September 26, 2010
Grignano: Buon Giorono Italiano , we have reached the Adriatic
Thirty six days and 2452km since leaving the North Sea we are beside the sea again. We have done it we have ridden from the North Sea to the Adriatic!
Last night we investigated the night life and cultural activity of Postoyna. First up to the Railway Station were we sat in the rain and watched for trains coming through. At one end of the station was Bar Jazz. It had nothing to do with trains but just occupied some disused station buildings. We had a beer. They were clearly setting up for a busy night, The music was blaring, lots of young men in about the 20 year old age group were hanging around and chairs were being put outside. I am convinced that there will soon be many less smokers in Slovenia as they will have died of exposure. Most people seem to smoke and they sit outside in the most appalling conditions to do their 'breathing exercises' By this stage it was about 12 degrees and they were just opening up. We returned to our warm hotel to thaw out. Then off to the really great restaurant we found last night. The food is delicious and beautifully presented, the Solvenian wine we had we really enjoyed - it was very well coloured and smooth on the palate - light probably about 11 or 12% I would say. For our entertainment there was a table of cool young girls. They were about 12 and were having a birthday party without a parent in attendance. Much giggling, consumption of Pizza, icecream and sprite. Their main amusement seemed to be playing with their mobile phones, I felt concerned that there might be someone without the appropriately cool phone. At the end of the meal a phone would ring a girl would answer say ya ya grab her coat and a couple of friends then hurry out - I presume Mum had come to pick them up and was waiting outside rather than embarrassing them by appearing in the restaurant. They could have been young girls anywhere.
It was good to get going in the morning. The weather fooled us at first by raining only very lightly but soon showed us what conditions were really going to be like. It didn't take long to be out in the charming, neat countryside. Then we made a serious navigational error and at the top of a long hill decided that we had taken the wrong road about 3km back so down we sped and took the other one, about the same distance down that nothing was making sense on the map so I turned on the GPS which said 'do a U turn where possible'. Back up. Luckily there was a Bar at the centre of these goings on. It was packed with locals whiling away the wet morning in a fug drinking some black potion. Our glasses fogged up we thawed out then set off back up the hill. It didn't seem too bad and we rode fast as it was the only way we could keep warm (temperature 11 degrees) In the distance we saw some blue sky it must be at Trieste, the quicker we got there the better. Eventually without losing very much height we were across the border into Italy. We could well do with my dear friend Jan now, I remember years ago she and I travelled in Italy and it was so comforting to find she was fluent in Italian.
It is extraordinary we descended from 570m at the hotel to sea level and almost all of the descent was in the last few km into Trieste - Ken adjusted the brakes but it was still a little bit scary. It is Sunday so the traffic was very light. We made it out of Trieste and along the coast road and have stopped at Grignano, found a delightful Alberge, persuaded someone to take our photo beside the Adriatic and had a beer.
Cycling in Slovenia is not particularly easy. In the part we were riding in the cycle routes shown on maps tend to be impossibly steep mountain tracks which are of course impossible for fully laden touring bikes - they would be impossible for me in any conditions! The country is very hilly which is not a particular problem particularly if traffic is light but it does make progress fairly slow even though we found almost all hills rideable. Accommodation is not easy, there are few small pensions and even quite big towns have no or few hotels and they are expensive. Signage is not very good and this in particular applies to Tourist Information Centres which they try to hide away (if you do find them the staff are very helpful). We found the country very interesting and it looks buoyant . There are great contrasts. In the larger towns and cities anyone associated with a service industry speaks excellent English. What we loved about the country however were the hilly rural areas, the beauty of these is striking, the agriculture is on a small scale, everything was very neat, Ken's passion for tractors was satisfied, very little apart from Slovenian was spoken but as we found in all of Slovenia (apart from the border guard and his sister) people were invariably friendly and helpful. One thing I have learnt is how to pronounce j in Slovenian and this is a very useful skill.
Today's ride: 78 km (48 miles)
Total: 2,700 km (1,677 miles)
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