To Tarvisio

September 27, 2021

It started raining sometime in the early evening last night, but the rains passed on by mid-morning. Not what we had been led to expect from the forecasts which for days had been warning that it would be wet the entire day, but we are of course not disappointed.

Our plans for the day now look just a tad silly though. We’ve booked ourselves into a room in Tarvisio just twelve miles west across the border in Italy, back on the Alpe Adria cycle path. Averse to biking in the rain when there are other options, this looked like a wise move when we made the booking. Today though the flat, fast 12 mile ride back to Italy just feels like a warm-up, with the weather improving with every mile.

The view north from our apartment as we leave town this morning. Rains ceased about an hour ago and the clouds are lifting.

Looking up at one of the many ski runs climbing the slopes south of the basin.

A last look back at Slovenia as we bike toward Italy. It’s an unexpectedly delightful morning to ride.

Approaching the Italian border, the sky gets brighter with every mile.

Video sound track: Lo Stadio, by Tiziano Ferro

We reach Tarvisio at 11:30, happy to find they’ll honor the early check-in. I’m shown the room, the only one that’s been cleaned so far apparently, and cautioned that the floor is still wet.

A half hour later we’re out the door again, off on a hike up into the hills north of town. The hike starts with a stiff climb through the woods to a pair of viewpoints high above town. We’re walking through Parco Cervi, a natural preserve dedicated primarily to preservation of habitat for the lynx, following a well maintained but steep trail with periodic information panels about the lynx - its life history, regions in Europe where it still exists in the wild, and aspirations for connecting all of these diverse regions eventually to support an integrated metapopulation.

We don’t see any actual lynx, but we do spot a few cutouts placed off the trail a ways to give hikers a sense of what the real thing would look like if it comes along. And later we do get a brief glimpse of a red deer slipping off into the trees. And we see some magnificent trees - beech, red pine, spruce - that are helpfully labeled at a few spots along the way.

We could have biked more today given the weather, but we’re both delighted with how this has worked out. It was a fine hike, we enjoyed having a more relaxed day, and we’re well rested and perfectly situated for a ride down the Alpe Adria tomorrow to Gemona del Friuli through what promises to be the most spectacular stage of the route.