Our Bovec rest day was supposed to be a 22km hike to the Great Soca Gorge but we both woke up exhausted and not really in the mood for that length of side trip. Tim’s knee had also flared up a little and so using that as our excuse we instead spent the day lounging by the river reading our books. It was a great day and we definitely needed it. Plus Bovec was such a fun little happening town that it was just nice hanging around in the main square trying to work out what everyone was there for. We both said we would definitely come back here if we were ever in this neck of the woods to do a little rafting or biking or learn to fly fish.
After our little refresh we were both ready for our hike to Log Pod. The hike started easily with a nice little meander along the valley floor along the Koritnica river with picturesque peaks on either side.
The river then cut through a gorge which we hiked up the side of and then were awarded with amazing by views of narrow slot canyons where the river had dissected the limestone.
After crossing over and back we came to a cave entrance with a gate that was not locked and a sign that said that it was slippery and then three words in Slovenian. We looked inside and there was a boardwalk in the cave that disappeared into darkness so we decided to open the gate and have a look. We knew of old WW1 caves in the area so assumed it was one of those, left our hiking poles at the entrance so if anyone came along they would know someone was in there and off we went with our head torches on.
I must admit after about 100metres I was getting a little ansky and was considering turning around but I kept thinking to myself why would there be a wooden boardwalk with a banister if it wasn’t for people to go into? Anyway we kept walking and turned a corner and soon saw a light up ahead which turned into a set of stairs which spat us out on a platform overlooking another canyon with the river roaring underneath us. It was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.
After backtracking our steps and working out the cave was about 450m long we emerged back into sunshine and continued on and up to the main road and over and into some stunning woodland. We spent a wonderful few kms in here just marvelling at the diverse landscape we were passing and not seeing a single sole on the hiking trail.
We spent a lovely lunch break sat beside the river before heading up through the woods and over another beautiful slot canyon. From here we hit a gravel road and slowly made our way back down to the river and along it until we came to Log Pod. We happened to pass a restaurant about 750 metres from our little guest house and it was open for dinner so no two minute noodles for us!
The only downside of the day was that the track was near the main road so even though we couldn’t see it we could hear the motor bikes roaring along the road at certain sections. When we arrived in Log Pod and spoke to our host she said the road route is very popular with motor cyclists as it goes up and over the pass and today wasn’t even busy, summer is apparently crazy. So much so that it is very hard for hikers to get accommodation so the room that we got she doesn’t advertise and only rents it out to hikers who are doing the Juliana trail, some nights she has even had people sleeping in sleeping bags on her balcony as there was no where else for them to go. I think our timing of doing the trail late May early June has been fortuitous.
Today’s stage was definitely one of my favourites. Not too taxing in length or elevation, nobody around and we saw some really amazing things. S