Well today was a day of two halves (well a first bit and a second bit anyway). The day began early as we had another 20km day ahead of us with a 550m climb to start. Our first hurdle was trying to make breakfast oats using a tiny kettle and some powdered milk (due to a slight misunderstanding on our part as what facilities our room had) and while the result was quite watery the energy we needed for the day must have been in there somewhere so we set off.
Now when these hikes are described as steep to begin with they really are and we were really pushing ourselves what seemed like straight up the side of this hill. It was fairly wooded to begin with but while beautiful we didn’t really get to take a lot of it in.
Some bits of the route were also a little precarious, we were both pretty quiet at these points and just concentrated on where to put our feet. The path was always wide enough for a foothold it was just that some of the drops below were a little big. My palms were definitely sweating and if my heart rate wasn’t up because of the climb then it would have been due to the fear of heights. Still we made it up the 500m and once we got close to the top we knew we just had one last downhill bit before a last 100m up.
The views from the top were really quite spectacular and we both felt we had done pretty well to get up. It was only at this point that even Sarah admitted she was also a little scared.
The top of our climb meant that we were also at the border between Slovenia and Italy and we jumped onto the road to cross the border and make our way about 15km down to Tarvisio our destination for the day.
This is where the second half (bit) of the day began. The hike was described as being mostly on asphalt road but with some deviations along paths (I don’t actually think there were any). What made matters worse was that the road was bordered by a metal railing so we were forced to walk on the road. Then of course it was a Sunday and it seemed as if everyone who owned a motorbike in the surrounding area decided to drive up and down weaving between all the Sunday drivers and cyclists. It made hiking along and above a cliff seem like a much safer thing to do!!!
The walk to be fair was thoroughly unpleasant due to the fact that it was pretty dangerous. The valley and countryside around were very pretty but we couldn’t understand why there wasn’t a path going through the woods instead…bit of a shame really.
We did obviously try to make the most of it and took a detour to enjoy a cup of tea and a quick break at beautiful lake Lago del Predil and then when we were trying to find a track to take us off the road we ended up walking through a village where we stumbled upon a restaurant. This was a surprise for us as there wasn’t a mention of it in the guidebooks or on the maps. The pizza and beer were delicious and gave us the energy to get to Tarvisio.
We were pretty weary on arrival in Tarvisio probably a combination of fatigue from hiking so far and the fear factor of the road. We finished by walking through the town which I believe is a ski resort but when we walked though there wasn’t obviously any snow but there were still loads of people around and loads of bars and restaurants. I reckon we have earned our beer and dinner tonight. T
