June 2, 2023
Tolmin to Rensče
Tobias slept later in the tent than he every has, we even had time to get up and make coffee. Not to drink it though. And we managed to get away earlier than we ever have as well. I think everyone is just a lot more functional if they wake up at 7 rather than 5.30.
We waved bye to the sporty Germans who were having their breakfast then headed straight up a few steep climbs back into Tolmin then down to join the Soča river trail. From Tolmin there seems to be a brand new section that is nicely sign posted and sealed, though they could have perhaps evened out the gradient a bit instead of putting in 20% climbs followed immediately by a descent. It was beautiful riding along the river and away from the traffic.
We joined the road just before Most na Soči and immediately witnessed a near crash as a car passed us with plenty of space but not leaving the oncoming truck much room. We stopped for a coffee in Most na Soči since it was the last town before things got tough.
Immediately out of town we hit a very steep and quite long climb. Past the town of Gorenji Log James commented that this was the point where accounts I'd read said it would get tough, but it seemed fine. About 500m later we hit the gravel and immediately a steep descent. A couple coming uphill on electric mountain bikes barely acknowledged us. I walked a few parts of the descent because it was soft gravel and at some point my brakes weren't working anymore and it was hard to control the bike with Tobias in front. The track had been recently maintained though, freshly mowed and the some fallen trees cut back. Once we got to the bottom we reached the steep, muddy, stony ascent I'd read about. It is still very steep and muddy and stony. We got James' bike up by him pushing the bars and me the trailer while Tobias cried inside because he was confused and scared and thought we were leaving him behind. I sat at the top and calmed him down while James went back and took some panniers in one load and my bike in the next.
We probably only pushed for 50m on the uphill, and after that it was all rideable gravel. Still uphill, but we could push the pedals. It was beautiful up there, and we didn't see a car. Just a few confused farmers. The Soča river was way down below with the main car road to Nova Gorica and all the trucks. Just as we were descending into Kanal where we planned to meet Liv we spotted some ominous clouds and heard a bit of thunder. We were a bit later than usual so we got Tobias some lunch at the bakery then headed across the river to feed him and find out where Liv was. She was delayed by rental car issues and vignettes, and it started raining, so we decided to put Tobias to sleep and meet her a bit further down the road.
It didn't take long to reach Plave and Tobias stayed asleep in the trailer while we ordered our lunch and caught up with Liv. The rental car was big enough to fit my bike, but I really wanted to ride the next segment of the trail along the river completely away from the traffic so we just gave her all the panniers and agreed to meet in Solkan about 10km down the trail. Unloaded it didn't take long and the trail was beautiful and smooth, except for the set of stairs. It is a bike path, so at least they put a ramp to push. But it seems funny to build stairs in your bike path.
It was 4pm and thundering by the time we were finished coffee in Solkan so we did some jenga to get my bike in the car with Tobias and all the bags and we drove the 20min to our house while James biked the trailer. Without Tobias it would be ridiculous to skip 17km. I felt fine, but after about 3pm biking gets a bit more challenging for him.
The house is great, it's more expensive than our usual budget, but it was hard to find much cheaper in this region. I'm glad to be inside, there is an epic thunder and lightning storm going on out there at the moment. We've already booked to go wine tasting tomorrow and we will work out some way to celebrate Tobias' 2nd birthday on Sunday.
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Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,342 km (833 miles)
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