Since Bled we had been in a relatively busy part of Slovenia, or probably more accurately an area more popular with tourists. The next (and last) stage of the Juliana trail was going to take us down a quieter valley back towards Tolmin it was really just starting to dawn on us that we really just had 3 and a half days of hiking to do but the 3 days were going to be fairly long days with quite a lot of up and down.
First up we had to get out of the valley we were in and over to the next one. So our day was going to be hiking 800m up to a pass then 800m down to a small village where we were to stay the night. I would say that by this stage we were both a little weary but very keen to finish off the hike and actually not feeling too sore.
Luckily for us the sun came out and we had some lovely weather for the day and both just put our backpacks on and began making our way up the hill on a mixture of forest tracks and 4×4 tracks. We were in forest so while it gave us some lovely shade unfortunately we didn’t get any views back over Lake Bohinj and what should have been the alps with Mt Triglav.
While a little steep it wasn’t actually too bad and at the top we came out of the forest at the pass and the views over the next valley stretched out below us. It was really very rewarding. We found a spot to sit on the path where we could have a snack and a cup of tea and enjoy the view. For me it’s moments like this that make the whole effort worthwhile. The view of the valley was stupendous and we could make out Podbrdo at the foot of the mountain beneath us and we could see the valleys and hills we would be walking along for the next couple of days.
I will be honest though that having seen only one person the whole way up there was actually a couple already sat enjoying lunch at what would have been the best spot. Couldn’t believe it!! It wasn’t an issue though we simply sat a little further down the path and still felt like we had the place to ourselves.
Looking over the edge it looked like our descent was going to be incredibly steep and we had both been psyching ourselves up for what on paper was looking like a pretty tough downhill. It started off very steep and fairly scrambly but after about 70m down we entered a forest area and saw a whole bunch of switchbacks below us and ended up having a lovely walk down.
Out of the forest we walked through a farm and came out into the tiny but beautiful village of Podbrdo where we found our guesthouse/apartment where our host turned out to be one of the best hosts we have encountered. The rooms were lovely but the best was out the back he has a washing machine and dryer for us to use and a whole host of food and beers that we could buy. What a great idea and what a great place!
For dinner there was only one place in town (as is often the case in these small villages) but our host said it was well worth the 1.3km walk up the hill to get there. We were as usual after our hikes famished and when we arrived at the restaurant we got to enjoy some delicious trout which was straight out of the river next to the restaurant and straight onto our plate (via an oven). It was delicious and the views were as usual stunning. T