Kobarid to Dolenja Novaki (Aug. 25, 2022)

August 25, 2022

Today turned out to be harder than we planned for. Our goal was to reach a small spot in the road - Dolenji Novaki - 3 k outside the town of Cerkno in order to stay at a 1 star guesthouse! You might ask: Really? Is the budget blowing up or what?

So the backstory to all this was that when I planned my first trip to Slovenia in 2009, I had wanted to visit the Franja Partisan Hospital Museum outside of Cerkno. (As you may have gathered, I love World War history). The Franja Hospital was a secret makeshift hospital used in WW2 by the Yugoslav partisans fighting the Nazis. Unfortunately, the hospital site burned down, scuttling my plan to visit.

A few years ago I saw that the Slovene government had rebuilt the site and it has been on my bucket list ever since. I previously arranged a private tour but since it is set for 9 am tomorrow morning (Friday) this necessitates staying the night close by the site. The nearby town of Cerkno has one main hotel which is attached to a (definitely budget) spa/wellness facility which got scathing reviews. My other alternative was Gostisce Gacnk v. Logu, a guesthouse which had the advantage of being only 1 k from the Franja Hospital site. I should add that it ALSO got scathing reviews (it gets its primary business from motorcyclists). However, in life you look at your options and make the best decision you can; since Gostisce Gacnk was closer to the Franja Hospital site— and cost half as much as the fancier hotel in Cerkno - Gostisce Gacnk it was to be!

Which, for a few extra Euros included this bountiful breakfast.

Covered, safe bike storage with electrical outlets for charging.

We set off at 9:30 with a reasonable 34 mile day in front of us, but which also had 4200 ft in climbing which is a lot for us. The route was totally made up: get to Dolenji Novaki in the shortest time but try to avoid the main highway. If I do say so myself, the route turned out to be pretty amazing: small roads, beautiful scenic rural agriculture, hayracks, little towns and fun rolling hills and climbs.

We stopped for gelato in Tolmin about 10 miles into the ride and avoided the highway to Tolmin by taking a parallel road through the villages of Ladra, Kamno, and Volarje. Dave was able to buy a replacement water bottle at a nearby Intersport (having left his in Bovec by accident a couple of days ago).

No matter where you go in this part of the world, delicious gelato awaits, including snicker flavor.

After Tolmin the road got hillier and more complicated; the serious climbing didn’t start until Mile point 19 but we did plenty of smaller climbs up until then. We also had two navigational problems, both of which were just enough to challenge our relationship and communication skills but not enough to be a big deal. The route required us to descend steeply into a valley and then cross the river and climb out the other side (the big climb part).

Many of the little villages along the way have erected memorials to their war dead. The star on this monument symbolizes it was partisan dead in this case.

It was a hot day and by the time we reached the big climb we were hot and tired. The climb was long and hard in the teeth of the heat but we pulled into Cerkno and to the Spar grocery about 3 pm. We did not know if our guesthouse that evening included breakfast so we purchased a few emergency items in case breakfast was not on the menu. The Spar Superstore was beautiful - a real grocery - its been awhile. We of course committed an American error by failing to weigh and tag our fruit before we got in line to pay so we had an embarrassing few minutes when the cashier rejected our purchase and we had to go back to the produce department to take care of it. (We felt all the more ridiculous because just prior to that we had picked up a couple of croissants and a really nice Slovene couple helped us to tag the croissants - but we didn’t think to do it with the fruit!) Meanwhile, everyone was in line behind us waiting patiently while we left the line and came back. Nobody even rolled their eyes or acted annoyed. Slovenians are very nice and helpful. We were apologetic.

We were so tired that even though it was only 3 k to our guesthouse we stoppped in Cerkno and had a salad and a beer (Dave) and water (Jill) which really helped us for the big final ride into Dolenji Novaki!

And, after all that, the Guesthouse is actually fine. It is a simple room but clean and decent and we have an undercover terrace to store our bikes (which turned out to be good because we just got a downpour). Plus, the internet worked well enough so that we could watch the last 40 k of the Vuelta while we showered and cleaned up. Its amazing what makes you happy on a bike tour!

Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 730 km (453 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	8
Comment on this entry	Comment	0