Fagnano to Bovec, Slovenia (Aug. 20, 2022)

August 20, 2022

Dober dan, Dobrodosli, Zdrava, from Slovenia! (For those of you lacking in Slovenian language skills that’s: good day, welcome, hello!) I write this after an exciting and fun day riding across Fruili in Italy to the western side of Slovenia and the beautiful Julian Alps. We are in Bovec, an outdoor rafting/hiking town that feels like Boulder, CO!

Yesterday we departed from our flat after one final somewhat leisurely breakfast. After two days we were ready to be on the road. The route was selected only because it put us from A (Fagnano) to B (Bovec) in about 60 k. I could find no discussion about the route or portions of it or of the pass we would climb over so it was definitely a flyer. I was worried that the first 12 k, where we went through more populated areas, would be unpleasantly trafficked, and I was worried the second part of the route, which involved a substantial climb for about 12 k, would have no services. (Honestly, you can’t win with me!) In end the ride proved wonderful and challenging. The ride through Tarcento (the only major town on the route) was fine and traffic not too bad. It clouded over and even spit on us a few times so it was cool as we approached our climb, just past the village of Pradielis. This village doesn’t show up on any map but it does exist and even has a bakery where we stopped for an orange Fanta.

A pleasant stop for a soda before beginning our climb up the pass.

Notwithstanding we just climbed through the Austrian Alps last week, this was our first real climb of the trip. It was 1700 feet in climbing in 12 k. It was slow, steady, with very light traffic, and on beautiful roads with a fairly consistent grade (6 to 8 percent). It took us about an hour to climb almost to the top, where we stopped at a picnic area to refuel.

I carried extra water in my panniers and they felt unpleasantly full so using up the water felt good. There was a good looking rifugio across the way. One of our concerns was how the battery on our ebikes would do, so earlier in the day we consciously kept our battery off (Dave) or in a lower setting (Jill) to save battery life.

The road to and over the pass was pristine, unexpected in this sparsely populated part of the world. Thank you, Giro 2022!

Dave did the whole climb in “eco” (lowest setting, least power) while Jill rode in “sport” (hey, it could be worse, I could have been in “turbo!”) . The cycling computer tells you how much range you have left and today was really the first time we thought to worry much about whether we had enough battery. We did - it was no problem. Once we reached the top of the climb there was a nice short descent followed by another short climb and then we reached the border with Slovenia and had a lovely descent all the way down to Zaga. Scenery was beautiful and it felt very quiet. Language on the road signs suddenly was unintelligible - we don’t speak Slovene.

The former and now abandoned border post.

The road split just after Zaga and we headed north to Bovec. Suddenly there was a lot of traffic on the road, mostly rafting companies and people coming back from hiking, rafting, mountain biking. (The Soca river is famous for its rafting.) There was no shoulder so it wasn’t too fun but only lasted about 7 k until we reached the outskirts of Bovec.

Komoot had a rare failure where it wanted us to ride through a barricaded street to our hotel — Hotel Soca. It was a Saturday afternoon in August and the town and the hotel were mobbed. The hotel staff couldn't have been nicer, we got our room assignment and a boy on the staff helped take our bikes down two flights of stairs to the storage room. Dave managed his bike and Nils managed mine. We learned afterwards there was an elevator which we will take advantage of when we depart on Monday.

As we pulled in, someone asked where we came from and when we said Italy he said “oh, Passo de Taramea - that pass was ridden in the Giro d’Italia this year “ and he looked suitably impressed with our effort making us feel very cool. (Later we looked it up on the Giro site and it turns out it was only a Category 3 climb which burst our bubble a bit!) That also explained why the road was SO good - repaved for the Giro!

The hotel staff also called around and got us an early dinner reservation, which later on we really appreciated because it was clear that the restaurants were overwhelmed — staff shortages again are apparent and the crowds of people looking for places to eat were considerable.

Bovec looks pretty affluent - nice sidewalks, and a well-maintained look, and our hotel is new and modern. Bovec sits right in the middle of the Julian Alps - as a I write this the mountains are visible from our bedroom window. We dined at Letni Vrt and enjoyed a bottle of Slovenian rose wine about which our waitress was very knowledgable and split a trout baked with wine and herbs. We also split the traditional Slovene desert- krafi- which is a dumpling stuffed with nuts and other goodies. We felt good and excited to be in a new country! Its been my dream to show Dave Slovenia -one of my favorite countries - and we are finally here.

Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 566 km (351 miles)

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