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Published: June 17th 2011
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Days 25 & 26, 14th & 15th June Rovinj – Lepena, Soca Valley, Slovenia
Isn’t it amazing that you can be breakfasting overlooking the Adriatic and then by supper time be sitting beside a mountain river surrounded by the most extraordinary Alpine scenery? We continually marvel at how quickly we can change surroundings and cultures.
Slovenia: Ok, guys, who has been to Slovenia? I suspect, not that many of you. Time to change all that! This has to be the ‘find’ of the trip; so far it is the jewel in the crown. We have to thank Milly (Rob’s girlfriend) for suggesting we include this stunning little country in our itinerary. Milly has climbed the highest Mountain in Slovenia – Triglav – and as such can be counted as a Slovene. For this mountain is the icy on their cake – the cake being the Julian Alps.
The Julian Alps are a mountain range at the south-eastern end of the Alpine chain that stretches across Europe. They run down from the Dolomites and the silvery white limestone scenery is awe inspiring: steep rock faces dive into beech forests and wild flower meadows, rivers emerge from
nowhere and waterfalls gush randomly from the crag faces. Slovenia is a tiny country, only about the size of Wales, but it has been much blessed by this stunning scenery. It is another country with an outstandingly complex history governed as it has been by, amongst others, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire & Italy. It has also seen its fair share of conflicts particularly the Soca valley which is where we found ourselves on the evening of 14th June.
Day 25 14th June Rovinj – Lepena
We travelled up through Croatia and into Slovenia where Slovenia borders Italy – in fact so close to Italy that we could see the monastery atop the Colli Orientali del Friuli below which lies Zamo’s winery (see previous blog). The motorway passes very close to Lipica which homes the original stud farm of the Lipizzaners – a must for us horsey folk.
The horse lorry was greeted with some surprise in the car park – had we driven all this way to pick up a horse or two? We wish!
The stud farm was founded in 1580 during the Austrian Hungarian occupancy of the area. It is
beautifully set in many acres of land within a few kilometres of the Italian border. In meadows surrounded by elegant white fencing the mares and foals graze under the Linden trees (Lipica in Slovene means ‘little Linden’). Although very much a working stud, of which the Slovenians are justifiably proud (it is in the top 5 of ‘things to do’ in Slovenia), it is quite commercial in that guided tours take place all day long and there is a demonstration once a day. That being said, it does retain a certain dignity and the Lipizzaners are very quiet, elegant, good natured horses that easily tolerant the endless stream of visitors & their cameras. It was a wonderful interlude and we much enjoyed seeing these beautiful animals at rest & at work. Thereafter we drove onwards & upwards into the Slovenian Julian Alps.
We had rejected our planned camp site which was beside the Soca river but crowed and under a canopy of trees. We were looking for an open field with awe inspiring mountains surrounding it, would we find it? We ploughed on up the valley to Bovec, the outward bound centre of the area – every water sport imaginable
is available here in the summer and there is skiing in the winter. The face of the tourist had changed – no longer were there walruses in fat camper vans but young, lean, fit gazelles leaping from canoe to hiking in the flash of an eye.
A few miles outside Bovec we found our little bit of heaven where the Lepenjica river meets the Soca river. Le camping is at the foot of the Lepena valley on a triangle where the two rivers meet and rising above & around us are the mountains. It is a family run site with an 8 bed little pension. We have (as I write, 3 days later) become firm friends. The site is fastidiously clean, quiet and simple (i.e. no swimming pools or discos!), the family overwhelmingly helpful and full of local and national information. The area is, as described earlier, primarily for the outward-bound and ‘nature’ prevails. Fishermen are in abundance for the Lepenjica is one of the best trout rivers in the area followed closely by the Soca.
Day 26 Lepena
We learn a lot about Slovenia today. We think of it as a Balkan state
with all that ‘the east’ conjures up but in fact it is more aligned with Western Europe. It is a small but wealthy country where salaries are healthy and there are few poor. The majority of the younger population speak fluent English which they are taught at school, the older generation all speak German & often Italian. There is 100% literacy, families are small, houses are neat and the majority have veg gardens to die for. The climate here in the Soca valley is Alpine with a drop of Mediterranean thrown up where the warm air drifts up the valley from the Adriatic. Thus the weather is generally very good, temperatures are high in the summer and cold in the winter. June seems to be the perfect month to visit – the snows on the passes and high mountains have melted, save a few north facing gullies, the spring flowers are in abundance and there are few tourists.
We know that we want to climb the mountains surrounding us and plan a long upward hike the following day. To get our ‘legs in’ we walk up the valley to the head (the starting point for the ‘up and
over’ the next day). We start alongside the river and then break uphill to walk through the upper slope treeline. The river is aqua marine and completely clear, the trout are very much in evidence. The meadows are abundant with spring flowers and the beech trees offer much needed shade. We walk for 3 hours and by some circuitous route (having been ‘lost’ two or three times) reach the head of the valley, 700m, where a Mountain Lodge is situated. The Mountain Lodges in this area (below the Krn mountain) are run by the Nova Gorica Mountaineering Society and were only just opening for the summer. Extraordinarily our campsite host is up there doing some work on his ‘upper’ farm – he runs us back down the valley and offers to take us up again the next day. It transpires, as we converse in our broken German, that he trained as a mechanic and is fascinated by Big Bess. In return for his kindness we offer a tour of the lorry – afterwards he is as in-awe of her two storey accommodation as we are of his surrounding scenery!
We plan our mountain hike with the aid of
a mountain walks & short treks book we had bought before leaving home. We planned to walk to the highest lake in Slovenia at 1500m…..
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