24/08/2019 – Sun, sea and swimming

I was about to tick off a new Country, Slovenia. I really didn’t know what to expect. The only things I knew were that the capital was Ljubljana and Lake Bled was there.

From the campsite, I had a nice flat morning but as the temperature was rising, so was the elevation, it was going to be a tough afternoon. Going through the border and the subsequent tunnel was fine, I haven’t really had any issues with borders yet but this may change the further east I go.

As soon as I was through I headed for Lake Bled, it was on the opposite direction of where I needed to be for the evening but I was sure it’d be worth it.

A swim in the lake to cool off was just what the doctor ordered.

Going back on myself, the destination was Domžale, a town just outside Ljubljana where one of my dads friends lived.

42km from his house disaster. Something to do with the front derailleur had broken and I was stuck in the little ring. I guess that it’s better than being stuck in the big ring but it meant that my legs were spinning out on the flat.

I arrived to an amazing platter of food which I happily had my fair share of. After an evening spent chatting and having a drink I went to bed almost forgetting that I had to get my bike repaired the next morning.

The second place we went to had the right parts so I left it with them and asked them to replace the bar tape and the chain at the same time as they both had considerable wear on them.

The afternoon was spent walking round Ljubljana which is a tiny city and can be done very quickly so I caught up with a few people as I waited to get the call about the bike.

I was a bit shocked with how much the repair cost and they even had the nerve of charging me €15 to clean it…

By this time it was late afternoon so I decided to stay another night in Domžale. The evening was spent being taken to the cleaners by a 6’10 ex professional basketball player on the court. I did manage to score a few points but even his 12 year old kid had the better of me.

Next stop was Croatia and the Slovenian cycle paths aren’t that great so I headed straight for the border. This time they ‘checked’ my passport for the first time since the ferry to France. By check I mean he scanned it faster than someone at the checkout in Lidl.

Nevertheless, I was in and was heading straight for the coastal town of Rijeka.

Very quickly the landscape changed from the green of Slovenia to the rocky baron rocks I would learn to cover the majority of the Croatian coast. The sea, however, was beautiful.

It was a bit too hot to spend anytime at the beach so I went straight to a campsite and set up for the night.

Setting off at a decent pace, I wanted to make as much as I could of the cooler mornings and take the afternoons off. Reaching Senj in good time, I found a beach to settle at.

Sadly having passed several perfect beaches, the one I finally decided to stop at had quite a steep set of stairs to go down and being too stubborn to go back, this would have to do.

There weren’t any sandy beaches around here so it became a bit of a nuisance walking to the shore but it was definitely rewarded with the sea. It was so clear and warm that you could stay in it for hours.

Unfortunately I had to leave to get to a campsite for the evening, I’d decided to stay on the island of Rab as there was a cheap ferry to it and was interested to see how the islands compared.

If the island was anything like the cycle to the port I was in for a treat.

I was in luck. It was a gem. The campsite was right on the coast and the morning swim was dreamy.

Someone said to me ‘it sounds like you’re spending more time swimming than you are cycling’. Well when the water is this good, it’d be rude not to.