Ravne na Koroškem to Maribor

July 30, 2023

A day of either going up, or going down.

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We awoke this morning to steady rain. It was expected. The rain tapped on the windows as we ate breakfast and dark clouds swirled in the sky. As we sat, we hoped that the weather forecast that predicted clearing skies later in the day was correct. Sue exclaimed, 'Let's get an early start to beat the traffic." So, right after breakfast we were off. We donned our rain jackets and rode off under grey skies and a pelting rain.

Last night we decided to get off on an early start, as we expected the road between Ravne and Dravograd to be a busy one. From the Google Earth images that we looked at, it appeared to be quite a busy road. But, being Sunday, the road was quiet and trended downhill and it turned out to be a fine and safe ride after all. We continued to follow the Meza river out of Ravne to where it joins the mighty Drava (Drau) river at Dravograd.

A look our our hotel window this morning.

By the time we arrived in Dravograd, the skies began to clear. The rain jackets came off, and we enjoyed those predicted clearing skies for the remainder of the day.

Once we arrived in Dravograd, we were on the Drava cycle route. This cycle path is 710 km long and runs from Toblach, Italy into Croatia, and, of course follows the Drava River. The Drava River is the sixth largest tributary of the Danube. Meeting the Drava again jogged our memories of our tour in 2016 when we rode from Prague to Venice. We'll never forget it as we went up and over Grockglossner with fully loaded bikes and descended to the Drau (Drava) from Austria. Perhaps the hardest day on a tour we've ever had.

Corn crops and clearing skies along the Drava.

In our experience many European cycle routes do their best to avoid traffic and cars, which is a positive thing, of course. But, they also have a tendency to dipsy doodle all over the place in attempting to route you through the quieter and more peaceful roads; and this dipsy doodling often has its fair share of ups and downs in elevation. Today was a day of ups and downs, but it was also incredibly beautiful and peaceful. You just had to work for it at times.

There were several short climbs throughout the day, but they were also accompanied by exhilarating descents. Incredible skies today!

What amazes us about Europe is that they value sport and community. Every small town has a soccer pitch, some sort of court, and a community gathering place like the one here, all located together. These often come with sinks, refrigerators, and storage for tables and benches for the community to gather. Sue filling her water bottle.

We stopped for a break at the only café in Podvelka. The group of men smoking and drinking outside gave us the usual greeting so common in Slovenia. Dobra Dan (Good day). It's such a wonderful common cultural thing that we have noticed about many places in Europe. Whether you are in Italy, Germany, or Slovenia, when you enter a cafe, you greet everyone in the cafe as a group with a buongiorno, a gruß gut, or a dobra dan. It's a wonderful thing to observe, and seems to reinforce community and good faith between strangers and friends.

After our break in Podvelka, we began our big climb of the day. We followed the Velka River upstream, gaining about 250m of elevation through quiet beech and pine forests. The Velka valley was beautiful and water trickled down the mountainside in rivulets which flowed in every direction; and the well-kept houses, gardens and properties were well attended to on this Sunday.

We followed the Velka River upstream, gaining elevation to our high point of the day.

Sue topping out at the high point of the day.

Some friends along the way. We did our best to coax them over with our 'come here donkey' sounds, but they were having none of it. They just ignored us and chomped along.

After a longish day, it was nice to finally near Maribor. The skies sprinkled as we approached town, just light enough to be refreshing but not hard enough to warrant the rain jackets.

We had to push for a spell as we veered off route. Sue with her, 'I got this" face on.

The last few kms of the Drava cycle route into Maribor brought us through the forests just outside of town. There were several downed trees that we had to negotiate.

One of several obstacles in our way towards Maribor...

Sue going around the large tree crossing the path on the way into town.

Today's ride: 77 km (48 miles)
Total: 495 km (307 miles)

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