining about the bees…
A little further on I come across these, er, transhumant beehives? They’re right beside the paths and this time I can’t avoid them: one gets into my helmet and I get stung again. Luckily I’m not allergic and they don’t affect me much, so the pain is brief, but intense!
I enter a forest where I run into the ambush of the day, for a change. Back to pushing the bike, and once again the path disappears and I have to rely on the GPS to find the route. Closed-off paths and undergrowth are the norm. So, once I’m back on the main track, I stay on it and don’t leave it again.
The rest of the day is a succession of forests, tracks and villages. I stop every now and then for a bite or a drink: I have plenty of time and the heat is fierce again. After 73 kilometres I reach Ljubljana.
It’s been a round trip of 450 kilometres and 9,000 metres of climbing. Outstanding scenery and some first-class ambushes have been the icing on the cake. Now, a couple of days to rest in Ljubljana, a hidden gem for many, which I highly recommend. Beautiful, welcoming and with plenty to see and do.
Despite an ambush or two too many, this trip has been a real success. Do I miss the African landscapes, the deserts and the wilder places? Yes, I do. Time to recharge my batteries for the next trip.
Slovenia, that’s all for now.