Today was our first day of hiking on the loop of the Juliana Trail. Up until now we had been doing a part that is known as the Brda extension but we were now beginning our way around the main loop so we will ultimately end up back in Tolmin after about another 270km (excluding side trips)
It was a relatively flat walk today and only about 18km up the Soca valley to another small village called Kobarid. The walk was mostly on quiet roads some paved and some gravel. Luckily there was a larger paved road running adjacent to us on the other side of the river so most of the vehicle traffic was on that road leaving us to our relative peace and quiet.
The day started quite unusually for us on this hike as we stopped for a lovely coffee in town before heading out. The day almost immediately got a lot more unusual as we soon found ourselves joined on the track by two other hikers!!! We followed them for a couple of kilometres before they took a turn to follow a different route and we had our path to ourselves once again. Phew!
I should mention that the Juliana Trail is not by any means the only long hike in this area and we have been criss crossing with other routes along our way. So I am sure we will encounter more hikers some maybe on our route or maybe on others and in a way it would be nice to meet some other hikers just to find out what the other trails are like.
Back to our day though and it has to be said that it was quite a lovely walk up the valley but it was very easy walking just along the roads and flat paths. The highlights were walking through the tiny villages and farms and the main thing that we both have noticed is how clean and well kept all the properties are. The houses are very well looked after and the gardens are impeccable. Most people seem to grow a vegetable garden too and we are just a little early to seem them all producing food but over the next couple of weeks I am sure that will start to change.
Unfortunately the weather for the last 5km of the hike changed and we had to put on our wet weather gear for our last walk up to Kobarid but as we arrived we got to see the beautiful Soca river once again and our first walk around the village/small town looked quite promising. It looks like a lovely little tourist town and luckily we have two nights here and a little side trip to do so hopefully will be a fun place! T