June 1, 2023
Bovec to Tolmin
Miracles do happen and Tobias decided to sleep until 8am this morning. It's comforting for us to know that he can still sleep well if we provide the right circumstances. Despite the late start, we managed to get away at a reasonable time. The apartment had a huge balcony and a little plastic car thing which he hooned around on without much need for input from us. Our 2 loads of laundry were basically dry by the time we set off too.
We had to head uphill back into Bovec to get some bread, then headed down towards the river and down the Soča valley. We were flying down the hills, they were nice and straight and didn't require much braking. There was a bit more traffic than yesterday with a few trucks as well, but we never felt unsafe and no one tried to pass us while we were riding downhill at 50km an hour. There were lots of dedicated picnic spaces so we stopped for coffee near some "dong dong cows" (cows with bells, churches are "dong dongs", and I guess they sound like that). Just after the second decent climb we turned off to a side road and descended all the way down to the waterside. On Komoot this route is marked as very rough, but mostly on older notes and it is all smooth seal now. It seems to be one way for cars. We weren't sure if this applied to cyclists, but we were taking it pretty carefully in case we met someone not expecting us. We managed to make it to just past Kobarid for lunch where we stopped at a river access point for kayakers. Tobias enjoyed watching the boats come in and made friends with a group who dressed him up in their kit.
I generally get to look around and appreciate the view a bit more when Tobias is asleep and I don't have to appreciate every digger, train, and truck around. We slowly left the snowy, rocky, mountains behind and the valley became lusher and greener. Also hotter. It was very muggy today. It was "Slovenian flat", which is to say either short uphills or short downhills.
Tobias was still asleep when we got to Tolmin at about 3 so I went into the supermarket for dinner stuff and he woke up just as we were debating whether to head for the campsite or get an ice-cream. We opted for campsite and headed downhill and across the river to Labrca campground. As we were getting unloaded one of the waiters came out and greeted us enthusiastically. We didn't recognise him, but it was one of the Danish cyclists we met near Tirana on our very first day of our trip. He's taking 3 months off to work here. It's a very small world to cross paths again 1000km down the road.
It's a lovely camp ground with a tent field across the road from the campers and right on the water front. I really like when we don't have to put our tent in the sterile, straight lined, camper pitches. After getting the tent up we jumped in the river though it was very refreshing and we didn't stay in long. Tobias partook in some more of his favourite past time, throwing rocks in the water. We enjoyed a beer in the cafe, and then one in the playground. I like to think that we don't need toys and kids can play with anything and make their own fun etc etc, but when there is a sandpit and some toys Tobias is so occupied and will play for ages without any input from us.
Just as we were heading back to cook dinner a big group of bikepackers that we spotted last night at the pizza place pulled in. We actually passed them earlier in the day as they were swimming near a waterfall. We didn't talk to them last night because without bikes we kind of don't have the conversation starter. They are on a short trip and just started 3 days ago. They are very energetic and we didn't get much chance to talk to them because the went straight to the field to play spikeball for the last few hours.
Now we are just sitting having a beer on the river bank listening to the fish jumping and contemplating tomorrow. We are following the Soča river trail downstream but have read a few reports of some very rough track, and there are definitely some spiky looking climbs. Luckily we will meet our friend Liv for lunch and offload some of the luggage into her rental car.
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Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 1,287 km (799 miles)
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